neighbour's cats.

dr ro

Hi. I think it's best to ask this here as it's owners opinions that matter. We don't own any pets ourselves as we don't want the poo. We've three young kids so have plenty of poo already! However our neighbours own 2 cats. Their cats use our garden to do their business. Everyday we've to go around the garden looking for poo before letting the kids out. 6 and 4 year olds know better now but baby puts everything he finds into his mouth, as babies do. A couple of years ago the 4 year old came in with a piece in her hand saying "what's this?" And today the baby was found with a piece in his mouth. He hasn't gotten sick yet and good chance he won't as they're looked after well.
We've gone online looking for deterrents, including glass bottles citrus peels pepper and urine. None work well enough. We bought a high frequency pest repellent which didn't work either. I've had suggestions from people ranging from mustard on the boundaries to poisoned sausages! Most are not practical or appropriate.
Our neighbours like to let the cats roam freely, leaving a window open for them. They don't like to keep the cats in so they don't have to deal with the poo(we assume), and the husband, who doesn't like them, doesn't let the kids out their own back garden if there is poo out there. We haven't yet spoken to them about this but today has been the breaking point. Seeing your baby with poo in his mouth will do that to you. We're trying to decide what is reasonable to request them to do. How would you people, as owners, feel if you were asked to keep them in? We know cat owners that live in apartments and their cats don't ever get out. It's not a problem for them. Does anyone have any other solutions or suggestions? We don't want to be issuing any demands as things are generally ok with them. But we've had enough now. Thanks.

username123

Have you actually seen the cats poo-ing in your garden? Cats tend to bury their poo. Are you sure its cat poo?

dr ro

I'm positive it's cat poo alright. They used to have a territorial dispute with another cat from neighbours the other direction. Our garden was the battle ground. There was regularly poo on the fence between the houses. Literally on top of a fence that is less than 2 inches wide! Also on top of the shed they use as a sun trap. I regularly run them from our garden.

Tails142

a neighbor of mine used to leave bottles of Coke filled with water around the garden, don't know if that actually worked.

it won't be possible to keep a cat that is used to going outside, indoors all the time. it's ok if they are brought up that way in an apartment and I suppose it also depends on the temperament of the cat but if a cat is used to outdoors he'll want to go outdoors, also if your neighbours cats are gone, some other cat will just start crapping in your garden.

I don't know what your solution is, for example my cat is outdoors but will only go to the toilet indoors and waits til we get home in the evening to go, I don't know if you're neighbors could even train this as it is just our cat is strange I think.

sorry I can't give any real tips except that as your kids get older, like all of us, at some stage they will learn not to eat the yellow snow... maybe get a cat yourself? they are very territorial

Pumpkinseeds

It's a really awkward situation. We have 3 cats that are litter trained indoor/outdoor cats. If any of our neighbours called to us to say the cats were pooping in their gardens I'd be mortified. It's a problem with letting them out so a compromise from them is called for. I've never found citrus or urine to work and I can understand your worry and frustration.

1 thing that might be worth a try is a product called Lion's poo, honestly, its pellets of lion poop that you can buy on Amazon. Also you could try a sprinkler thats on a sensor or that you can use when you see them. Usually it takes a couple of weeks to deter cats from doing something.

I know that the onus is on the owners to do something and I don't know what kind of reaction you'd get from them. There will no doubt be others who will come on here ranting about owner responsibilty and suggesting violence towards the cats. My advice would be to mention it to the owners calmly(nicey nicey catchy monkey) and try the products I suggested. You need something that works and 1 or both of those should do the trick.

If there is any particular area/areas that they use you could try putting some chicken wire or broken egg shells over it, just to make it uncomfortable for them to use.

I hope that helps

dr ro

3 good suggestions there thanks. I'll look into those tomorrow. I'm not a cat person myself, is it possible to train a cat to poo indoors if they're used to going outside. Is this something we could suggest to our neighbours?

michael999999

<snip>

A wholly unnecessary comment michael999999.
Constructive, helpful posts only please.
Do not reply to this edit on thread.
Thanks,
DBB

username123

dr ro wrote: »

I'm positive it's cat poo alright. They used to have a territorial dispute with another cat from neighbours the other direction. Our garden was the battle ground. There was regularly poo on the fence between the houses. Literally on top of a fence that is less than 2 inches wide! Also on top of the shed they use as a sun trap. I regularly run them from our garden.

Oh - territorial poo. That could explain it alright.

I think a motion activated sprinkler system is your best bet.

Id definitely say it to the owners re the poo, it might encourage them to keep the cats in a bit more?

I dont know if its possible to retrain cats re poo-ing, so cant help you there. There may be plants that cats dont like that you could put around the place?

Nody

The best option is motion activated sprinker as noted; everything else (nets etc.) are more likely to fail if your neighbour is not willing to cooperate.

JustAThought

You should not have to put up with cats sh****** in your garden. Talk to your neighbour & tell them it is unacceptable.

Let them figure out a solution. They can create a pen in their garden that fences their garden in -there was a long thread on it here with pictures & contact details some time back.

I used to have big problems with neighbourhood cats stretching in the bonnet of my car & scratching the paintwork , pooing on my " grass"(stoney patch) and jumping down from the fence wrecking my plants/flowers. Really infuriates me.

However since getting a dog this problem has totally vanished. Cats arn't stupid & if they know if feel a threat they will avoid your garden like the plague.
I couldn't believe how my garden became totally devoid of cats once the dog arrived.

Maybe you could borrow a dog for a while? Do you know anyone with one that is going on holidays?

kupus

you could also try a super soaker gun.
Its a kids toy water gun that can shoot a long way. Cats dont like water and every time you ee them in the garden. Take a pot shot. They may get the hint after a few soakings.

mymo

The motion sensor sprinkler is a good idea.
You could ask your neighbour to cat proof their garden, this involves adding some fencing on top of existing boundaries (on the inside of wall or fence), tilted inwards at about a 45degree angle, needs to be about 2ft or so. This creates an inward facing overhang, it stops the cats getting out of the garden.

I have cats, I have litter boxes and in the past have done what I described above to keep my cats contained. At the moment I keep and area of garden freshly dug and the cats use it as a toilet when outside, and luckily there are fields around us so the cats have little interest in neighbours garden. I'd hate my cats to be a nuisance to them.

The fencing I describe can be simple netting on supports and there's not much cost involved.

Nody

kupus wrote: »

you could also try a super soaker gun.
Its a kids toy water gun that can shoot a long way. Cats dont like water and every time you ee them in the garden. Take a pot shot. They may get the hint after a few soakings.

All you teach them is that when you're there they can't go in; a motion activated sensor removes that element of connecting a human to the effect (and works 24/7 rather then when a busy mother of three happens to look out the window and spot a cat).

Ambersky

I bought this a few weeks ago

After setting it up I only needed to have it on for a few days. After that cats would no longer risk coming into my garden. I can actually see them taking a detour around my garden.
It doesn't hurt animals its just a sprinkling of water but it happens so suddenly it startles them.
The only drawback for me is the wood pigeons were big enough to set it off and they no longer come around either. I have it disassembled sitting in my shed now as its been so effective I dont need if for now.
From reading advice from reviews it seems the device wont work if you attach it to the external water outlet via a water stop fitting. I just attached the hose directly to the faucet and attached the hose directly to the unit using a metal band tightener.
http://www.amazon.com/Contech-CRO101-Scarecrow-Activated-Sprinkler/dp/B000071NUS

dr ro

Ambersky wrote: »

I bought this a few weeks ago

After setting it up I only needed to have it on for a few days. After that cats would no longer risk coming into my garden. I can actually see them taking a detour around my garden.
It doesn't hurt animals its just a sprinkling of water but it happens so suddenly it startles them.
The only drawback for me is the wood pigeons were big enough to set it off and they no longer come around either. I have it disassembled sitting in my shed now as its been so effective I dont need if for now.
From reading advice from reviews it seems the device wont work if you attach it to the external water outlet via a water stop fitting. I just attached the hose directly to the faucet and attached the hose directly to the unit using a metal band tightener.
http://www.amazon.com/Contech-CRO101-Scarecrow-Activated-Sprinkler/dp/B000071NUS

Sounds like just what I need. Where do you live? Maybe I could buy it off you if you think you won't need it anymore!

Ambersky

Im going to hold onto it dr ro in case we get any new cats in the area in future who haven't heard about the no go area that is my garden :P.
I only had it on for a few days and now I have it down for a few weeks and Im wondering, is that it, or will they realise it is safe for them to come back in.
Mine was posted out fairly quick when I ordered it and as I say it worked.
Do a bit of research on it and see if its what you want yourself.

dr ro

I will. Thanks for the suggestion.

candle_wax

I think it's hard to tell how the neighbours would react without knowing them at all.

My sister had the same problem, and sprinkled chili powder or paprika or something around her garden for a few days. She said it worked a treat and the cat never came back because they couldn't stand the scent..

I have two indoor/outdoor cats, and the reason I let them out is NOTHING to do with not wanting to deal with poo - they are litter tray trained, and most of the time go inside in their tray so I deal with it every day! They're outside for between 1-5 hours a day, depending. I can't swear they use their tray 100%, but I've seen them occasionally use our own garden, and I can't 100% swear they don't use any of the neighbours' from time to time.

Anyway, if a neighbour did tell me they had been using their garden, I would be mortified and incredibly apologetic. I would probably try to not let the cats outside for a week or so, and get them fully committed to their tray again... I don't mind dealing with their poo, but nobody else should have to

Pumpkinseeds

I've heard of people planting pampas grass as a deterent in places were cats toilet. Its sharp and prickly apparently and cats don't like it.