cats v my garden !!!!

monvoy

Hi there,
I hope someone can point me in the right direction!?!? My problem is cats!

You see I have a small front garden with pea-gravel with a few plants (heathers,etc low maintenance) but the neighbours' cats keep using it as a kitty litter. While I appreciate they need to go somewhere i would prefer it if they wouldn't go in my garden. Also i have two young kids. Kids and cats' poo isn't a good combination!!!

Now to get to the point I have tried various chemical remedies/gels but these only work temporarily and are useless when it rains.

Is they any plant that I could buy that would deter the cats as I'm getting sick picking up cat's poo and replacing the dead plants?

Any help would be gratfully accepted.

The Sweeper

This has been discussed before on this forum. There are few plants that truly deter cats, apart from rose bushes and other thorny shrubs (try flower carpet roses - low maintenance, don't need to be dead headed, they provide a thorny barrier to intruders).

Plus don't be embarassed about saying it to your neighbours. I'm a cat owner (cats owner, in fact) and my cats are either indoors only or restricted outdoor access because I wouldn't dream of letting them crap all over my neighbours' yards. Think about it - if it was their dog, you'd feel justified eating the head off them over it. It's their pet, it's their responsibility to keep it out of your yard. If they look baffled about how to do that, suggest they keep it inside. (I've yet to meet a cat that actively suffers through being indoors-only. I've met plenty of cats that have suffered from unrestricted outdoor access, often with fatal consequences.)

Other suggestions - bottles of water, citrus oils etc - to be honest I'm not convinced. I think you could spend quite a bit of money on a lot of remedies that just won't work.

Suggestions that seem to work include laying chicken wire under your mulch if possible, because they can't scratch through it and they don't like how it feels on their paws. There are also electronic devices that apparently emit a low pulsing noise that they hate, but you'd need to ask your garden centre about those.

OldGoat

I found that using the garden hose is the best deterent. Cats are intelligent enough to learn after a few near misses and they soon stay away.

Sonnenblumen

I would think that gardeners should remember that the small inconvenience which cats 'might' and I mean 'might' cause in any garden is hugely outweighed by their contribution to the wider community ie rodent control. Yes unfortunately they also kill small birds but thats another aspect of nature taking its course.

Cat faeces although not pretty or indeed welcomed by some, is in fact a useful element within the broader natural rhythm of creating humus or compost within a natural environment.

But most don't want to hear such arguments, but instead get upset about small disturbances here and there to a little mulch, bark or stone, or even the soil.

Believe you me, if all we had to worry about was the minute damge that cats might cause in gardens, there would indeed be no need for a DIY Forum but perhaps Garden Nirvana. Alas such a state of bliss is along way away.

It would be more useful for 'gardeners' to be more concerned about indiscriminate planting of invasive plants and/or control weed control which disperses over wider areas and inflicting much more long term damage than a little bit of cat poo etc.

Get a grip and smell the roses!!

bugsntinas

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

I would think that gardeners should remember that the small inconvenience which cats 'might' and I mean 'might' cause in any garden is hugely outweighed by their contribution to the wider community ie rodent control. Yes unfortunately they also kill small birds but thats another aspect of nature taking its course.

Cat faeces although not pretty or indeed welcomed by some, is in fact a useful element within the broader natural rhythm of creating humus or compost within a natural environment.

But most don't want to hear such arguments, but instead get upset about small disturbances here and there to a little mulch, bark or stone, or even the soil.

Believe you me, if all we had to worry about was the minute damge that cats might cause in gardens, there would indeed be no need for a DIY Forum but perhaps Garden Nirvana. Alas such a state of bliss is along way away.

It would be more useful for 'gardeners' to be more concerned about indiscriminate planting of invasive plants and/or control weed control which disperses over wider areas and inflicting much more long term damage than a little bit of cat poo etc.

Get a grip and smell the roses!!

bit unconstructive.cats are a pain in the arse.i'm currently converting an out building into a garage so no doors and the little feckers get in there and squirt over anything they want.why should we have to put up with the hassle of their pee and poo.obviously you don't mind ****.personnally i'd shoot them but that's inhumane.i've been told that if you live near a zoo then lion ****e is a good deterant as that marks the lions teratory.hope you get it sorted especially with the kids it just ain't fair.

sorella

As a cat owner, this is a longstanding problem. NB we are far from other houses.

Used to be that they would see a newly planted bed and assume it was for them to use as a toilet.

The easiest way is to lay chicken wire over a new bed or an existing one. They need to scratch at the soil and cannot do it. It is fairly inconspicuous. Weigh it at the edges to stop them wriggling under; attractive stones are fine.

Reminds me I need to buy a roll... the 2 inch is fine for this.

sorella

All very fine until you see a whole bed of carrots dug and cat-sprayed.

And cat poo carries nasty diseases also... And there is no "might" about it.

The smell of male cat pee is something not easily forgotten.

And I love cats....

See my other mail.

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

I would think that gardeners should remember that the small inconvenience which cats 'might' and I mean 'might' cause in any garden is hugely outweighed by their contribution to the wider community ie rodent control. Yes unfortunately they also kill small birds but thats another aspect of nature taking its course.

Cat faeces although not pretty or indeed welcomed by some, is in fact a useful element within the broader natural rhythm of creating humus or compost within a natural environment.

But most don't want to hear such arguments, but instead get upset about small disturbances here and there to a little mulch, bark or stone, or even the soil.

Believe you me, if all we had to worry about was the minute damge that cats might cause in gardens, there would indeed be no need for a DIY Forum but perhaps Garden Nirvana. Alas such a state of bliss is along way away.

It would be more useful for 'gardeners' to be more concerned about indiscriminate planting of invasive plants and/or control weed control which disperses over wider areas and inflicting much more long term damage than a little bit of cat poo etc.

Get a grip and smell the roses!!