Bloody cats !

As I have said before I don't agree that cats can't be trained to use a litter tray. If I managed to train an adult feral cat to use one then it is certainly possible to train kittens.

My property is my property. It is private. Surely I should be able to enjoy my little bit of outside space without worrying about sticking my hands in (other peoples) cat poo.

Maybe there is a case for banning cats in towns and built up areas, where they will always use the nearest garden to their own as their personal toilet. There are very few proper gardens where I live and an awful lot of cats.

We have several cats that use our garden as a walk through and yes, a toilet. We have tried all the deterrents and truthfully none of them work. We have a lot of dog visitors and even that doesn't put them off.
We don't dislike cats, in fact one of our daughters has two beautiful indoor cats. Finding hidden poo when you are gardening is horrid.

Yes, I do think owners should somehow be accountable , there must be some way.

That's as may be, gilly, but I'm talking about keeping public areas clean/hygienic. Surely that is what the law is for, it doesn't apply to people's own property?

There are only so many poops an animal can do in one day though surely angelab and if your cat is doing how ever many on the litter tray then you can be "fairly" confident that it is not always using next doors private garden as a toilet.

Also I remeber only too well having to scrape dog poo off ny shoes while out walking, this has never been the case for cat poo

No. Me and my DGC who love planting/digging in the soil, just tend to get it all over our hands angelab

gillybob my cat and my family's cats have all used litter trays when they are indoors. That's not the same as training them to come in from outside to use the litter tray.

I don't have any pets of my own (as I work and have a lot of family commitments) but I occasionally help my sister out by walking her dog now and again and she is a sweet little thing. Her poops are teeny but I ALWAYS pick them up (I gag, but I do it) as I couldn't bear to think someone would step in it or get it on their hands or clothes. The thought is disgusting. Why do cat owners defend the fact that THEIR animal (probably bigger than my sisters little dog) should be allowed to poo all over other peoples private property and not give a second thought about it? In fact they defend their actions by saying "they are wild animals or there is nothing we can do about it" WELL THERE IS ! Simply don't get a cat if you are not prepared to train them properly to use a litter tray.

True, but that has never (and hopefully never will be) the case with cats. Dogs go out on leads because they can pose a danger to people, which is not the case with cats - as far as I know, no cat has ever savagely attacked anyone while outside?

Don't get me wrong, I love dogs as well, it is the fault of owners that dogs are vicious.

Also I remeber only too well having to scrape dog poo off ny shoes while out walking, this has never been the case for cat poo.

Haha, I certainly don't need your sympathy angelab, I experience plenty of joy from the family dogs, thank you . And their mess is not imposed on other, often dog-free, homes.
Fifty years ago people would have claimed it was a"non-starter" to expect dog owners to pick up after their dogs. And dogs used to go out on their own, not on leads, when I was a child.

indinana, you have my sympathy because you can never experience joy from having a cat curled up on your lap and purring.

It's frankly a non-starter to expect cat owners to pick up after them because cats go out on their own, not on leads.

I hope my cats have never been a nuisance to anyone else. They've pretty much always used our own garden, that I'm aware of, and since 2010 we have only have indoor cats so they're definitely not causing anyone any trouble.

I hope you can find a solution to the problem. If none of the ideas here works, would it be worth actually providing a litter or sand tray outside, in the hopes the cat would use that rather than the beds or grass? Or would it attract even more cats, do you think?

I would NEVER have a cat (or any other animal for that matter) as I work full time. I hate cats anyway. Can't see the point of them other than to go around fighting, shrieking, killing birds and shitting in other peoples gardens.
I couldn't agree more gilly. And as for people saying there's nothing to be done, they're basically wild animals, when they go out there's no way to control their behaviour and so on, well there's your answer - don't let them run free. If people want pets they should accept total responsibility for them. End of. If they can't then they shouldn't have pets. A friend once had a pedigree cat - he built a large run, complete with a little warm hut, with lots of cat toys. This was accessible from the kitchen door, so no trouble to 'let the cat out'. That cat didn't make a nuisance of himself to anyone else, just as it should be.
It just winds me up that people think we should all put up with the incessant cat shit just because, 'well there's nothing you can do'. It's about bloody time something was done. There's been talk of a DNA database to match dog poo to dog owner, so that culprits can be prosecuted - well their owners that is. This could be extended to cats - that would soon galvanise their owners into action!

I am happy to loan out Sam the cat chaser! He's never caught one but he likes to give them a head start !

We never have cat poo in the garden now . He is reasonably cheap, nicely house trained and never digs up the flowers !

The problem is Witzend is that often the cat you love, is the cat that is causing your neighbours so many problems.

We have had cats and loved them, but must confess at the moment to being utterly sick of a neighbour's cat that's always lurking in a shrubby bed of ours, waiting to pounce on the birds that we like to encourage.

The other day I put the hose that bed and really soaked it, but I think I'm going to have to put a load of very prickly prunings in its lurk-space as well.

I share your pain gilly, we are surrounded by cats and get cat poo on the lawn too as well as the borders. We have seen one particular cat defecate on the lawn but can't get to him/her fast enough to deter the action. I wonder if it's because the borders are festooned with a variety of cat repellant products. We also get fox poo which ironically seems easier to clean up. Pepper does work but only temporarily when it's dry, if there is a long term solution I'm afraid it has eluded us. Put my hand in some last week. Definitely not nice!

Thanks Katek The anti-vandal paint might be a good idea. I will get DH on the case tonight.

Me again...sorry! DH has just informed me that Aldi had the paint at very reasonable price.

That's ok gilly - can understand frustration (see above re bird poo!!). Do try the vandal paint, might save some of your sanity!

Hope you can limit their access.

What about anti climb paint on shed roof? It's non drying and sticky, we've used it on roof of village hall boiler house to deter kids from climbing. Cats will not like this at all.

Technically cats are still classified as wild animals, you don't even have to report running them over. I have issues with bird poo-especially seagulls-on windows and cars where it eats the paint. Nothing to be done.

I wasn't having a go at you katek. Sorry. I am just fed up with it.

I expect that there are a lot of cat owners who possibly just don't realise what a problem their animals are causing for other people. and then there are some like my neighbour who probably don't care

Not so Great minds must think alike harrigran as DH said that he was going to throw every pile of shit randomly over the three gardens where we know the cats come from!

I have found some "humane" spikes on the internet designed to keep cats out.... not sure how effective they will be as they don't appear to be sharp... just kind of bobbly. I don't think there is anything I can do about them coming over the shed roof as it is so close to the corner they can just jump straight onto it. Also my front garden is low metal railings so nothing at all would stop them getting in the front. DH covered it with pepper last night which will work today but we can't do that every day unless I can get a truck load of pepper at a discount price! DH was talking about paving the front over last night (as others have done) but I really don't want to as we live on a slight bank and all of the lazy idiots people who have paved theirs wonder why we get a flood at the bottom when it rains. My direct next door neighbour THE ONE WITH THE CAT hasn't even had the sense to incorporate a soak away/stones in theirs and has even covered the little drain, so the water just floods downhill when it rains heavily. Some people really don't have a lot of common sense do they?

I wasn't suggesting for one minute that you weren't having genuine issues gillybob, just that I haven't come across this type of cat behaviour in 50 years of cat ownership and found it puzzling.

I have a cat problem too. I live in the middle of a row of 4 terraced houses. Two cats at one end are let out of an upstairs window onto the flat roof extensions. They then jump down onto the fence and into my small garden and relieve themselves. Sometimes the fattest one can't be bothered to jump down to the garden but leaves it's poo in the top of one of my pots on the roof which I water out of the window. There are far too many cats, and dogs for that matter, around these days! Yuck.