Cat poo, on my shoe!!!

Shutuplaura

I have a problem with cats and to a lesser extent foxes in my city garden. The cat is doing his business in my borders, lawn and children's play area. Our new front border is like a giant litter tray for what I assume is the cat and it has dug or uprooted plants and bulbs.

Now I don't want to do anything extreme or anything like that but I would like to discourage the cat in particular. We have young kids who have put little feet and even hands into the dirt so I am eager to stop it. Is there anything that people could recommend? Someone I the real world mentioned sonic high pitched noise technology but I have a long garden without a power source at the bottom where the worst of the problem is. I have tried chilli powder but a drop of rain washes it away. Plus, it seems like a waste. I have heard that half empty bottles of water can discourage cats but I am not sure how that would work. I have also read that growing lavender will discourage them, which seems too good to be true.

Any suggestions or recommendations. The cat isn't stray by the way but talking to the owner would be tricky.

JustAThought

I hear that babies and kids have different and more sensitive hearing that adults can’t hear so maybe i’d check that before I get the noise yoke.

my mother always put an half filled 7Up bottle on the grass - allegedly cats didn’t like crossing a space with something wierd in the middle of it.

There used be smell based cat -off pellets you could but and put in your garden or hand and twist around shrubs - maybe the EU has barred them now - havn’t seen them in years.

It might be worth googling herbs or shrubs that cats hate the smell of & planting them - used to be a thing but can’t remember which ones. Not the ones that are poisionus to them but ones that repell them because of their wierd cat smell issues.

looksee

There is a theory that they don't like citrus - well they don't but whether it would be enough to keep them off, I don't know - and that scattering orange peel will discourage them.

If it is just one cat and it comes near enough to the house a water pistol and give them a soak is reasonably effective. If you can get it a few times it may well give up on your garden.

Flipperdipper

I tried the orange peel trick and the cat just came up and sniffed it, I worked in an hotel at the time and brought a load of peel every day after they squeezed the juice every morning. In my opinion the only thing worthwhile doing with a cat is to put a piece of lead in it's ear with a shotgun.

Xander10

Flipperdipper wrote: »

I tried the orange peel trick and the cat just came up and sniffed it, I worked in an hotel at the time and brought a load of peel every day after they squeezed the juice every morning. In my opinion the only thing worthwhile doing with a cat is to put a piece of lead in it's ear with a shotgun.

disgusting comment

spuddy4711

I tried bowls of vinegar, various commercial pellets and powders, the cats kept coming. They will travel
to use your lovely soft beds, and sand pits. I now use chicken wire, cut into manageable strips, which I
lay along any freshly turned soil. It’s a nuisance, I have to keep an eye on it as flowers quickly grow through it, ok for some but not all. The cats eventually found somewhere else to go. Like my lawn.

Princess Calla

We had a similar problem we sprinkled the area with cayenne pepper, just the cheap stuff from lidl. It seems to be working.

I've heard citrus and the water bottles work too.

Gen.Zhukov

It's the loose soil that's the problem. It means they can do the biz and kick the soil back on the poo. I had a problem a few years back. Small area (raised bed) of front garden had become a toilet. Ended up putting gravel/weed barrier down while keeping the plants. Problem solved.

Prenderb

I think there's nothing can be done, very hard to keep them out in any meaningful way.

phormium

As mentioned above it's the fresh easily dug soil they like, it's less common for them to go on grass but some will! Upturned plastic forks I have seen suggested too but if a large area that's difficult. I leave a specific area for my cat so she limits herself to that one spot where the soil is always loose.

For a different purpose I bought one of those motion activated water sprayers, worked on batteries but you do need a water source such as a hose connected to it. It was to stop my own cat jumping up on the bonnet of my new car, she had scratched the old one which was very old so I didn't care but was a bit precious about the new one!

Anyway it worked very well, the head on it swivelled from side to side shooting water over a fairly wide area once she came within range of the sensor. I bought it online at the time but have seen them since in Mr. Price although not at the moment. Unfortunately I didn't bring mine indoors in cold weather and frozen water burst it. It was a very handy yoke.

Cyrus

We have a similar issue with foxes I got two of those ultra sonic noise making devices from Amazon and they appear to be working so far (month now)

Insidious

If you can see which cat is doing it... Could you ask the neighbors to come in and clean up the mess every time... It's something that needs addressing... Cats really shouldn't be roaming free. I don't mind cats but I don't want one. Like you I had this issue when trying to keep vegetables. I used to get it on my hands. Ended up getting rid of the veg garden and putting down gravel. You can get rubber spikes for the top of fences and walls.. works for some. It's far more frustrating than people realise.

moceri

https://www.woodies.ie/bayer-pepper-dust-225g-326487

Graces7

spuddy4711 wrote: »

I tried bowls of vinegar, various commercial pellets and powders, the cats kept coming. They will travel
to use your lovely soft beds, and sand pits. I now use chicken wire, cut into manageable strips, which I
lay along any freshly turned soil. It’s a nuisance, I have to keep an eye on it as flowers quickly grow through it, ok for some but not all. The cats eventually found somewhere else to go. Like my lawn.

Perfect. I did this with my own offenders who were having a ball on a newly dug carrot patch. They took one look and a sniff...Glared at me..and went elsewhere. NB No lawn here but literally acres of wild land. They just love new dug earth...and they keep rats away so earn their keep.

ellejay

My parents had awful issues with neighbours cats.
They'd tried everything and resorted to covering beds with branches.

They bought a solar cat repellant in Woodies and haven't seen a cat in two weeks.
They said it took about three weeks to work.

The Master.

My mate has a thorny Bush that he was cutting back and I got the thorns off it and buried them allaround my beds. Doesn't do any serious harm but when they get one in the paw they will know about it.
I'll try to get the name of the thorn Bush.

Graces7

The Master. wrote: »

My mate has a thorny Bush that he was cutting back and I got the thorns off it and buried them allaround my beds. Doesn't do any serious harm but when they get one in the paw they will know about it.
I'll try to get the name of the thorn Bush.

When I had a polytunnel. my seed beds were plundered by rodents. So I cut sprigs of gorse to put around and on the beds and they left them

Please avoid single thorns as they can lead to infection. A small branch or twig will have the same effect without damage

delly

Flipperdipper wrote: »

I tried the orange peel trick and the cat just came up and sniffed it, I worked in an hotel at the time and brought a load of peel every day after they squeezed the juice every morning. In my opinion the only thing worthwhile doing with a cat is to put a piece of lead in it's ear with a shotgun.

For the multitude of people who have reported this post, I am giving the benefit of doubt to the poster that they are being sarcastic. It is not promoting animal cruelty or advocating violence towards animals. It may be a stupid comment, but stupidity is not a crime on this site.

twomonkeys

delly wrote: »

For the multitude of people who have reported this post, I am giving the benefit of doubt to the poster that they are being sarcastic. It is not promoting animal cruelty or advocating violence towards animals. It may be a stupid comment, but stupidity is not a crime on this site.

“The only thing worthwhile doing with a cat is to put a piece of lead in its ear with a shotgun”.....
How on earth is that NOT advocating violence towards animals???????

I’ve seen posters banned on the Pets forum for milder comments.

Graces7

twomonkeys wrote: »

“The only thing worthwhile doing with a cat is to put a piece of lead in its ear with a shotgun”.....
How on earth is that NOT advocating violence towards animals???????

I’ve seen posters banned on the Pets forum for milder comments.

Shocked to the core; it is advocating shooting a cat. Literally.

Can we take this higher please?

Graces7

As we know cats wander and as we know they love fresh dug earth it surely is up to us to protect our garden with netting etc?

I have seven cats here, and never any damage as I protect what I grow. NB if they persist at trying they get a quick shower and never reoffend

hustlenbustle

I had a huge problem with cats = they did it on my lawn which was destroyed| It was like as if I had moles in my garden. They would dig, poo, then scrape back a tuft of grass onto it. I tried every single thing - twigs, citrus, little spikes I put in the grass, sprays etc. I bought in the hardware shop. The stink was gross andI dreaded trying to cut the lawn. The owner didn't give a hoot. She knew it was happening. I think in housing estates cats should be kept in - I hate cats and why should I have to put up with my neighbours cat? There should be rules just like for dogs. All those people complaining about the 'lead' comment - well if I could have caught that cat I would have gladly killed it - luckily for me it died itself. The solar powered cat repellant sounds like an interesting idea - I never tried it myself but maybe it would work. Also chicken wire would probably work. I put up with my problem for a loooong time and in my experience once they start pooping in your place its almost impossible to get rid of them.

ellejay

hustlenbustle wrote: »

I had a huge problem with cats = they did it on my lawn which was destroyed| It was like as if I had moles in my garden. They would dig, poo, then scrape back a tuft of grass onto it. I tried every single thing - twigs, citrus, little spikes I put in the grass, sprays etc. I bought in the hardware shop. The stink was gross andI dreaded trying to cut the lawn. The owner didn't give a hoot. She knew it was happening. I think in housing estates cats should be kept in - I hate cats and why should I have to put up with my neighbours cat? There should be rules just like for dogs. All those people complaining about the 'lead' comment - well if I could have caught that cat I would have gladly killed it - luckily for me it died itself. The solar powered cat repellant sounds like an interesting idea - I never tried it myself but maybe it would work. Also chicken wire would probably work. I put up with my problem for a loooong time and in my experience once they start pooping in your place its almost impossible to get rid of them.

My parents said it took about three weeks to work.
It was only when they realised they hadn't seen a cat or cleaned up any poo that the thing worked.

bobbyss

Was wondering has anyone had issues with friendly neighbours whose cat is a problem? It must be a tricky situation. A neighbour you like with a cat who does the business in your garden.

How did it resolve itself?

dathi

Graces7 wrote: »

As we know cats wander and as we know they love fresh dug earth ?

and this is why there should be more control on cats

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/toxoplasmosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20356249

ellejay

Graces7 wrote: »

As we know cats wander and as we know they love fresh dug earth it surely is up to us to protect our garden with netting etc?

I have seven cats here, and never any damage as I protect what I grow. NB if they persist at trying they get a quick shower and never reoffend

In the politest possible tone (as it's hard just through typing) not everyone is a cat lover.
For people that put blood sweat and tears into their garden's it's so demoralising and upsetting to see all your hardwork undone by something that you don't own and have no interest in.
The responsibility falls on gardeners to prevent cats accessing their ground but in reality cats shouldn't be on their property full stop.

I'm fully of the opinion it's the cat owners fault.
They seem to just let their cats out and ignore them.
My neighbours have a cat and I have to say I've no issues with it all but they look after it very well.

terminator74

We have two kittens and they had my heart broken with the amount of poo on the lawn and digging and crapping all over plants - particularly potted ones. I had two covered litter trays in separate parts of the garden for them and while they used them occasionally, they also persisted in crapping on the lawn. I tried a few other methods but none really worked. The most effective was a kids water gun and a spray in their direction (not aimed or hitting them directly). After a couple of sprays, once they saw it produced they stopped. I put tin foil with cayenne pepper around the base of plants which worked.

In the end after been outdoor cats for 6 months we took them inside (1 of them was straying so much and got lost for 24 hours). I'm sure she was also crapping elsewhere on her travels.

So as cat owner and a gardener its a total pain. But cats, if kept outside, are animals that like wander - its in their nature. For cat owners, you cant really stop this drive to wander unless you curtail their movement to indoors only. Cats are also creatures of habit and if their habits are disrupted they will soon change and move somewhere else. So I would advise some gardeners who do not want cats on their property to disrupt them (noise, obstacles, water spray) and they will soon move on somewhere else.

Graces7

terminator74 wrote: »

We have two kittens and they had my heart broken with the amount of poo on the lawn and digging and crapping all over plants - particularly potted ones. I had two covered litter trays in separate parts of the garden for them and while they used them occasionally, they also persisted in crapping on the lawn. I tried a few other methods but none really worked. The most effective was a kids water gun and a spray in their direction (not aimed or hitting them directly). After a couple of sprays, once they saw it produced they stopped. I put tin foil with cayenne pepper around the base of plants which worked.

In the end after been outdoor cats for 6 months we took them inside (1 of them was straying so much and got lost for 24 hours). I'm sure she was also crapping elsewhere on her travels.

So as cat owner and a gardener its a total pain. But cats, if kept outside, are animals that like wander - its in their nature. For cat owners, you cant really stop this drive to wander unless you curtail their movement to indoors only. Cats are also creatures of habit and if their habits are disrupted they will soon change and move somewhere else. So I would advise some gardeners who do not want cats on their property to disrupt them (noise, obstacles, water spray) and they will soon move on somewhere else.

Excellent well balanced post.

When I lived even semi-urban my cats were always kept indoors or on leads.

Out here there are no other houses for miles, and no-one but me has a garden.

Surrounded by long neglected fields. So no problems with them being free when they choose and they are all litter- trained and clean.

And damage to my own garden is non-existent once plants are grown. Of course new dug earth is irresistible!
Up to me to protect it.

And they keep the rats away. This place had been empty years and outside the dwelling rats were a plague. The size of some that my cats killed!

Cats are a vital part of the balance of life here.
And great company.