Your Opinion on a Neighbor Issues

[Retired Expat]

I would like your opinion of a few minor neighbor issues. Living in town is a pain for me but my wife is a town type person.

1#>>I have a neighbor that has underground sprinklers and the water hits my house and windows on the bedroom side of the home. If there is a breeze the wind carriers it and mists more then sprays. I have talked to him many times and he understands, he gets and he says he cares, but nothing changes and has continued for years. What would you do

2#>>I also have a neighbor that has up to 3 cats and they poop in my garden, wife flower pots, in the yard. It has been going on for many years and I just clean it up. I haven't talked to them about it. What I have been doing is picking it up and throwing it over the fence on his property. I know it isn't right either but if I have to clean up everyday they can too.

Please let me know if I'm out of line and what would you do or thin of me doing what I have done with throwing to poop our the fence. By the way it is there cats I set up cameras and there is no questions about identity.

Any suggestions on the sprinkler issue would be very helpful also. I also would say these are good people and are responsible in the community but lack for others property the way it seems.

I had neighbor with badly aimed sprinklers. Told him and he promised to take care of it. Nothing.... told him again he said he spoke to his gardener but would remind him. Nothing. So I went over one day and adjusted them. Problem solved .
I have a cat who is insistent on going out. She was a stray rescued from the street. There are some sprays you can try but they don’t last and rain and irrigation wash them away. There are motion detecting sprinklers that you might try as cats hat to get wet.

 

[rt-texas]

Had two cats from across the street that pretty much lived outside and in their garage. They were tearing up my front flower beds and pooping all in it at night.

So for a week, the sprinklers ran at 1am in that flower bed and again at 1:30. Next week was a 2am schedule. 3am etc. Just varied between midnight and 6am for the next 7-8 years on a random late night schedule until they moved away.

Minimal issues after the first month or so.

 

[Amethyst]

The cats found another sandbox. They aren't dumb.

OTOH what kind of sprinkler controller do you have? Our Rainbird would require nightly re-programming to do "random" sprinkling. More of a nuisance than the cats!

[sprinklers] Just varied between midnight and 6am for the next 7-8 years on a random late night schedule until they moved away.

Minimal issues after the first month or so.

 

[ponyboy]

I dont mind cats, but they have no business on other people's property. That sounds strange, but somehow people have normalized cats just wandering everywhere. THat never caught on for dogs, did it?

OP lives in a city so you cannot shoot the cat. I would recommend trapping it and releasing it somewhere else. If it comes back, catch and take to a shelter. It stinks for the cat, but thats the price of having a terrible owner.

I live in the country. Neighbor lets their cats roam around and they used to spray my car. Guess they're just marking their territory, or maybe they were in heat, not sure. Needless to say, I dont have that problem anymore.

Or, another option. Throw the cat poop in their driveway or porch.

 

[folly]

Are you bored?

Let it go. Find something better to do. Solutions: Take a ugly board or piece of aluminum siding, anything that is ugly and cheap and go to the sprinkler and stake it in the ground on the side that sprays your house or pay a few pennies and get the part from the hardware store that stops the sprinkler from making a few circle. Install it. Five minutes and it is over. Cats. My mother complained about this for years because basically she does not like animals. I pointed out so many times it was the evergreen shrubs she smelled, but she was sure it was the cats. She paid a company to lay down a weed barrier all around her house and placed decorative gravel. Cats don't like gravel. Place a layer of gravel on the top of pots or cut a circle to fit pots from chickens wire. If it not one cat who lives next door it will be another from across the street or the mice that live under your house. Just solve it yourself and say nothing. People make fun of the neighbor who picks up poop and dumps it over the fence or the crazy lady who traps squirrels. Good way to become the neighborhood crazy person.
On the other hand sprinkler water did cause damage to my siding and the manufacturer paid to have it replaced. It was considered defective siding.

 

[rt-texas]

The cats found another sandbox. They aren't dumb.

OTOH what kind of sprinkler controller do you have? Our Rainbird would require nightly re-programming to do "random" sprinkling. More of a nuisance than the cats!

Sorry, didn't phrase it well. And glad they found another sandbox, that was the point.

Set flowerbeds for a week at say 1am and 1:30. The next week or two for say 4 & 4:30am. Then a week at midnight and so on. Knew they were there at night so just tried to surprise them a few times.

Wasn't Rainbird. Came with the house and was still going strong 28 years later when we sold. Don't remember the brand.

 

[Andre1969]

Cats. My mother complained about this for years because basically she does not like animals. I pointed out so many times it was the evergreen shrubs she smelled, but she was sure it was the cats.

That brought back some memories. When I was a kid, there was a boxwood bush near the basement door at my grandmother's house. They had a French poodle named Nickey, that would pee on that bush every time he went out. That bush always stunk to high heaven, and I used to call it the "piss bush".

Well, I didn't realize, until years later, that smell comes from the bush itself! Now I'm sure that Nickey, as well as later dogs, peeing on the bush didn't help things, but to this day, when I see a boxwood and inhale that smell...not a fan.

 

[Amethyst]

The first time I ever smelled boxwood was visiting a relative when I was about 9. I remember telling my mother, privately of course, "That green stuff smells exactly like [our cat's] litter box!" She didn't disagree!

That brought back some memories. When I was a kid, there was a boxwood bush near the basement door at my grandmother's house. They had a French poodle named Nickey, that would pee on that bush every time he went out. That bush always stunk to high heaven, and I used to call it the "piss bush".

Well, I didn't realize, until years later, that smell comes from the bush itself! Now I'm sure that Nickey, as well as later dogs, peeing on the bush didn't help things, but to this day, when I see a boxwood and inhale that smell...not a fan.

 

[WWDog]

Cats don't survive too long in my neighborhood with one exception. Coyotes get the ones that are left out at night. The one exception was a very large and heavily scared cat that roamed the neighborhood till it died of a heart attack. It was very friendly and loved to be petted. When it died all the neighbors mourned it and several people claimed it was their cat as they left it food every day. My neighbor's German Shepherd was best friends with that cat. They both died about a week apart and share the same grave. As far as the sprinkler, most have adjustments to change the direction and spray pattern. If that one doesn't, replace that head with one that will adjust and adjust it as necessary.

 

[SheitlQueen]

Youtube has several videos on how to set up a motion activated sprinkler to chase off unwanted cats. You might not be able to cover all areas of your yard, but maybe a couple of strategic spots would discourage the cat from coming over at all.

 

[youbet]

1#>>I have a neighbor that has underground sprinklers and the water hits my house and windows on the bedroom side of the home. If there is a breeze the wind carriers it and mists more then sprays.

Many of the comments regarding you neighbor's sprinkler system spraying your house seem to misinterpret what you said street. It sounds like the sprinklers do not always spray your house but do when the wind blows either the direct spray or the mist your way. This as opposed to the sprinkler heads being adjusted so that they spray your house directly whenever they operate, as most seem to be thinking.

Give us a bit more detail. When there is no/little breeze, do the sprinklers spray only on your neighbor's property? How far from your house are the offending sprinkler heads? What's the frequency (daily, weekly, monthly)?

IMHO, if (as most here seem to be thinking) the sprinklers directly spray your house frequently, I think there is a real problem you should pursue fixing even at the expense of neighborly relations. If we're talking about it happening infrequently and only when wind-driven, I'd probably figure out a way to live with it.

 

[NateW]

Are you around when the neighbor's cat visits? If so, if it were me, I would use a spray nozzle on a garden hose and give a good spray in the cat's general direction. Just get a little water on him, don't try to soak the cat. Cats hate water. I bet after a few squirts the cat will no longer come over (I'd do this when the neighbor is not watching because I do not like confrontations).

 

[street]

Thanks again for all the advice. The cat pooped once in the yard in the last 7 days. I can live with that. It was as issue to have 1 to 3 poops in a 24 hour period everyday, that was causing me some concern.

The issue with the water guy they have a timer and waters 4 time a week for 6 hours and a time. They are gone to work when they run and have not shown me any responsibility of the problem I have talked to him for a few years now. The wind can blow 40 mph and the water is everywhere but on their lawn.

Many things can be done if he cared to help. Water evening when they are home and can adjust if wind is howling. Water at night/early when they are sleeping.