As a cat owner I can see both sides. My neighbour's cat craps in my garden and it is annoying, partly because my dog tries to eat it (dogs can be disgusting creatures ) but mainly when I'm weeding and find it barely covered. On the other hand, how is a cat owner supposed to control where an outdoor cat poos?


How?

im glad you agree about not hurting them, but its impossible to stop a cat pooping and roaming.

keep it indoors, yes, but a lot of people do not agree with it, including many specialists who beleive indoor cats develop mental health problems.

My 2 cats are actually indoor cats, they have never been outside, execpt when they were found dumped.

They were obviously abused, and badly mistreated as it took me 2 years to get them comfortable to even be in the same house as me.

now they are loving little things and i adore them, but if they even showed the slightest interest of even wanting to go outside, right now they are just too timid, i would gladly let them outside.

It's not impossible, confine the cat to your garden for example - basically it's not my problem to solve, you're the pet owner, you're the one with responsiblities, not me. Dog owners are expected to clear up and can be fined for not doing so, why are cat owners exempt? It is a problem, a bloody horrible one, yet it's the people who don't own the cat that have to clear up their mess - how on earth is that right?

ETA: Sorry, just read that back and it sounds like I'm having a go at Muffin, honestly not, just asking the questions

next you will be wanting birds to have asbos for shitting on your windows!

they are cats! they do what they like, you cant confine a cat to anywhere, espically a garden, it will find a way out, unless you want a huge cage view everytime u look out your back window.

and im not disagreeing with you about how annoying it is to find a few poos in your garden, but i really dont think it warrents locking every single cat away, what about stray cats, they going to get shot ?, what your suggesting is extremely extreme.

Sorry, but if you live anywhere where you have neighbours there will be annoyances. I rate cat poo as considerably less annoying than dogs constantly barking, loud music, cars blocking my driveway. It is annoying but it is not worth getting irate and vindictive about - which the OP's neighbour clearly is.

But considerate cat owners will always agree to clear up their cats' messes, if asked - and indeed should offer to replace anything their cat breaks.

it doesnt matter, we are just discussing, im taking no offence

I'd just imagine as an elderly person, he loves his garden and has a lot of emotion invested in it.

I'm a cat owner but can't tell you how repulsed i am when digging in me veggie garden and find a nice fresh cat calling card. My neighbour is a cat lady - she has about 7 of the things and it DOES impact neighbours (everyone on this row of houses has maybe one cat).

The worst thing was when I was picking a handful of straw that had fallen from a bale down to the floor of my outhouse for my much loved bunnies - and there nestling in it was a cat poo. Repellent. (I know it wasn't my cat as she's gone in the outhouse and just sat there for years without a single accident. The neighbour's cat had 5 kittens last year and it's only since this explosion in cat population that my veggie garden and outhouse are now laced with cat bombs).

When my cat goes I won't be replacing her now - as there are just too many of the things in this handful of gardens. We all have dogs too but they get exercised, poo elsewhere and are picked up after - and even though there is a comunal area, it never has dog poo on it. The cats are way more antisocial a pet as they 'bury' it so the owners think it's dealt with.

It's not just the pooing that is distressing for gardeners to cope with - but also the digging. I've lost a lot of seedlings in the past to cats using my garden as a litter tray. Anything to repell or scare them from a 'working' area has to be a good thing, so long as it doesn't hurt them in any way.

I agree. As a cat owner myself, both mine are indoor cats and use a litter box for which I take responsibility.

That's a good idea. The pet owner can have a cage whenever they look out their back window and the neighbours don't have to remove cat mess and replace destroyed plants.

its responses like this that do no favours for cat lovers. Its not just poo, its mushy mess that smells bad for weeks on end.

By teh same reasoning, its only cats...they are free on any website you care to look. You can always get another one, if the neighbour is successful in elimination.

How


by not keepings them as pets.

Ah the sensible solution. Shall we get rid of all the birds cos they sometimes crap on your washing and newly cleaned car? Actually, we should probably get rid of cars because they sometimes leave oil on the ground and they kick out fumes

cats do a very good job of it..

i agree

Birds are wild creatures. Cats are pets. If someone wants to keep a pet, they should take more responsibility for looking after it.

I know whose side I'm on and it's not on the side of someone who values plants and pots before animals.

One of the biggest and most nonsensical myths around.

Cats have been around since time immemorial and there have been far more strays at times in the past than now but birds and other small wildlife have thrived. The fall in the bird population is down to the destruction of their natural habitat and the overuse of pesticides that are as toxic to them as to their intended target, though over a longer period and higher dosage.

Funnily enough, a rise in the bird population has followed the drop in building due to the slump in the property market, the increase in organic farming and the resurgence of local produce buying.

People should be responsible for their animals, dog owners are supposed to be, why is it different for cats? Cats are not wild, they should be treated the same as dogs, either kept on a lead or kept in the house. If my dog poos outside I pick it up, why should it not be the same for cat owners?

Another clear case where cat lovers will peddle, collectively, a blatantly false viewpoint that absolves cats of all blame in the rapid decline of the garden bird population in UK.

We are not saying that cats are to blame for all the ills of the bird. Ofcouse farming practices have also contributred

BUT THE WANTON SLAUGTER OF ABOUT 2 MILLION GARDEN BIRDS EVERY YEAR BY THE WRETCHED CATS OF THIS LAND HAS ALSO CONTRIBUTED MASSIVELYTO THE DEMISE OF GARDEN BIRDS.

Thats because cat owners are selfish frankly.

This is why cat owners get a bad name.

There was a thread in GD recently remarking that a lot threads recently seem to be intentionally provocative and devisive. This is yet another - completely pointless because so many people arrive with the 'agree with me or die" attitude. Waste of time contributing, so bye.

There seems to be some cat owners who think it is a cats right to go into other peoples gardens shit ,piss, kill birds, and wildlife and damage property, even at times enter houses and terrorise pet birds, kids,e.t.c. and the owners have to sit back and do nothing to protect their property in my opinion these are lazy selfish ignorant people

Cats were not 'invented' so humans could keep them as pets. In the natural order of things, birds are a food source for cats, as the Almighty intended so it's a bit unfair to blame cat owners for that. We could also argue that birds are responsible for the desimation of the worm population, but that would be bordering on the ridiculous. However, it's the same ball park.

Whether humans kept cats as pets or not, cats would still be roaming the earth, and birds would still be their prey.

Have to agree. These threads always end up the same.