My neighbor's cat

[Lan(r)12]

They can say it's harmful and make it sound like an apocalyptic plague all they want. All the evidence I have is anecdotal at best, so I doubt you would care iNow. My main argument being that I am alive and have never fallen ill due to those diseases you described...and trust me...there have been a LOT of cats crap in our vegetable garden.

[stereologist]

Fresh cat crap is not a good idea for fertilizer. Composted crap is. Diseases called zoonotic diseases can be transferred from animals to human via crap. There are parasites such as hook worm that can be transferred.

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I have been a car crash and come out unscathed. I do not think it would be wise of me to suggest to anyone that the same applies to them. Just because someone has been fortunate to avoid injury in a situation does not change the evidence that people do become ill from exposure to animal feces.

[Mokele]

My main argument being that I am alive and have never fallen ill due to those diseases you described...and trust me...there have been a LOT of cats crap in our vegetable garden.

 

You have. You just don't know it. The main problem with cat crap is a nasty little protist called Toxoplasma gondii, which, once it gets into you, migrates throughout your body and forms cycsts. The immune system reacts, and it hides in the cyst and eats the antibodies - cunning little thing.

 

In healthy adult humans, there are no symptoms, as the disease is *supposed* to infect mice, which serve only as the indeterminate host (the one where it doesn't reproduce). But if your immune system is compromised, it can become lethal. That's why pregnant women aren't supposed to clean the cat litter - the parasite can cross the placenta and kill the fetus. You're fine now, but if you ever need an organ transplant or chemotherapy, you're in deep, deep shit, because the drugs to deal with this thing are beyond nasty.

 

I should also note it's capable of mind control. Yes, that's right. In mice, the normal host, it secretes chemicals that alter the mouse's fear response, and make it attracted to the scent of cats. It then gets eaten, the parasites mature and breed in the cat's gut, and the eggs are passed with the feces. There is strongly suggestive evidence that, while we're immune to serious effects simply due to our large body mass, infection with this parasite alters your personality in subtle ways. There is also evidence it may trigger latent schizophrenia, increase the chance of traffic accidents due to cognitive deficit, and alter sex ratio of births.

 

Congratulations, you have a mind-controlling parasite. But don't feel bad - 10% of the US population is similarly infected. In France and Brazil, the rate is over 80%.

[John Cuthber]

This

http://www.vanmeuwen.com/plant/73965

has the advantage of being there when you are out.

[Mokele]

Nah, try This instead.

 

As bad as it would be for the cat, you must admit it would be funny to tell the neighbors that your plant *ate* the cat.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

waitforufo: you said you have a fence. How is the cat getting in? If there's a way to just block it off, you could try that and save yourself a lot of trouble.

[iNow]

Cats are rather agile (as a general rule) and can quite simply scale a fence... That's the case in my yard, anyway. 8ft fence, cat climbs right over it.

[Mr Skeptic]

The thing with the super soaker is not to wait around for the cat to come, just spray it whenever you see it. Some stinky stuff would also be nice, so your neighbors can get a whiff too.

 

Do electric collars work on cats?

[GutZ]

 

Do electric collars work on cats?

 

cruel....but very funny.

 

imagine what the cat is thinking.

 

*Zap*

Cat: "wtf was that?"

*zap*

Cat-"Invisible electric walls? those humans....they've gone too far."

 

[Sisyphus]

From a quick Google search, I see several different methods claiming to be able to cat-proof a fence. It's probably worth at least looking into, although it would involve at least some additional work, expense, and something permanent you'll have to look at.

[Phi for All]

As I said in the OP I did try crushed red pepper. I also looked in to chemical repellants and checked them out at the local farm supply store. In my opinion the chemical repellants work by smelling worse than cat urine. They are also expensive and have to be reapplied each time it rains. I also looked into the motion activated sprinkler. Because of the layout of my back yard and house I think I would need two of them. Also I run a timed set of sprinklers off my hose bib to irrigate some of my more water hungry trees and shrubs so I don't over water the rest of my yard and garden with my underground system

Too much effort and expense. You become the victim of the problem AND the solution.

 

When speaking to them they seem to already know that their cat uses my back yard as a latrine. They seemed to think that this was the natural order of things. On the other hand perhaps they are just upset that I burst their bubble about the magical cat crap pixies. Maybe they just can't believe that their precious adorable pet actually produces excrement.

I really dislike it when people make *their* problems *my* problems. It shows a complete disrespect. As a pet owner who carries plastic bags so my problem doesn't stay on your lawn when me and my dog walk by, I object to anyone who would put a "neighbor" through such a hassle.

 

The funny thing was that when I complained the woman next door seemed to think I was making a big deal about nothing. "It's only cat poop for goodness sake." When she found it on her front porch she said it was "just disgusting!" When I smilingly told her "It's only cat poop for goodness sake" I thought she was going to blow a gasket.

If you could post a video of that on YouTube, it would be #1 for a month (or at least, and more appropriately, #2)

 

 

So yesterday afternoon I set up the cat trap in my back yard. I made sure it was in full view of my neighbors back balcony. It has a safety catch so you can bait it without having the door snap closed. I left the safety catch engaged. This morning when I was getting the newspaper she was waiting to give me a piece of her mind. When I told her I leased the trap from animal control for 5 bucks a month plus a refundable deposit and told her about their policy for unlicensed stay cats she said I was just despicable. The cost to her would be for the surgery to fix her cat plus 80 bucks.

The cheapest and most effective solution. Despicable? Not in the moral sense, since morally the cat isn't harmed, you aren't harmed, and the neighbors aren't harmed. But they may despise you because, as you said, you are taking away their magic crap pixies. Or rather you are arranging for the crap pixies to start costing them money.

 

 

I'll keep you posted.

Please doo.

[DrP]

Just an idea - if you welcomed, petted and fed the cat regularly, would it not start to like you and poo in someone else's garden? Probably not, but worth a try?

 

I had garden boxes in a place I used to live in which I grew runner beans. The cats pooped in them all the time. I tried several things. The one that worked the most was taking clippings and old thorney stickes from the rose bush and arranging them in the boxes where the beans grew. Outside of the box I stuck the sticks in the ground pointing outwards to make it hard for the cats to jump into the boxes. (If they made the jump over the spikey sticks, then they landed in more thorney sticks) This worked quite well. Thus - you may just be able to barracade the cat's favourite area off with some thorney sticks? OK - they might just find another spot in the garden, but mine didn't. they left for another garden altogether - they are quite fussy. If I were a cat (particularly male) I wouldn't want to jump a load of thorney sticks. Just think if you caught something on a thorn mid jump! Mee-ouch!

[Lan(r)12]

Like I said...

"Heeeerrrreeee kitty kitty kitty kitty. Theres a good kitty, cmere kitty kitty"

*rifle cocks*

Phhht...thud

 

Problenm solved. It is completely legal since you have already spoken to animal control and the neighbors and both have done nothing.

 

You could go all "heart of darkness" on it and put it on a pole in your yard to warn other neighbors aobut their cats...but then that would be illegal and make you evil...so you probably shouldnt do that...

[John Cuthber]

Nah, try This instead.

 

As bad as it would be for the cat, you must admit it would be funny to tell the neighbors that your plant *ate* the cat.

 

Neat, but not, I fear, very practical.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Aha, I just recalled another cheap cat trick we've used before.

 

Mousetraps work well. Not set right-side-up with bait, mind you, since that would just be mean; take the traps and very carefully set them upside down in locations in your garden. Maybe conceal them a bit. The cat will step on the trap, it'll go off (but not hurt the cat, since it's upside down), and the cat will run for cover.

 

Make your garden scary enough and you'll keep the cat away.

[hermanntrude]

They can say it's harmful and make it sound like an apocalyptic plague all they want. All the evidence I have is anecdotal at best, so I doubt you would care iNow. My main argument being that I am alive and have never fallen ill due to those diseases you described...and trust me...there have been a LOT of cats crap in our vegetable garden.

 

dont feed your vegetables to any pregnant women. Toxoplasmosis can finish a pregnancy in a very unpleasant manner.

[Lan(r)12]

Yeah, I minimized the risk of toxoplasmosis (which after some research is a bad little bugger). I hereby withdraw my statement with respect to this topic.

[Mag]

I apologize for not reading the whole thread, but the answer is very simple.

 

Your neighbors need to buy their cat a littler box.

 

That's it.

 

It can still get "fresh air" - as the owners said; having a litter box does not mean the cat can't go out doors, it just means it'll do it's business inside.

My uncle's cat is an outdoor cat, still has a litter box though, and uses it all the time.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

The existence of a litter box does not stop my cats from using the outdoors as well. It's just convenient.

[Mag]

The existence of a litter box does not stop my cats from using the outdoors as well. It's just convenient.

 

true, but it would certainly reduce the amount of time that the cat went into his yard.

[waitforufo]

Thinking about the litter box posts, here is what I did. From scrap lumber I nailed to together a wooden frame 3ft x 2ft x 3 inches. I put this on the ground up against my neighbor's house and filled it with sand. Then I buried some fresh cat crap in it. So far no new cat crap in my yard. All it really cost me was three bucks for the bag of sand.

[GutZ]

I still think you should supersoaker the cat still just for the hell of it.

 

 

sweet sweet revenge, soaked cat in house,

[mrsemmapeel]

I think you should buy a dog or just chill the hell out, truth is if you've got a freshly dug piece of ground then there are probably many cats shitting in your garden, unfortunately that's what cats do. I've got 2 cats, one only goes on the cat tray whereas the other does it in the tray and outside, there isn't alot I can do about it. I also enjoy growing veg and generally check the patch for crap every other day and then remove it. I would also like to add, I've never seen my cat shit in my garden, but I've seen her do it in the neighbours, and I've seen the neighbours cat shit in my garden. Oh well that's life, I try not to let it get to me or it could become some kind of vendetta and I could fall out with people that I live next too, in my opinion life's too short for all that shit!