How do I deter cats from my garden so they leave my guinea pigs alone?

[SophCC]

We have two guinea pigs in a small garden entirely enclosed by fences and bamboo. We've had them for two and a half years and nothing has happened, then suddenly within two weeks a cat was caught in the middle of the night chasing them round the garden, and then again at three in the morning - only this time it had got hold of one piggy by the neck and was trying to carry him over the fence. It only dropped him because my son heard the screaming and got up and scared it off. The piggy was near death and we've spent a good £800 at the vets to save him. So... the question is how do we keep cats out of the garden??
We can put a padlock on the cage - which the cat had clearly learnt how to open, but we don't want the piggies scared to death in the middle of the night. Has anyone tried that 'cat away' deterrent gel? Am presuming sonar is out of the question because would upset the piggies too? Any other ideas? Thanks!

[imnotarunnerivetried]

You can buy lion poo from Amazon or garden centred and sprinkle it round where they might be coming in, I think it's called Silent Roar, it works well!

[Ohyesiam]

You can buy lions poo that cats will not go near. It’s branded under names like The Silent Roar.
It works but needs renewing after a few days of heavy rain, or every few weeks if it’s not too wet.
You could put it in a dish under the hutch maybe?
Poor piggies

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Any other ideas? Thanks!

Talk me through your set up please .
Are your pigs free range in the garden?
Don't you lock them away at night ?

Your pigs will be very wary of the cat now (and remember shock can kill a guinea-pig )

My pigs had a couple of Bunny Business runs that we pegged in with those big tent pegs , about knee height so the cats couldn't pester them if they sat on the top, and hidey spaces for security
But every night they went to bed in their shed (which had a padlock and a bucketfull of cement in front of the door) unless they were in the house .

We did have cats in the garden, I soaked them with a jug of water . A well aimed stream of cold water ( don't aim for their face) will deter them (it isn't cruel, I have two cats now myself but no piggies)
Unfortunately you can't keep cats out .
Our main worry was foxes . They will dig and are relentless , They wouldn't drop the piggie they would kill it .
I used to only let my pigs out if we were in the house or just out for 10 minutes , a fox could dig a way into the run.


Guinea-pigs are such fragile little things , they have no defence . They don't fight back .
I miss our pigs but yes, they need protecting from everything !

[RandomMess]

The piggies don't have a secure run and get put to bed at dusk???

Are you on the UK? I can only assume not...

[SophCC]

Thank you to all the people who gave constructive ideas.
Our garden is about the size of an average room, has six foot fences all around it with very thick vegetation in front of the fences. It's an urban garden so is completely surrounded by other small gardens with fences. We are confident (as we can be) that foxes can't get in. The piggies live in a pod on a raised platform with steps so they can get down to run around in the garden.
They are only allowed out if we are in the kitchen, which has patio doors looking over the whole garden. We always put them away again if we're going out or upstairs for any length of time. They are always put in their pod at night. Over the past 2 years we have chased out any cats that come near, and they've lost interest. But we think this is a new one who has come in the night. We had no idea cats were clever enough to work out how to open a cage - we will be padlocking it from now on.
We'll definitely look into the lion poo, need to check whether it will also bother the piggies first.
If anyone else is worried about their piggies we've been researching and the RSPB website as well and it has lots of good advice. We're going for belt and braces approach!
Thanks, everyone.

[RandomMess]

I had somehow missed that the cage had been opened!

It could be that it wasn't quite shut properly but yes to padlock from now on.

I wonder about a sonic cat deterrent to put out at night but I suppose the piggies will be able to hear it.

Buy a super soaker and spend some evenings stalking the cat?

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

If cats can get in, foxes can too,
We have high fences with those plastic "spikes" they can scales them easily.

Some cats might not bother but there will always be new , keen ,predatory cats moving in. People will get kittens ,, some cats will be left when people move or move back to their territory .

Or , like my two new cats , born and raised feral.
I wouldn't have trusted our cats within an inch of our pigs (we had pigs before the cats )

[ZipityFlippity]

Ours are in a cage with large covered run connected with tubing (look at Omlet cages and runs). We get cats and foxes in the garden but they can't get to our piggies. I'd never let them run freely in the garden uncovered.