My Neighbour and my cats

ithinkyourcrazy

I have five cats aged between 2 and 15. Sorry for the rant and long story!

My neighbour HATES all them and hates all animals. Her children love all animals and come round a lot asking to see the cats and stroke them.
My cats are allowed to go outside via a cat flap and spend about 90% of their time indoors. When they are out exploring they do use a bunker in her garden to jump up onto the fence to come back into my garden.
A few years ago one of my older cats took to having a poo in my neighbours front garden, I went round everyday to clear this up and eventually my cat was PTS.

A few days ago the lady next door mentioned to my mother that the cats were using her bunker to come into the garden and it was annoying her and needed it to stop.My mum told her she would look on the internet to try and get something to stop them using it. The lady quickly backed down and said there wasn't a problem. In the past she has told us she would spray the cats with water when they were in her garden.

So on Wednesday one of my two year old cats was quite ill, being sick a lot, but not bringing any food up, just clear fluid. Finally got him into the vets (my cat has extra digits, can't think of the correct term now, but he has little thumbs. my neighbour has told me this gives her the creeps) on Friday.

The vet was very concerned as he couldn't feel his bladder, my cat was dehydrated and had a very fast heart beat. We had to rush him to the nearest vets to be rehydrated and blood taken.

The tests came back okay, bloods shows a mild infection and some other medical bits and bobs. Vet said he could have eaten something that made him poorly.
I know I am being totally OTT but I really think my neighbour had something to do with this.

She makes lots of comments about how much she hates the cats, I am not the only one on the street with animals, plenty of people have both cats and dogs.

I am just glad my boy is home and okay.
Luckily the snow has insured that the cats are all staying indoors. They love going outside and have all always had freedom so keeping them inside is not an option.
If anything else like this happens again I really will go and say something. Next time I see her I will slip into conversation about my £200 vet bill from Friday.

Sorry for the long post! Just needed somewhere to vent.

Thank you for reading:o

rising_from_the_ashes

He's a polydactyl - ohhhhhhh, you're so lucky!

Sorry to hear you're having neighbour troubles - very difficult to deal with (been there) but also very difficult to resolve.

One of mine was poisioned when he was around 6 months old and very nearly died - I was sure it was a neighbour (also had huge problems & he hated the cats - 15 between 4 houses - and had threatened to do it .... but could I prove it, nope!)

On the one hand, if she doesn't like animals, I can see how it annoys her to have them coming into her garden - on the other, how do you stop it.....

I'm afraid you have no way of knowing that your neighbour's done anything - he could literally have eaten anything ...... even a mouse that has been poisioned can have a really bad effect on them and is practically impossible to find out.

By all means speak to your neighbour, but I do think it needs to be done tactfully or things could be made a lot worse.

Hope he's on the road to recovery soon ...... (((hugs)))

ariba10

I hate cats and would not like to live next door to you.

Having said that, there is no way that I would hurt one.

They might come home to you soaking wet at times but that would be the limit.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

He could have eaten a mouse or bird that gave him an upset just as easily, though.

One of mine that doesn't leave the back garden will chuck up when something in the food doesn't agree with her. Or if I happen to have shampooed the two rugs in the house.

It's too much of a leap to assume that your neighbour could have given the cat an infection and to mention the vet bill would probably not help, as if she doesn't like animals, she isn't going to respond in a way you would expect her to, or she could be (justifiably) furious you are suggesting she did it when she hasn't.

Either way, it's not a tactic I would recommend.


Is there no way you could cat proof the fence heading towards her garden? So it's just easier for them to take the less effort route going left off the fence, rather than right, for example?

Or ask her if she had thought of a way to discourage the cats from using her garden without hurting them, so you could help her with it?



I cringed when I had to deal with the fox messing in the garden - and I actually like the things - so I think I can sympathise with her, even though her attitude is really alien to me at the same time.

ithinkyourcrazy

Thank you yes, he is polydactyl! The term went completely out of my mind! He is a lot better, sat here in front of the fire, looking very sorry for himself where they had to insert the IV.

She really isn't a nice woman, her husband and children are lovely and friendly. Even though my house isn't joined on to her I hear her shouting and bawling at them night and day.

I would understand if they were in her garden all day long, but we live in a rural area full of fields. They literally only use her garden to jump on her bunker to get back home. They have much more fun running around the fields then anything else.
I do feed her fish and check on her house when she is away so we normally do get on, it is just the cat issue that seems to be the problem.

Thank you for all the replies

ithinkyourcrazy

@ JoJo new higher fence was fitted last year. Thanks for the advice, I will keep on eye on things for a while and see if anything else happens.

rising_from_the_ashes

ithinkyourcrazy wrote: »

I would understand if they were in her garden all day long, but we live in a rural area full of fields. They literally only use her garden to jump on her bunker to get back home. They have much more fun running around the fields then anything else.

Does your garden also join the fields?

Mine has a neighbour on 2 sides and a field on another - I've cut a small hole (cat flap size;)) in my fence where it joins the field and mine now use this all the time rather than going "up and over".

Might be worth a try (or putting something on the other side of your fence they could get onto) to see if they'll use that instead.

winterwhite11

attach some chicken wire to the top of your excisting fence..roll it a bit at the top and then let it dangle a bit on your side..tha cats won,t go over it..

purple.sarah

I can understand why your neighbour would have a problem, you let 5 cats roam and use her garden as a toilet. It's a big leap from her not liking the cats and spraying them with water, which is a harmless correction, to poisoning them. Has she threatened to? Has the vet actually said the cat was poisoned or just that "he could have eaten something that made him poorly" (like a bad mouse)? The reality is because you let him out you have no idea what he could have eaten. I hope he is ok but don't accuse your neighbour without evidence as that would make the situation worse.

Tippytoes

My neighbour has several cats and they attract even more. I am sick of them using my garden to crap in. Typical summer day, windows open and the sweet smell of poo wafting in. I will admit that I put on the marigolds and chuck it back.

Same cats use my fence as a scratching post. They have actually ripped it to shreds over the years and I'm not happy about that either.

Oh, and only the other day, I opened my front door to yellow tomcat spray running down it.

I would never harm an animal, but cat owners should stop and think about the nuisance their beloved pets cause others.

This summer I'm going to buy one of those super soakers......

SUESMITH_2

like cats, could never harm them but get really peed off by our neighbours cats who come into my garden and use it as a toilet. one of them seems to like my house, can't leave doors open as it comes in, came home from work one day, looked upstairs and the blessed thing was sat in my bedroom window licking itself. god knows how it got in. I'm also v allergic to them.

i would be very surprised if she poisoned it, and if you accuse her life could get v difficult