Is there a bonafide way to stop cats and foxes coming into my garden?
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For the record, my opinions aside I would work with any neighbour that approached me sensibly with a complaint about the cat.
The crystal things that give off a scent the cats don’t like can work, however require upkeep. I’d certainly be happy to fund this upkeep if it stopped some deranged garden obsessed neighbour murdering my pet.0 -
It’s not realistic to expect cats to be kept indoors, their natural instinct is to be outside roaming. We have a litter tray, the cat doesn’t always use it and I know full well it is pooping outside sometimes, but there is naff all I can do about it. It’s nature, just like the bird crap all over my car and the bloody dog next door that barks.
If cats were not kept as pets they would still be roaming about as stray wild animals like you see in many foreign countries, mating and breeding on a larger scale.
Like the story in the press recently about people fixing spikes to tree branches to stop birds pooing in their cars, it’s sad how anti-nature people are in pursuit of a pristine garden & car.
Being against cats roaming about isn't anti-nature. Domestic and feral cats are not native and do quite a bit of damage to nature by hunting wildlife and in Scotland interbreeding with the native and endangered wild cat. In the wild a predator like a cat would only exist at very low densities with each one having a big territory (probably hundredths of the density of domestic cats).
Nature is the wood pigeons that sometimes eat my vegetables and fruit, which is annoying but something I accept because they are wild animals. Cats are someone's responsibility.
If I had a pet baboon or raccoon or something else unusual and it went scratching up and carping all over the neighbours gardens it would be considered unacceptable, but cats get a free pass.Solar install June 2022, Bath
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SSW roof. ~22° pitch, BISF house. 12 x 400W Hyundai panels0 -
If I had a pet baboon or raccoon or something else unusual and it went scratching up and carping all over the neighbours gardens it would be considered unacceptable, but cats get a free pass.
Because cats are nothing like having a raccoon or a baboon - the former carries disease and the latter can easily (and severely) injure an adult/kill a child. When was the last time you heard of a domestic cat injuring or killing a human?
In all seriousness, what harm do cats actually do?
"scratching up" your garden? are scratches on trees really such a problem? I'd argue a cat has far more right to scratch a tree (again, exhibiting natural behaviour) than you have a right for your view of a tree to be slightly more pleasant!
As for crapping over gardens, that's not really true is it? Most cats bury it, and plenty of other wild animals will crap in your garden regardless. I've found a few cat poos in my garden over time, it's hardly a big deal and far less intrusive in the garden than the amount splattered everywhere by the pigeons, but then I like the tree they also like, so have to make my peace with it!0 -
Being against cats roaming about isn't anti-nature. Domestic and feral cats are not native and do quite a bit of damage to nature by hunting wildlife and in Scotland interbreeding with the native and endangered wild cat. In the wild a predator like a cat would only exist at very low densities with each one having a big territory (probably hundredths of the density of domestic cats).
Domestic pet cats are concentrated in urban and suburban neighbourhoods. There is very little natural or wild about either environment. Humans have absolutely decimated these areas.
Similarly the damage to nature and wildlife in domestic gardens is almost entirely human. We 'cherry pick' the wild species we want, we interfere with natural selection by feeding and taming birds, we destroy habitats by mowing the lawn, pulling up [STRIKE]weeds[/STRIKE] wild flowers and planting non-native species.
Domestic cats in very rural areas are more likely to be farm cats or feral cats than pet cats.The purpose of a working farm cat is to hunt wildlife AKA control vermin. Whose responsibility are feral cats?
There are trap-neuter-release programmes for feral colonies across the UK. Sick and disease carrying (eg. FLV, FIV) feral cats are destroyed not re-released. Have you considered donating to or volunteering for a TNR programme in your area?Nature is the wood pigeons that sometimes eat my vegetables and fruit, which is annoying but something I accept because they are wild animals. Cats are someone's responsibility.
If I had a pet baboon or raccoon or something else unusual and it went scratching up and carping all over the neighbours gardens it would be considered unacceptable, but cats get a free pass.
Wood pigeons are widely considered to be agricultural pests, causing millions of pounds of damage to rural livelihoods each year. It has long been legal to shoot them for that very reason [review expected].
Cats? Not In My Back Yard. Rodents and wood pigeons? Aunt Sally.Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️0 -
Rusty_Shackleton wrote: »Because cats are nothing like having a raccoon or a baboon - the former carries disease...
Oh no, don’t pick at that scab, this thread is far enough off topic already!
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Tammykitty wrote: »You might find you suddenly get a rodent problem if all your neighbors got rid of the cats.
I live in a rural area and a stream runs down the back of the houses on my lane, my neighbor hates cats but is still very grateful I have them as we don't have a rodent problem anymore due to them!
So yes, I think I do actually need a cat
I get stray cats around my house too, and I turn the hose on them
OP - are you sure it is cat poo on the grass - cats tend to go in soil where they can bury it?
Yes, I do find this odd, my first cat like do her 'business' outside - always dug and buried it never on the lawn. Indeed the only time we ever saw it - was when snow thawed. Previous cat - don't know terraced house - no lawn, but in the short time at new house, again not on lawn. Current cat, goes around the borders, or (if she can) in the greenhouse, never on the lawn - has been known to venture next door - to dig. But they are laid back about it, used to look after the cat the other side, and new people there have a cat.
After all, a home is not complete without a cat.I used to work for Tesco - now retired - speciality Clubcard0 -
When I was a student the students next door (not us of course) had similar issues.
They had a small kids paddling pool.
The stuck a plate of cat food in the middle.
Surrounded cat food with contents of some paint they bought.
They put it out at night and brought it back in first thing.
Cats ate food, cats stepped in paint (which from memory was non toxic), cats went home, owners came down next morning and carpets were covered in cat footprints in a shade of colours.
Cats not let out again.0 -
When I was a student the students next door (not us of course) had similar issues.
They had a small kids paddling pool.
The stuck a plate of cat food in the middle.
Surrounded cat food with contents of some paint they bought.
They put it out at night and brought it back in first thing.
Cats ate food, cats stepped in paint (which from memory was non toxic), cats went home, owners came down next morning and carpets were covered in cat footprints in a shade of colours.
Cats not let out again.
Your neighbours were tw@s0
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