Can I prosecute a cat's owner if his cat trespasses on my garden? What's the legal position?

Answer 1

No a cat is a free animal, nothing you can really do.

Answer 2

Is this a serious question or are you just joking around?!

Ok, if you're being serious - no, you cannot prosecute the owner. A cat is a living creature, and not property, so the owner cannot be held legally responsible for the cat's actions.

However, as other people have suggested, if you are finding the cat a nuisance perhaps you can invest in some cat repellant in the form of plants, powder, liquid or other objects. Google 'keep cat out of garden' or 'cat repellant' and you should find lots of information.

I love cats, but I also do not think it is fair that cats should be allowed to roam around in other people's gardens. I think that if you have a cat you should either keep it indoors or provide an enclosed garden area from which it can enjoy the outside but not bother other people.

I've known people that don't want cats in their garden and they all say that a quick spray of water from a hose keeps the cat away! Cat lovers can hardly say that it is cruel, seeing as most of them use spray bottles to discipline their cats anyway!

xx Emmie

Answer 3

No you cant prosecute a cats owner for the cats coming into your garden. The cat is not trespassing.

Being a Cat lover and Cat owner myself , I know how distressed people can get about cats digging and spraying in their gardens.

Also you will find genuine Cat Lovers to be very defensive about their cats.

My advice to you is stop chasing and frightening the cats out of your garden, as this will tend to have the opposite affect. This will make them feel insecure and unfortunately your garden is in their territory. Therefore if you try looking at it from the cats point of view, its only natural that they will re-spray and mark their territory in order to reclaim it.

You can purchase sprays and pellets from hardware stores that will help to deter them from wanting to come into your garden.

When they spray or soil in your garden clear it up and pour surgical spirit over the area. This will get rid of their scent completely and help to stop them from wanting to re-scent that area.

Do not use anything else, as by changing the scent will only encourage them to spray over it again.

If your neighbours cat is marking your garden then it is keeping other cats out of it. Try to look at it that way.

If the cats have not been neutered and you can tell this by the smell of Tom Cat spray, you could drop a note throught their door, suggesting in a nice way that it would be in their cats best interest to be neutered and explaining that you are having to do a lot of cleaning in your garden, because of them. Whatever you do, do not antagonise the cat owner, as I mentioned before they will be very defensive of their cats.

Below is information that you can find on the website regardng Cats and the Law.

http://wwwwww.yorkcats.org.uk/catlaw.htm

I do hope this helps and you can resolve the problem.

Answer 4

Come on its a cat, they are independent, no offence but what do you want or expect the owner to do? Put it on a leash?? The law has got other things to deal with like serious crimes-dont waste their time! they are not interested in a cat in your garden for goodness sakes, just buy a cat reppellent.
http://www.martleyelectronics.co.uk/cat_control.htm
Invite the cat around and fuss over it and then it will not crap everywhere, it will be its own territory, you wouldnt crap on your carpet now would you so they wont crap on the lawn.

Answer 5

You cant do anything as a cat is a free spirit and can roam where and when it wants to.

In reply to RACHEL, what about those cats that are house cats, which never go out?? Or cats such as my cat that goes in MY back garden only or in her own litter tray?? You can't tarnish all cats with the same brush.

Answer 6

Assuming that you are in the UK, no you cannot. Since cats are excluded from the definitions of "livestock" and "cattle" under the Animals Act 1971, they cannot be held guilty of trespass under civil law and, therefore, their owners or keepers cannot be liable for any damage done.

If you are looking for a good deterrent to keep unwanted feline visitors out of your garden, try the Coleus canina or the Scaredy Cat plant (also known as the Pee-off plant in Europe). The web site below contains further information about this plant and other deterrents that you can try.

http://www.english-gardening.com/green_up_your_thumb/unwanted_visitors_how_to_deter_cats.htm

Answer 7

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do that I am aware of.
I understand the frustration though, a cat is a lazy persons pet, people get them because they know they don't have to walk them, they can just kick them out and let them do as they please. If my dog was to go into my neighbours gardens and take a dump, my neighbours could do something about it, so why one rule for cats and another for dogs, and before all you irresponsible owners start calling me a cat hater, you are wrong as I own a beautiful, playful and healthy cat, the only difference being mine is my pet that I love and he is made to stay in his own garden, (I keep an eye on him to ensure he doesn't wander), and use his litter trays which I then clean out on a daily basis. Oh and for everyone who says its cruel to keep a cat in because they are hunters and so on and so forth, it is not, my cat spends just as much time hunting and playing because I interact with him and play games with toys to stimulate natural behaviour. If you allow your cat to roam and defecate anywhere it wants, you are being irresponsible and the 'it's cruel to keep a cat indoors' argument is just a big pile of what your cat leaves in others gardens and is just an irresponsible cat owners way of trying to justify their behaviour. Take responsibility for your pets.

To the asker of this question, (sorry about ranting), there are many products that you could try, however every cat is different and what will repel one, will not repel another, however, as a rule they do not like citrus, try dropping orange or lemon aromotherapy oils around your garden as they are concentrated, smell stronger and last for longer. Hope it works.

Answer 8

Legally you don't have a leg to stand on. You can cat-proof your garden, however. I've done so (to keep my own cats safe) and no neighbouring animals have been able to get in.

Answer 9

Ur a joke, u sound like my neigbour behind me....Get over it, complaining that a cat is spraying on ur lawn and now it smells...Give me a break, it might have smethg 2 do with ur 2 dogs s#$ting and pissing in ur owe back yard...Good thg ur fenching..As to the person that says that cats r a lazy persons animal, that bull I also have a dog and people are not lazy if they owe a cat...Good luck with ur court order lol

Answer 10

dont be so petty people like u really annoy me what a stupid question, if u dont like cats fair one but ur takin it a bit to far here.
cats are free animals and they will go anyware that looks inviting, there are a load of things u can do to detere them like bottles of water around the garden and things that smell bad.
other than that just enjoy these creatures.

Answer 11

Fence your yard, cover the soil with pavers, river rocks or flagstones or get a couple of Scarecrows that put out a jet of water. Someone suggested orange peels -- I don't know if that will work but that is a very inexpensive thing to try.

I'm pretty sure that you can outsmart the neighbor's cat.