neighbours cats in the garden

iguana

christmas2012 wrote: »

Are you pregnant? cat faeces is dangerous to pregnant women.

No cat faeces is not dangerous to pregnant women. Developed humans have very little to worry about from toxoplasmosis. Cat faeces can however be extremely dangerous to the foetus carried by the pregnant woman (or any pregnant mammal) because if it contains toxoplasmosis it can cause spontaneous abortion or, much worse, the varying degrees of destruction to the developing brain which can result in the child being born with such severe brain damage that it's basically a vegetable for life. In less severe cases it can cause complete blindness in the child or severe to moderate developmental delay. Luckily neonatal toxoplasmosis is rare in this country and is much more commonly caused by eating meat that isn't thoroughly cooked but while it's rare the results can be so utterly devastating to someone's life people really shouldn't take the risk of letting their cats wander.

TooManyDogs

iguana wrote: »

Luckily neonatal toxoplasmosis is rare in this country

It is rare but it does happen, I know a girl who's baby contracted it while she was pregnant from cats, and is severly disabled as a direct result.

Taking toxoplasmosis aside, there are other health concerns with a carnivore pooing in a veggie bed, salmonella and ecoli being only the start. You wouldn't plant vegetables in a veggie bed contaminated with human poo so why do people think it's acceptable the OP should put up with their vegetables being contaminated with cat poo?

It's the usual onus on the garden owner to spend money on methods to keep cats out of their garden rather there being any onus on cat owner to become responsible

Cork boy 55

the_syco wrote: »

Try putting a few clear bottles of water around the garden: they frighten some cats off.

I have seen quite a few people do this.

What is the science behind it?

booom

(sun)light reflecting off the water is supposed to put them off- grand if you live in the south of france.

ahal

I think we've established that the cats aren't doing it on purpose, despite various posts here and there attempting to attribute human behavioural responsibility to cats / the "do something to the cats" (daft) mentality.

I'm not sure that there's much the neighbour can do about it either? She's probably taken them in as strays, because as Kildare17mph so elequently pointed out, there are no regulations regarding cats in this country hence folk don't get them neutered and they breed like mad. Cats don't tend to obey humans unless they're hungry and want feeding, so the water pistol sounds like the best solution mooted so far.

I've also heard that Tiger poo acts as a deterrent, but that could be difficult to source :pac:

I don't know your exact circumstances, but perhaps the previous tenant fed them?

Anyone with 10 cats arouses my suspicions tbh. If all else failed I'd feck the poop back over into her patch. Sh**e speaks louder than words, if you will

Zapperzy

booom wrote: »

(sun)light reflecting off the water is supposed to put them off- grand if you live in the south of france.

Worth a try but tbh my cat anyways would think it's an elaborate cat toy! She loves chasing light reflections.

Water pistol is the cheapest, most humane thing I think. Apart from a dog, only 1 or 2 brave cats have ever entered our garden in the last 4 years since we got a dog, a handful more have sat on the fence above him watching him bark at them!

kildare.17hmr

There is a very simple thing the neighbour can do, same thing you do with every other pet, keep them on your property! Its not hard or too expensive to catproof a garden, a couple of hundred quid should have it sorted. Imo if your not prepared to do this you shouldnt have them

Cork boy 55

booom wrote: »

(sun)light reflecting off the water is supposed to put them off- grand if you live in the south of france.

Why would sunlight reflecting off water scare a Cat?

It is perfectly natural.

Anyone have any Science to link to?

I declare this an urban myth!!

Years ago I have seen one of my neighbours do this with green coloured bottles!!

Cork boy 55

Well, I am sceptic this works as I do think Cats are smarter than to fall for this. Below is a video to prove it. ^^;

http://gordonator.com/2012/02/19/japanese-water-bottle-to-keep-off-cats/

fishy fishy

TooManyDogs wrote: »

I'm sorry but dogs instincts are not the polar opposites to cats, they also have an instinct to hunt, kill and leave scents around their territory, they're simply not given the freedom to act on these instincts. The same can be applied to cats, there are plenty of posters in this forum with cat proof gardens to keep their cats safely on their own property and stop them becoming a pest to other people




Dogs don't have to be told what to do, but responsible dog owners have conditioned their dogs to obey, doesn't mean it's not in a dogs instinct to be independant





Of course you can punish them for going to the toilet in certain areas, other wise there wouldnt be thousands of litter trained cats in the world. Like others suggested the OP can arm themselves with a large water pistol




Any carnivore defecating in a vegetable patch is dangerous. There is potiental for the vegetables to become infected so regardless of whether OP is pregnant it is dangerous. Not to mention purely disgusting

dogs are still scratching their heads wondering where they are while a cat has a days work done (by the way I love dogs - I have two - and two kitties).

as for the animals defecating on a veg pat - its a fact of life. In fact, here's a shocker - people use ANIMAL SH*TE in their organic gardening :eek::eek::D:D

kildare.17hmr

They dont use animal ****e from meat eating animals!

fishy fishy

iguana wrote: »

No cat faeces is not dangerous to pregnant women. Developed humans have very little to worry about from toxoplasmosis. Cat faeces can however be extremely dangerous to the foetus carried by the pregnant woman (or any pregnant mammal) because if it contains toxoplasmosis it can cause spontaneous abortion or, much worse, the varying degrees of destruction to the developing brain which can result in the child being born with such severe brain damage that it's basically a vegetable for life. In less severe cases it can cause complete blindness in the child or severe to moderate developmental delay. Luckily neonatal toxoplasmosis is rare in this country and is much more commonly caused by eating meat that isn't thoroughly cooked but while it's rare the results can be so utterly devastating to someone's life people really shouldn't take the risk of letting their cats wander.

forgive my phrase - I meant to say cats can be dangerous to the foetus inside a pregnant woman, but the woman will be fine - not a bother. Its just the foetus she's carrying that is at risk :rolleyes:

fishy fishy

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

They dont use animal ****e from meat eating animals!

does you cat sit down to a steak dinner every night. ??:D

SillyMangoX

fishy fishy wrote: »

does you cat sit down to a steak dinner every night. ??:D

They don't have to eat steak to be carnivores

Cats simply couldn't survive as a vegetarian, they would go blind from a lack of taurine as they can't synthesise it themselves, so therefore they are meat eaters.

Whats worked for someone I know is peeling a few oranges, lemons and limes and scattering them around the perimeter of the vegetable garden and even burying a few pieces to catch the cats off guard. They absolutely cannot stand the smell of citrus, my own 2 really hate it, one will fun away and the other physically pukes if he sees me eating an orange! That should hopefully deter them a bit anyway.

TooManyDogs

fishy fishy wrote: »

as for the animals defecating on a veg pat - its a fact of life. In fact, here's a shocker - people use ANIMAL SH*TE in their organic gardening :eek::eek::D:D

And I use sheep manure in my own veggie plot. It is safe to use well rotted manure from a herbiverous animal in a veggie plot. Well rotted because fresh manure has potiental to carry harmful bacteria, although far less of a chance with plant eating animals manure.

Cat and dog poo should never ever be added to a veggie garden because apart from the risk of bacterial pathogens there is also a risk of parsites. Cats and dogs carry roundworms and parasitic nematodes, and some lifecycle stages can remain indefinitely dormant waiting on ideal conditions. The same goes for the parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis, the oocysts can remain dormant in soil for years and are resistant to most disinfectants.

So how about I allow my dogs crap in my veggie and give you the vegetables to eat, you being fully aware that they had crapped in among the veggies and lets see if you're still so flippant, and if you actually eat anything.....

fishy fishy

SillyMangoX wrote: »

They don't have to eat steak to be carnivores

Cats simply couldn't survive as a vegetarian, they would go blind from a lack of taurine as they can't synthesise it themselves, so therefore they are meat eaters.

Whats worked for someone I know is peeling a few oranges, lemons and limes and scattering them around the perimeter of the vegetable garden and even burying a few pieces to catch the cats off guard. They absolutely cannot stand the smell of citrus, my own 2 really hate it, one will fun away and the other physically pukes if he sees me eating an orange! That should hopefully deter them a bit anyway.

taurine necessity is not exclusive to cats - all animals and humans need it. It is an amino acid - you can find taurine in any good cat dry food in vets in supermarkets and in your corner shop.

fishy fishy

TooManyDogs wrote: »

And I use sheep manure in my own veggie plot. It is safe to use well rotted manure from a herbiverous animal in a veggie plot. Well rotted because fresh manure has potiental to carry harmful bacteria, although far less of a chance with plant eating animals manure.

Cat and dog poo should never ever be added to a veggie garden because apart from the risk of bacterial pathogens there is also a risk of parsites. Cats and dogs carry roundworms and parasitic nematodes, and some lifecycle stages can remain indefinitely dormant waiting on ideal conditions. The same goes for the parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis, the oocysts can remain dormant in soil for years and are resistant to most disinfectants.

So how about I allow my dogs crap in my veggie and give you the vegetables to eat, you being fully aware that they had crapped in among the veggies and lets see if you're still so flippant, and if you actually eat anything.....

if a dog or cat craps on your veggies, and you don't see it, have they actually crapped at all ? Same goes for Pee and Scent - if a cat Pee's or "scents" your veggie patch and you don't see it, have the pee'd at all.

It's naive to think that dogs and cats don't do their business on veggies - of course they do. :rolleyes:

SillyMangoX

fishy fishy wrote: »

taurine necessity is not exclusive to cats - all animals and humans need it. It is an amino acid - you can find taurine in any good cat dry food in vets in supermarkets and in your corner shop.

And what's in those dry cat foods? Meat! (or derivatives of it - which is actually what you will find in inferior quality supermarket/corner shop foods) And I know taurine is necessary for everything, but most other species can synthesise it themselves, cats cannot. If they don't eat a source of it, they die. Humans can be vegetarians because we are omnivores, we can survive off any protein source be it meat or pulses etc, cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they absolutely have to eat meat. That doesn't mean they can't eat cereals and vegetables as well, but they absolutely HAVE to have meat in their diet.

TooManyDogs

fishy fishy wrote: »

if a dog or cat craps on your veggies, and you don't see it, have they actually crapped at all ? Same goes for Pee and Scent - if a cat Pee's or "scents" your veggie patch and you don't see it, have the pee'd at all.

It's naive to think that dogs and cats don't do their business on veggies - of course they do. :rolleyes:

This is not Schrodinger's vegetable patch. Whether you have actually seen the animal eliminate on the vegetables is immaterial, if there is dog or cat poo in the veggie patch there are health implacations and it is naive to think otherwise.