Cat poop or wild animal droppings? Warning; pile picture!

I am not aware that a cat owner would have to prevent their outdoor cat from trespassing on other properties. How should that be done? !

Hello kaho74

it's like with all things that are mine: I am responsible for them. Whether a dog or a cat urinates in my garden. I don't want that. If you can't teach your cat otherwise, that's not my problem. Just don't let the cat out or fence your property so that the cat can't leave it. It's really no problem. Why do cat owners think differently?

Steven

Hello kaho74

it's like with all things that belong to me: I am responsible.
Whether a dog or a cat pees in my garden. I don’t want that. If you can’t teach your cat not to do that, that’s not my problem. Just don’t let the cat out or fence your property so the cat cannot leave it.
It’s really not a problem. Why do cat owners think differently?

Steven

I rather believe that people who don’t like cats somehow cling to their rights and become very intolerant. Stubborn. One half of their brain switches off, namely the reasonable one, the one with foresight. The stubborn "ButIAmRight" takes too much dominance.

I rather believe that people who don’t like cats somehow dig in their heels and become very intolerant. Stubborn. Sometimes one half of the brain switches off, namely the reasonable one, the one with foresight. The obstinate “But I am right” takes too much dominance.

Hello ypg I like cats. and I like dogs. I grew up with cats. As a natural regulator of the mouse population, so to speak. But at that time it was still the case that you went to check where the cat had given birth to her kittens, and if no one wanted a kitten, they were killed. But there were also more natural landscapes then, where lizards and birds could hide. In today’s landscape with the countless cats (and also dogs) wild animals (from lizards, to lapwings, to young hares) have a hard time escaping the hunter cat. What I don’t understand: everyone agrees that a dog owner is responsible for the dog and must never allow the dog to hunt. Cat owners apparently see it as a right that their cat goes hunting outside every day. A cat is a thing, like a dog. Shouldn’t exactly the same rights or also the same duties apply to everyone in this regard? Or do you see yourself as a cat owner privileged and is it ok for you to have this destructive interference with nature, which is not ok for dog owners? Steven

Hi,

If you let a child into nature, whether it’s a garden or a public playground – you always have to expect that, for example, the child might get stung by something, there might be a shard of glass lying around somewhere, or an object of desire might be put into their mouth. I bet that far more "dangers" are lurking in your garden than from that sh***pile. For example, dangerous worms or poisonous plants. Thorns on branches... And if they are wild animals, there’s nothing you can do anyway.

That’s exactly the kind of discussion I actually wanted to avoid....

Of course kids have to take some knocks outside sometimes, my daughter’s legs occasionally look like she hacked her way through the Amazon jungle... Completely fine, and it has to be that way! Scratched legs are legs of happy kids!

My kids are more than welcome to eat earthworms, they’re a great source of protein. But they don’t like them, I already offered...

There really aren’t any poisonous plants in our garden right now, that would be pretty stupid for a newly planted garden with kids of that age. There are even a few plants with thorns, we have some sea buckthorn.

Severe health hazards? Yes, sure, unfortunately that’s the case. Do the keywords toxoplasmosis or dog tapeworm mean anything to you? We’ve had both in the family, also because the topic wasn’t taken seriously beforehand. You don’t want to go through that again.

You really have to accept wild animals, but even there you can take deterrent measures if you want to.

But now everyone relax a bit, first catch the culprit on camera and then you can calmly consider what to do.

I haven’t installed a spring gun yet and would like to avoid that...

Maybe it’s enough to leave the outdoor lighting on at night and that’s it.

We’ll see...

Best regards,

Andreas

so slow down a bit.
First of all, I have 3 cats myself, have been clicker training them for years (so I know what you can and cannot teach a cat) and I used to give seminars on cat behavior on the side.

1. You cannot restrict a cat’s range of movement. A "sit, stay here" is something completely different from opening the door and the kitty running off. Even you don’t know what the best-trained cat in the world does when unsupervised. The only way to train a cat to stay within a certain radius is to strap a camera with a shock collar on her and deliver a stimulus whenever she goes too far.
What’s tricky with a cat (as opposed to a dog) is that she ties behaviors to situations/people. If you’re there, madam will never, ever get on the table. If you’re gone, it’s a completely different story. Cats are territorial both in time and space.
2. I can understand that it annoys you. It would annoy me, too. But unfortunately, urinating/marking outdoors is part of a cat’s species-specific behavior. In other words, every court in Germany will just shrug and try to calm you down with a cookie. That’s how the legal side of things goes.
3. Every good neighbor will try to find a solution with you. Unfortunately, outdoor cats are not always easy to handle. You cannot "demand" a solution.
4. You should definitely avoid exaggerated scare tactics that amount to bodily harm to the animal (throwing objects at the animal, electric shock systems, etc.). Courts dislike THAT immensely and animal cruelty is punished with heavy fines. Apart from the huge stress with your neighbor.
5. "Then you just have to keep the cat indoors" is just as silly a statement as telling a beekeeper they should keep their bees in the hive because the buzzers annoy you in the garden and you’re afraid the allergic child will get stung by the insects.
6. Fencing the garden so cats cannot get out... I guess you wouldn’t find that appealing either if your neighbor built Fort Knox. A cat fence must be at least 2.50 meters high to be really secure. Plus a few other criteria. It looks awful, I can tell you.

But before the crying about cat ownership continues, first find out what/who is messing on your lawn. Then you can see what to do next.

Hello Andreas

buy yourself a wildlife camera. or try to borrow one.
They don’t cost much and take quite decent pictures at night.
In addition to my video surveillance, I also have 2 of these wildlife cameras in the garden. And one captured 2 people with balaclavas behind my terrace almost 2 years ago in autumn. At 3:30 AM. My video system "missed" that.

Steven