There are predator musks that you can buy to put out around your terrace to keep the cat away. Traditionally, they are used to keep digging/burrowing animals out of gardens, but I'm sure they could be adapted to your circumstances. If the cat thinks your terrace is a bigger animal's territory, its less likely to come around.

And yes, talk to the owner. Its her cat, and her responsibility. She should be willing to help. We have two cats, indoor-only, and we worked hard to ensure they'd be nobody's nuisance. Talk to some of the other neighbors- if this cat is climbing into your house, chances are it might be doing it somewhere else.

If all else fails, and I do mean ALL ELSE because this is the last resort, I am sure there is a number for Animal Control you can call.

Some of the scent sprays and sachets backfire, especially with male cats. The cats over spray the foreign scent with their own scent to mark their territory and it can get quite stinky.

I have the same issue with my swiss neighbour. Her two cats were doing poo in my garden almost every single day. Few weeks ago, I was outside in my garden, and the two cats came and litteraly poo in my garden , and I was standing there. So, having the proof now, I went to knoch on my neighbours door, and told her to come in my garden to clean up the mess caused by her cats. She was at the beginning really annoyed, but then she came, and she saw how the cats were playing with their poo poo trying to hide , the thing, so she came, she clean up the mess, she apologised, and I told her to keep their cats inside , or in her garden otherwise, i would call her everytime I see their poo in my garden, and ask her to clean up the mess. She was a bit annoyed, but did not say much. Two days, after, I found out on my door step two bottle of anti-cats grains, and she bought for me to apoligise the mess. Those grains are useless, but I have at least appreciated the gesture of the neighbour.
I am checking every day my garden, since there, and be sure that if i found again the poo in it, I will call her again to clean up the mess, but since then I have not seen the cats in my garden or their poo.

Nessuno, there are many examples of the 'cat poo' problem referenced online - the consensus is that you must tolerate it, even on your private property. The legal rationale is that a cat is a semi-wild animal, and therefore has the right to roam. And to poo, as nature intended.

See:

http://www.tierimrecht.org/de/rechts...zen_dulden.php

Good that you have spoken to your neighbor, though, and good that she has tried to make amends - even when not required by law. That's a nice neighbor and a good cat owner.


FYI, it seems that the use of 'cat scare' devices discussed eariler could be problematic - depending on how a particular devices work it could be construed as Tierqualerei if they subject the cat to pain or suffering or other damage.

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But when it gets to damages caused by cats, as in the questions asked by LivingInSwiss and Johanna, the more I read on the subject, the more confused I get...

http://www.tierimrecht.org/de/tierke...chbarrecht.php

Important bit here:

Für die Beurteilung des zentralen Begriffs der Übermässig- bzw. Zumutbarkeit einer Immission ist in erster Linie eine Abwägung der einander gegenüberstehenden Rechtsgüter und Interessen vorzunehmen.

Very roughly:

Assessment of whether a situation is reasonable (and must be tolerated) or excessive is primarily a balance between the conflicting legal rights and interests at stake.

So being neither a lawyer, an insurance agent, nor a cat owner, I would suggest that both LivingInSwiss and Johanna ask the TIer Im Recht foundation to advise on their specific situations. Nachbarstreit has a way of escalating and getting ugly very quickly, and everybody loses when neighbors fight. So before taking any action, best to find out definitively where you stand. Go to the source, ask who bears what liability in your specific situations.

Contact details:

http://www.tierimrecht.org/de/kontakt/

If you prefer, write to Tier Im Recht in English; they are very helpful folks.


Hope everyone can find a way to get along.


(And when you get an answer, if you wouldn't mind posting an update here I'd be grateful. I'm sure many cat owners and cat neighbors would be interested in learning what TIR says.)

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I'd buy a little shovel and flick the crap back onto your neighbor's terrace. Her cat, its poop, her poop.

We once had a rouge cat that loved to come around. At the time I had 2 cats of my own, which were not allowed to roam outside, but I would sometimes sit with them on the terrace. Perphas that is why the rouge cat started pissing on our foot mats that were by the door, to "mark it." The only thing that finally got the cat to stop coming around was a bit of pepper sprinked on the mats, and around the perimeter of the garden. After rain, I would replace the pepper, and after a few months, didn't have to even do it anymore. You can also try sprinking some on the outside windowsills where the cat is coming in.