My cats digging up neighbours plants

mdwexford

As the title suggests my neighbour who I don't know personally just called and said my cats (I have 4) are digging up plants his wife plants outside their front door.

There are no gardens or walls here just patches of grass outside the houses if you know what I mean.

He has threatened the cats to another neighbour but hasn't said this to me.

Any suggestions what I can do to stop them going over there and doing this?

professore

Nothing at all except get rid of your cats. Have you ever heard the expression "like herding cats" ? Cats do whatever they want, and cannot be trained, unlike dogs. Unless you lock them in 24/7 I suppose.

I doubt they are digging up plants, more likely just digging a hole to cover their business, unless your neighbour has planted catnip everywhere!

We have 2 cats doing that, and neighbours put bottles filled with water everywhere in their garden to repel them. If anything it attracted them more.

I've learned long ago that neighbours will find something to complain about - generally the same neighbours who make an awful nuisance of themselves to other neighbours - like flaming rows at 4 AM etc.

You either ignore them, or bend to their every whim. If you choose the latter option you will find yourself decorating your house to suit their tastes - and they will STILL find something to complain about.

You choose.

Pumpkinseeds

It's actually one of the most common complaints from neighbours. We have 4 cats and thankfully our cats don't dig in peoples gardens. I've heard good things about this device called sssscat. The idea is that it scares the cat away from an area you don't want it to go to and that eventually it sees the area as being hostile and avoids it altogether. They can be bought on Amazon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmUcdHwAgkk

I wouldn't take the threat made to the neighbour lightly, some people do awful things like poisoning cats or dumping them. If it were my cats I would by the ssscat for the neighbours as a peace offering. If nothing else it will show them that you're trying to do something about the issue. Oh, we opened a Parcel Motel account to get around Amazon sellers that don't ship to Ireland and it often works out a lot cheaper to have delivery there too. Good luck with it.:)

Ken.

Have you considered buying a few plants similar to your neighbours plants and cross your fingers that the cats take a liking to the shiny new ones.

MrWalsh

ken wrote: »

Have you considered buying a few plants similar to your neighbours plants and cross your fingers that the cats take a liking to the shiny new ones.

Its not the plants the cats are after, its the soil to bury their toileting.

A better option would be to get nice soil for them to use outside your own house. If its just patches of grass outside houses then the cats are likely to move on when one area becomes heavily toileted and they consider it dirty.

Alun

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I've heard good things about this device called sssscat. The idea is that it scares the cat away from an area you don't want it to go to and that eventually it sees the area as being hostile and avoids it altogether.

They work very well indoors, but aren't really designed for outdoor use.

tk123

We've had success with Get Off My Lawn crystals. Woodies etc would have them or a pet shop At the time it was to keep the neighbours cat from pooing in our garden - I let my own cat sniff the crystals and he scrunched up his face and hid under the table lol

aaakev

professore wrote: »

I've learned long ago that neighbours will find something to complain about - generally the same neighbours who make an awful nuisance of themselves to other neighbours - like flaming rows at 4 AM etc.

You either ignore them, or bend to their every whim. If you choose the latter option you will find yourself decorating your house to suit their tastes - and they will STILL find something to complain about.

You choose.

to be fair the neighbours have a legitimate complaint here so hab not just found something to give out about. iv been in the position of the neighbour dealing with inconsiderate people who dont care where their cats **** when they let them out, theu were ****ting in flower beds that the kids helped keep and my other neighbours vegetable garden. not only is that disgusting its dangerous.

suggesting the op ignores the neighbour is just bad advice.

Any way you can keep them inside?

mdwexford

Some things to try anyway.

Not feasible to keep 4 cats indoors really and they've always been outdoor cats. We've been renting our current house for a year and this is the first we have heard of this.

I've put litter boxes down the bottom of our garden now so hopefully they might use those a bit. I'll try the soil thing and get the get off my lawn stuff to give to them so they know we are trying to do something about it.

At the end of the day though cats wander, there are plenty of other cats in the estate as well so not sure how he knows it's ours all the time.

Pumpkinseeds

Even something like putting a little square of bark chippings in your own garden or a little patch of garden compost to tempt them to use your own garden might solve the problem.:)

Shivi111

If I were you I would be sympathetic to the neighbour and make a real effort not to be dismissive of any concerns they have.
Maybe apologise and offer to repalce any damaged plants? Then purchase something like Get Off My Lawn crystals and give them to the neighbour. Even if this doesn't resolve the issue the fact that you listened and tried to resolve it might improve things?

One of my cats took to going into my neighbours house via the open window, they were not a bit happy! There was little I could do to stop him but just by engaging with them on the issue they got over it. We playacted a little, (I am aware this sound bizzare!) I brought the cat in my arms to the door while they were there and told him off ('Were you in this nice ladies house, thats very bold' etc.) She probably thinks I'm a bit off the wall now, but arrived angry and left laughing. (I've seen her feed him chicken pieces since so I think they are friends now!)

mdwexford

Shivi111 wrote: »

If I were you I would be sympathetic to the neighbour and make a real effort not to be dismissive of any concerns they have.
Maybe apologise and offer to repalce any damaged plants? Then purchase something like Get Off My Lawn crystals and give them to the neighbour. Even if this doesn't resolve the issue the fact that you listened and tried to resolve it might improve things?

One of my cats took to going into my neighbours house via the open window, they were not a bit happy! There was little I could do to stop him but just by engaging with them on the issue they got over it. We playacted a little, (I am aware this sound bizzare!) I brought the cat in my arms to the door while they were there and told him off ('Were you in this nice ladies house, thats very bold' etc.) She probably thinks I'm a bit off the wall now, but arrived angry and left laughing. (I've seen her feed him chicken pieces since so I think they are friends now!)

Yeah well I don't want to be on bad terms with anyone and obviously if I act like a knob he can take it out on the cats which I certainly don't want.

Plus I do appreciate its not nice to have his wife replant things and have cat poo outside your house.

My cats were actually doing the exact same to another neighbour getting in her window and she was cracking up but like you we offered some suggestions and tried to be nice and we haven't heard any more about it since and she always says hello now anyway.