neighbours cat driving my dogs totally mental

smokin ace

hi everyone i am having a problem with my neighbours cat driving my two dogs totally mental the two dogs are in a dogs pen and the cat walks up and down along the wall and in my garden across from the dog pen as if she owned the place and its driving the dogs nuts it has gone to the stage with the cat that he/she knows the dogs cant get them and they have started to walk around my yard over near the dog pen teasing the dogs i have sprayed the cat loads of times with the hose every time i see it during the day but now it appears only at night and i dont know what to do and the owner of the cat is starting to complain about the dogs barking but its her cat is driving the dogs wrong but genuinely there is never a peep out of the dogs until the cat turns up but when i say this to the neighbour thats owns the cat she just says my cat would not do that and that cats are a free animals to roam as they like and i am to shut my dogs up or she will report me to the council

so my question is is there something i can do or something i can pour on the wall for to stop the cat from coming along the wall to piss off my dogs

Chuck Stone

Cats gonna be cats.

smokin ace

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Cats gonna be cats.

thats a lot of help

GalwayKiefer

Have a look at this product, might be what you're after:
http://www.cactus-products.com/cat-deterrent-cactus-870-0.html

chicken fingers

smokin ace wrote: »

thats a lot of help

I think what the above poster is implying is that this is 100% your problem.
You cannot turn around and say that the neighbours cat is provoking your dogs, that sounds like a thing a person out of touch with reality would say, even if it is true!
Also it is not acceptable to spray their cat with water.
Unfortunately I know you probably love your dogs and treat them well but you are the bad neighbour in this story.

ppink

dont agree with the other posts here at all.

another persons pet is coming into your property, to me that is not acceptable and I would tell the neighbour I had enough of his cat coming into my place and to sort it out himself.
I would spray water and bang saucepans(off each other , not the cat) or whatever to get him out of there.
there is fencing you can put up I think to keep him off the wall also. i do happen to be of the opinion that it is the offending pet owner who should be paying for that and putting it up in his own garden.

I would also tell neighbour that I am reporting them to the council for their pet trespassing and causing distress!

fred funk }{

I would report the owner to your local council. Cats don't have the right to roam free and it really annoys me when I hear people say things like 'it's your problem, suck it up'.

You're being the responsible pet owner. Your dogs are enclosed and safe and not encroaching on your neighbors property. I would put some of that glue stuff for the top of the wall, should keep them away.

fred funk }{

chicken fingers wrote: »

I think what the above poster is implying is that this is 100% your problem.
You cannot turn around and say that the neighbours cat is provoking your dogs, that sounds like a thing a person out of touch with reality would say, even if it is true!
Also it is not acceptable to spray their cat with water.
Unfortunately I know you probably love your dogs and treat them well but you are the bad neighbour in this story.

Troll.

SophieSakura

I think cats should have the right to roam, BUT this is obviously your neighbour's fault! Of course your dogs will bark if there are cats around, nothing you can do to stop them really unless you brought them in at night, or shut them in a kennel or shed at night.

I'd tell the neighbour that you contacted the council or guards and they said that the neighbour is the one at fault and should shut their cat in the house at night.

Zulu

I would call over to the neighbour and explain to them that you have a solution for the barking. Advise them that you have put poison down on your property to deter "stray" cats. Tell them that you wanted them to know as you'd hate if their cat got ate some of the poison.
Wheither or not you actually put down poison is your call.

Then, anytime the cat comes into your garden, try to capture it. If you are successful call the councel and tell them you've caught a feral cat that's causing your pets trouble. Tell them the animal is a stray (as, it is, if it's freely coming and going) and you want them to remove it.

Fair is fair, if your dogs could freely roam your neighbour garden & terrorise their cat, what would they do?

hamsterchen

Zulu, the thing with the poison - if someone I know is holding dogs in his garden and tells me there's poison there as well, I'd laugh him out.
lemon and in general, citrus scent keeps cats away - not 100% but they don't really like it
there are also those ultrasound emitors that help keeping cats away - just make sure it won't be harmful for your dogs.
as for the cat sitting on the wall and washing itself, looking down at the dogs, well, from to time it's their way of having fun and payback for all the barking so there are times when you simply have to cope with it. just a question - do your dogs have plenty of exercise? while it's normal for dogs to react to a cat, constant barking can be also a sign of boredom ...

liquoriceall

I know that one sure way of getting rid of cats is to release your dogs and let the bloody cat get a terrible fright as he wont be expecting that!!!

Zulu

hamsterchen wrote: »

Zulu, the thing with the poison - if someone I know is holding dogs in his garden and tells me there's poison there as well, I'd laugh him out.

True, but the OP did say they were confined to a dog run. The poison could be left outside the dog run, or up on the walls.

@OP: you could always top your walls (just covering a few feet where the cat comes in, not the whole wall) with a board with a load of nails, or carpet boards (the wooden board with loads of tacks sticking up). You could place these in such a way as the cat(s) wouldn't be able walk along the wall.

poconnor16

I don't agree with the poison soloution at all - why punish the cat? The cat is not doing this on purpose believe it or not - it's brain is not as sophisticated as ours as does not know how to behave like that.

As a cat owner, I think this is the neighbours fault. The OP has their animals kept on their property and under control. The cat is trespassing. Now I know outdoor cats will do this, but if they are causing trouble, the owner has to deal with it. My cats are kept indoor for the most part and when they are old enough to go outside, it will be in my cat proof back garden.

OP I would look into cat proofing your garden - although really you should not be forking out for this. Might just be the easier soloution?

Zulu

poconnor16 wrote: »

I don't agree with the poison soloution at all - why punish the cat?

It's not about "punishing" the cat, it's simply about resolving the problem. The cat won't be poisoned, if it's owner controls it. The simple reality is, that people could have anything in their back gardens. Anything. If the owner is letting their cat stray, then they are exposing the cat to all these risks. It's irresponsible.
Dogs roam by nature, yet went we restrict dog's from roaming it's not considered "punishing" the dog. The same applies.

The cat is not doing this on purpose believe it or not - it's brain is not as sophisticated as ours as does not know how to behave like that.

Sure. Thats fine. But the OP doesn't need to consider or concern themselves with the cats physiology. The cat is a pest, simple. The pest animal should be dealt with the same way you'd deal with any pest animal, rat, or any other pest.

As a cat owner, I think this is the neighbours fault.

We're all agreed on this so. It's clearly the neighbours fault.

OP I would look into cat proofing your garden - although really you should not be forking out for this. Might just be the easier solution?

I agree. The OP shouldn't have to cat proof their garden, but I doubt the neighbor is going to do anything except complain about the dogs.

poconnor16

We 50% agree Zulu

I see your point regarding pest control, and I know it would not be a deliberate 'trying to poison' the cat. But I just wouldn't take the risk of poisoning any animal....I'd probably poison the neighbour first.

Zulu

Ah no, to be honest, I'd be very hard pushed to put down poison myself. That said, I'd have no problem capturing it once & dropping it round to the neighbour with a stern warning that the next person I hand this cat to will be the council.

...and then following through on that promise.

poconnor16

well thats fair enough like - I know people that would do a hell of a lot worse without even consulting the neighbour. The neighbour just seems to not give a crap really.

Skadi

Just to mention that putting down posion for cats is illegal. Also illegal is the setting of traps to capture wild animals.

http://www.ispca.ie/Legal-Chapter-7-2.aspx

OP would make an effort to keep her cat out of your garden, and off the wall. Could you put up wooden panelling along the top of your side of the wall so that your dogs couldn't see her cat. Also if possible it might make sense to try and remove the cat calmly from your garden as your dogs might see it as a game if you make loads of noise and effort to get the cat away.

Also maybe you could set up a camera which caught proof of her cat causing the problem and let her know that you will be using this as evidence if you have to defend yourself.

I have problems with my neighbour's barking dog and while it barks at lots of things, it also barks anytime it sees us or my dogs in the garden. Yes, one of my dogs at times sits right next to the wall overlooking the garden (we live on a slope so our garden is over 8 feet higher than their garden) but she sits quietly and does not bark whenever she sees movement in their garden. We are planning to put up a thick hedge so that hopefully their dog will not see us so much and also that it might drown out some of the noise.

Taltos

I take it your dogs were never socialized with cats when puppies.
Have you tried seeing about some adult socialization? Some groups will help with this - I see you are in Wexford, I know it might be far but Dog Training Ireland maybe a good place to start. They were excellent with our puppy socialization - and I saw them work wonders on an aggressive younger dog when I was there too. 1st week it could not be around other dogs - really agressive and barked constantly, saw it again 5 wks later and it was running around playing with the other dogs with only minimal supervision - really impressive stuff.

Unfortunately cats being cats will do just this. If your dogs just ignored the cat though eventually it would grow tired of this game.

In terms of what you can do to stop the cat - none are fully effective, some are illegal and what happens when the next cat calls around. So for me the big action here is for you.

> socialization
> more activities for the dogs - a) to entertain them; b) to tire them out c) dogs need mental stimulation - right now the cat is providing that.
> review the dog run - do they need more space to run around; or can they not just run around the back garden - the cat might disappear (but I doubt it) if the dogs suddenly charge.

Best of luck with this though, barking dogs can be annoying - not only for you - but for your neighbours (am surrounded by them at home - but they are dogs and dogs bark )

PCros

Zulu wrote: »

Then, anytime the cat comes into your garden, try to capture it. If you are successful call the councel and tell them you've caught a feral cat that's causing your pets trouble. Tell them the animal is a stray (as, it is, if it's freely coming and going) and you want them to remove it.

So what happens when you show them the "feral cat" that has a collar and a chip?

They would have to release the cat back to the owner and the whole process would start again.

More realistic ways as mentioned here already than trapping and poisoning cats.

Zulu

Skadi wrote: »

Just to mention that putting down posion for cats is illegal. Also illegal is the setting of traps to capture wild animals.

While it might technically be illegal to poison cats, putting down poison in your back garden isn't. Similarly, proving someone "trapped" the cat would require the cats confession, which would be impossible to provide.

So it's all a bit moot really.

seamus

Zulu, you're treading on thin ice here. Advocating illegal and/or cruel actions such as putting down poison or capturing the cat will earn you a ban from this forum. I'm not interested in technicalities. You won't get another warning.

mariannewims

Could you just pop around to your neighbours and explain the situation in a calm, reasonable manner?
If your neighbour could be convinced to keep his/her cat in at night it'd make both your lives, and that of your dogs, a whole lot easier!

While I believe that it's very difficult to stop your cat going to a certain place or getting up to certain behaviour, the cat owner has a responsibility and shouldn't let his/her cat do whatever they want all the time if it's impacting on other people!

I live in a built up area and don't want my cat bothering neighbours through yowling at local cats or bothering dogs so I keep him in at night. Simple. And he's happier as he has a warm comfy house to sleep in; everyone's a winner!

Zulu

Apologies Seamus, my intent isn't to advocate cruelity to animals. Picking up the cat & returning it to the owner with a warning is the crux of my advice.

hamsterchen

for all nails on the wall putting, poisoning and dogs letting guys - the cat is innocent. it does what a cat does under normal circumstances. by letting the dogs tear the cat apart, hurting its paws on the nails or eating something poisonous - you are proposing hurting or killing a living creature who's not aware of any wrong-doing. as for its owner - if the cat is used to be outside, let me tell you, there isn't a lot a man is capable of doing to stop it. anyone who's seen what a cranky cat is capable of when it's suddenly jailed in the house would understand that.
a cat is not a dog - it cannot be chained or confined to walled run unless the walls are so high, it can under no circumstances climb them.
i may hate swallows pooing all over my garden in late summer but there isn't a lot i can do to stop them so i just grin and bear it. i hate wasps and bees flying around me when i'm outside when it's warm and i have an ice-cream in my hand, again, it's nature. should i shoot the swallows? should i kill the bees or wasps for being what they are?
there are things you can do to stop cat entering your garden and they don't need to end up with an injury or death. for all those who'd like to see the cat in a pool of blood or put to sleep as a stray, because it dares the dogs, go and kick your own labrador.

Zulu

hamsterchen wrote: »

there are things you can do to stop cat entering your garden and they don't need to end up with an injury or death. for all those who'd like to see the cat in a pool of blood or put to sleep as a stray, because it dares the dogs, go and kick your own labrador.

So as opposed to advising us to kick our own dogs, would you care to actually advise the OP as to what these "things you can do to stop cat entering your garden and they don't need to end up with an injury or death" are?

westies4ever

i have no idea if this actually works or not - apparently if you leave out a saucer of milk with a load of pepper in it, the cat will drink it - it won't harm it but it will hate it and it wont come back.

personally, i don't see the problem. i have two dogs and there are also a lot of cats in the neighbourhood, dogs bark at cats - end of. mind you i don't leave my dogs outside all day in a pen - why dont you try bringing them in?

hamsterchen

Zulu wrote: »

So as opposed to advising us to kick our own dogs, would you care to actually advise the OP as to what these "things you can do to stop cat entering your garden and they don't need to end up with an injury or death" are?

if you would care to read my previous post /the one you picked up the poison thingy from/, you'd see that I actually advised something.
that or should have gone to specsavers

Whispered

Zulu wrote: »

Picking up the cat & returning it to the owner with a warning is the crux of my advice.

We had a cat coming into our house through any open window, eating food, fighting my cats and spraying everywhere. I got a collar, taped a note to it saying "your cat has been coming into my house...<rest of details>.....please do something about it". He hasn't done it since.

hamsterchen

apologies to anyone offended by my lab kicking post - wasn't meant this way and it was a stupid comment.
my opinion on people who advocate and seriously recommend letting the dogs handle the cat, nails on the wall etc. stands