Sometimes, neighbours have little quirks that we overlook because we don't want to ruin the peace around our homes - and sometimes it's more effort than it's worth to bring something up which may seem petty. If your neighbour was feeding stray cats from the neighbourhood in your garden though, you'd probably have something to say.
An unnamed woman claimed she was left baffled by events of recent weeks as she noticed 'weird brown sludge' in her driveway and was trying to work out what it was. She took to Reddit's 'neighbours from hell' forum when she realised what the unusual substance was.
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She wrote: "For a while now I’ve been noticing this weird brown sludge in my driveway and couldn’t figure out what it was. Yesterday I came home and noticed a stray cat sitting underneath my car with a pile of cat food, enough that someone must have placed it there.
"This morning the cat food was a wet soggy mess all over the garden, just like I’d previously seen. My boyfriend said he’s seen the cat chilling out underneath my car a lot recently too.
"I’ve started checking under my car every time I go to leave the house so I don’t run it over, but I just don’t like the idea of a cat being fed in my garden and what else the leftover food might attract.
"I was thinking of getting a little camera to see who is doing it? I don’t want it to continue but I really don’t know how to go about the situation?"
People commented to say that their neighbours were doing the same thing and they didn't know what to do.
One wrote: "My neighbour is doing the same. We have cats and rats everywhere. We tried a lot but the cats are still coming."
"Oh no! I have such a fear of it escalating to rats and mice!", the original poster replied.
Someone suggested a camera might be a good idea, commenting: "Put up a few cameras, one pointed at our car and one pointed at the street to catch people walking up to the car. It may be possible to use computer cameras facing out the windows, these are available very cheaply.
"Put up a no trespassing sign. When you find out who is doing this, you can decide what to do."
Another suggested doorbell cameras, writing: "Get a ring stick up cam. They have outdoor ones that run on batteries. You can buy pot plants that will hide the camera (because you don’t want it getting stolen).
"Alternatively if it’s in view you could install a video doorbell. Find out who is feeding it but most likely they won’t stop. What is more effective is contacting an independent rescue.
"They will capture the cats/cat and foster them. I got my cats through an independent rescue. You can find some through Google."
What would you do in this situation? Let us know in the comments.
