Oct
19
2009
Dutch Cats?!
Author: Carolyn van Es-VinesI’ve heard it said that when Dutch people travel, they’re not always respectful of their destination country. I suppose they’re rowdy, rude and engage in rogue-like behavior. Over the years I’ve pooh-poohed that away seeing as any tourist is not necessarily the best representative of his/her home country. Even when a friend of mine jokingly commented that “We’re smart enough not to shit in our own backyard”, I laughed it off as … well … I don’t know what.
All summer I’ve had to put up with my neighbors’ cats shittin’ in my backyard, and every time I see a pile I fume because I have to scoop it up. Now, I still have a child in diapers so I clean a fair amount of poop on a daily basis; I don’t feel like I should have to go outside, in my own backyard, and have to clean up the neighbors’ cats’ shit. Why don’t these people keep their cats inside? What’s the point of having a pet if it’s running wild outside all day doing its business in other people’s yards?
I don’t have anything against cats even though I’m not a pet owner. If I were to get a pet, it would be a nice big hairy dog, but that’s beside the point. I’ve done a number of things to prevent cats from crapping in the bushes, in the grass or on the stones. I’ve put coffee grounds all over the place, but it doesn’t seem to work. Hubby even bought me a water gun, a big one that you have to cock in order to build up pressure. I could zap one of those sons of b****** from a mile away with this baby. The problem is, as soon as I open the back door, the stinky little offender hears it and runs away before I cock it even once. Chloe and her friends have gotten more use out of that water gun than I ever have. Once, out of desperation, I scooped up a pile and tossed it over the fence into my next-door neighbor’s yard. But, I’ve noticed there are multiple cats using my facilities, so I can’t always rely on that solution.
My father-in-law (and conspirator in devising ways to scare off cats) bought this contraption that is hooked up to the water sprinkler in the yard. There’s an attached motion detector that gets activated whenever a cat waltzes by. The poor, unsuspecting critter gets blasted with water (moo hoo hoo haaa). My father-in-law has become such an expert in this field that every so often he moves the sprinkler to another patch of garden thereby preventing those would-be smart aleck cats from memorizing the system. He says that they’re now afraid to even think about stepping one paw in his yard.
Being the compassionate person he is, he bought a “Bird and Cat Scare Sprinkler with Motion Sensor” for me. Alas, hubby sadly explained that our sprinkler system is such that this little bit of brilliance wouldn’t be possible in our yard. It figures.
I’ve considered talking to various neighbors about this issue, but honestly, what would I say? “keep your f****** cat inside” wouldn’t get us anywhere. Then again, if it’s true that the Dutch themselves don’t shit in their own yards, why would they let their cats?
October 19th, 2009 at 15:52
Maybe I should rethink my wanting to move to Amsterdam.
I’m sorry to hear that, I really wish there were laws for that type of thing. Even though I hate dealing with that type of stuff when I had a pet, I kept that thing clean but that is a dog. Maybe cats are wired differently.
October 20th, 2009 at 00:47
My very Dutch mother in Holland complained about the same thing, battled it with coffee grounds and so forth, to no avail. All those houses so close together… Isn’t there something you can get in the pet store? I think they have serious repellent stuff.
Groetjes
October 20th, 2009 at 03:37
You have a very disrespectful Dutch neighbor. It’s very inconsiderate to let your cat run around and crap in other people’s backyards. As a cat owner I feel if you own a house cat it should be taught to use a Litter Box. I hope you all can come to a compromise
October 20th, 2009 at 03:41
In my last post I should have said “You have disrespectful neighbors”. Another thought occurred to me…re you sure the cats aren’t strays?
October 21st, 2009 at 11:26
I had to laugh when I read your article. Cat shit is one of the reasons why we don’t have any grass in our garden, however, they still use the soil as a toilet. The only solution is to get your own cat, that defends its home turf and scares away the other cats. And you know, cats never shit in their own garden
October 22nd, 2009 at 16:27
Hello Carolyn!
I can’t believe my first post on your blog is on the subject of animal poo.It is what it is.
I don’t own pets myself but it boggles my mind the amount of dog shit in my neighbourhood.
Why own a pet and not want to clean up after it? Nasty just nasty. Oh and not just on the sidewalk but in the middle of the street no less.
But your cat story puzzles me? I thought cats did their business in litter boxes!?
I enjoy reading your blog!
October 30th, 2009 at 22:18
LOL! Thankfully I live in a condo and dont have these issues. I couldnt handle it and would speak my mind eventually.
December 4th, 2009 at 13:40
Nice blog you have btw. I’m an animal lover and am happy to have my neighbours cats over (pratically living with us) because I always wanted to adopt a cat/dog someday. However, I understand your position, as I would not be pleased having my cat poohing in others’ gardens and vice versa. Having said that I encountered a similar issue with my (right next door) neighbours dog. What pisses me off is not the actual animals but the owners attitude: they don’t often hold their (3) dogs on the leash when they come out of their van, then the 1st instinct one of them has is to mark his territory by pissing in my garden….anyway, I could go on about that story…but my point is I sympathise with you on that one. Not always easy to put these points across to neighbours…
December 4th, 2009 at 14:57
Hi Agnes,
funny I reread this post last night and am glad that it’s cold and rainy here in Holland. Maybe that’ll be the best deterrent yet! Thanks so much for leaving a comment and nice to “meet” you.