My neighbour and my cats!

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I moved into my house in 2023. My neighbour told me immediately that she disliked cats. I had one cat at the time.
he had to be pts in dec 24. In Jan 25 I took in two kittens and then their littermate who had a failed adoption. The cats are now just over a year old.
My neighbour hates them being in her garden . They like sitting under her bird feeders. She says it stresses her out and that I should be responsible for my three cats and should not have got three cats.
what am I supposed to do? I can’t stop the cats from roaming.
the cats have to go through her garden to get to the cat flap in my garden- she is end of culdesac and I have no front door cat flap.
i have suggested she puts legal deterents on her fence and have agreed to quick release collars with bells- even though I know it will make little difference.
anyone else have to deal with this?

Cats have a legal right to roam but owners are expected to be responsible around their activities when roaming. Cat proof the one side of your garden but if you do nothing don't complain if your neighbour turns a hosepipe on them. Cats are legally protected from harm and as an owner you are expected to ensure they are safe. Anything your neighbour does to deter them without harming them might be acceptable depending on what it is she does.

You really are being unpleasant and your comments are snide. You shouldn't have called any cat owners an arsehole because I've explained to you how difficult it is! I've also explained you that you may well be arsey about owners that don't even exist because there's that many strays about! At my last house we had up to 5 strays visiting the garden, no point being angry with an owner that potentially doesn't exist! Or taking it out on other owners that also have cats visiting and shitting in our gardens too! Ive had the stray coming in my house at night making our cats scream the place down at stupid o clock, it was spraying in the house, stealing my cats food! So can you see how complex it is and how it's not just you cat haters that suffer! We had to spend £100's on a new glazed panel and microchip cat flap to stop the issue! So can you kindly stop having a bloody pop!

And do you know why there are so many stray/feral cats? Because owners do not control their cats.

For some reason, it is sacred that domestic cats must be allowed to roam around, killing millions of birds and shitting and mating everwhere.

Do your neighbour has a minimum of 6 cats traipsing through her garden constantly? No doubt they all use it as a toilet too.

You are being a bit silly and over the top, it's funny how my cats never bring any birds in and I never see any carcasses outside and theres plenty of songbirds singing away at sunrise in spring and summer here! You can't claim to be any sort of animal lover and then suggest the mass culling of cats because you don't think they are suitable to be alive! These cats are family!

Incorrect, the stray cat crisis is nothing to do with people's cats being allowed to go into their garden. It's idiots that don't neuter that cause the problem because the males will travel miles to look for a female on heat! My cats barely leave our gardens so it's not just simply the act of letting them outside.

Oh, so your cats don't bring birds in, so they're not killing any?

Honestly, educate yourself! Cats kill millions of birds in the UK each year, as well as other animals.

You just have to read the posts on here to see that some cat owners are arseholes. They just insist cats have a right to roam and tough shit to anyone who is negatively affected.

You have "explained" how I'm wrong with slightly hysterical hyperbole. I can point out the owners of most of the animals in my area so no, we are not overrun with strays here. I have experienced arsehole cat owners so I know they exist. I know they could make efforts to prevent their cats being a nuisance or, at the very least, reduce the nuisance. However, they don't. They just shrug their shoulders and say "what can you do, cats just roam. When you tell them what they can do they just shrug and ignore. I suggested to my next door neighbour that he dig an area in his garden for his cats to use in an attempt to reduce their use of my flower beds. Shrugged and no. If he had made an effort he wouldn't be such an arsehole but he couldn't be arsed.

Yes. Because the males are allowed to roam. As are the females. Is this difficult for you to understand?

I did. She wants you to stop your cats going in her garden, you do that by proofing…..

I didn't say they didn't kill any but when my male was very young he used to bring his kills in and hasn't brought anything in for years and you make out like we should be surrounded in dead bodies everyday! You bloody educate yourself as you've chosen to ignore every explanation I've given as to why it's a really complex issue and you haven't got the decency to take anything on board. There's an ecosystem and if you interfere with it, it can cause problems! If there's was no cats outside, you'd be bitching about how many rats and mice there are! Would there be enough food in the winter months of we suddenly shut all cats in let the bird population dramatically increase!

No but you keep doing this, you keep posting snide generalisations about cat owners! You don't specify, you just generalise and do yourself no favours.

My males and females are allowed to roam my dear and that has shit all to do with breeding stray kittens.

There are arseholes everywhere. If I am one because I let my rescued cats out to roam. I'll own it

Well they're killing birds and shitting toxoplasmosis everywhere, so that's nice that you own it!

Cool 😎

I haven't said a thing about cat owners, except that they choose to let their cats roam.

Get a front door suitable for a cat flap there.

She could cut off the access route that your cats use to get to the one you are using now. She could choose to get a small dog, which does tend to have the effect of keeping cats out of the garden. Then there are other ways I've heard of people using to keep cats out.

It's probably in your interests to find a solution before she does. The new front door seems like the easiest way and is a small price to pay for good neighbour relations and responsible pet ownership.

Up thread I explained the front of the houses have clear access to her back garden via a bank the sweeps round from front to back.

Shame she's not a dog lover - a good terrier (or similar!) is all she needs. There's no better cat deterrent.

I have 2 cats, adore them both, they’re my babies. BUT I also love birds, so my cats have those safety snap back collars with a bell on. Cats get to roam, birds get to live.
the cats were not happy and it took a while for them to get used to the collars and stop itching their neck area constantly but worth it,

How do cats have more rights than humans? You should be made to clean up the poop and dead birds in your neighbor's garden. Dog owners have to pick up their dog's mess (at least where I live) . Why do cat owners not have to?

If someone knew it was my cats I'd happily go and pick it up

I have been cat owner and we had a neighbour complaining about one of my cats sleeping on her car. She would keep knocking on my door asking me come and fetch my cat which I did. Eventually the neighbour moved much to my relief. My last cat was an indoor cat and never bothered any neighbours. I would try cat proofing her fence and telling her to use a water gun to repel them. I love cats but one kept going to the toilet on my front lawn so I used moth balls and lemon peel. I also squirted him with water he eventually stopped. It’s hard I know and one of the joys of being a cat owner as not everyone loves cats.

You really should not have got three cats that can't go outside without accessing her garden.

Either they should be indoor cats or you get a builder in to put in a flap that allows them access to your garden.

I love and own a cat but I am on your neighbour's side. You didn't think about this when taking on these animals and she is not wrong to want no cats in her garden.

They do have access to my garden via the cat flap.