Cat poo in garden

[AndWhat]

Recently moved in to an empty property (last owner died last year) and we’ve had a couple of cats wandering about our garden and one cheeky thing came into the house when the back door was open!
Not too bothered about the visitors (although I’m not a huge cat lover - sorry!) but they keep doing their mess all over my garden. I have to check the garden before my children can go out to play and dispose of it. Is there any kind way I can keep the cats out or at least make them stop pooing in my garden?

[Bargebill19]

1. get a cat (I know you don’t like them)
   
2. try to reverse cat proof your garden
   
3. supposedly citrus scents are not liked by cats (no ones told mine apparently)
   
4. shiny fluttery stuff like hanging cds - again mine would just play with them.
   
5. try to accept that it’s part of life albeit a very annoying one (I have, cough, a large contingent of house cats).

[JemimaTiggywinkle]

You can get electronic cat repellers.. it’s a motion sensor and it makes a high frequency noise that cats don’t like. Put them at the cat entry points to the garden.
That’s the only thing I’ve found to be effective, along with making sure there’s not much bare soil. If we have bare patches we lay sticks/bamboos flat on the ground to cover it a bit.
And make sure you remove the poo as soon as you see it, and then cover the patch with sticks/ twigs etc. If you don’t, they will keep coming back to the same patch.

[Cotswoldmama]

The pellets you get from the pound shop are great. I love cats and have a cat but ours does the unusual thing of pooing in its own back yard so I use them! They don't work well with rain though.

[AndWhat]

Definitely won’t be getting a cat sorry! May have a dog in the future which would stop it but not for a year or so.
What are the pellets? They won’t cause any harm will they? I am an animal lover I just don’t want their poo in my garden!

[kursaalflyer]

Have I just read that right? Your own cat shits in your own back garden but you're putting repellant down so it goes in someone else's?

[Beamur]

You can get various repellents but will need to keep replacing them. Cats go by smell so will return to the same place to toilet.
Are they digging holes or just leaving it on the surface? If it's on the surface it means lots of cats and competition for space.
If you can stomach it, dispose of any poo you find and plant spreading ground cover so you have as little bare soil as possible.
Deploy a water pistol and spray any unwanted visitors.

[Samiad85]

Hi op, my dad is having the same issue. Having to clean up several piles of it a week and he doesn’t own a pet, it’s disgusting. My sister has bought him one of these high pitched devices mentioned above and it has reduced but think we need to invest in a few more.
Watching with interest for more suggestions. Pallets sound interesting. Off to google.

[JasperLily]

I’ve got cats of my own, but the neighborhood cats took to using my shingle front garden as a giant litter tray. I put down loads of orange peel (would collect it from colleagues lunches), after a few weeks they moved on to somewhere else, but it took a lot of peel (also used the peel trick when my own kept using the bath!)

[AndWhat]

There seems to be 2 possibly 3 cats that have been nosing around. We have laid lawn over most of the dirt and they are going on the new lawn .

I’ve just popped some lemon rind and juice over where I’ve had to clean 3 piles up today so will see how that goes. Thanks for the help

[AmIACowBag]

I have a cat she shits in our garden, don't get a cat OP 😂 everyone says they don't shit in their own garden but some bloody do. Hope you find a solution OP.

[harper30]

I've had great success with these

Pestbye® Waterproof Cat Repellent... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004SGC75S?ref=ppx%5D%5D%5B%5Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2Fdp%2FB004SGC75S%3Fref%3Dppx_pop_mob_ap_share&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21 poppmobappshare

My front garden is no longer the local litter tray 😂

[AmIACowBag]

Can't believe the person above is trying to get their cat to shit in someone elses garden 😳 how rude

[Bargebill19]

@AmIACowBag

I know! Just got to admire the fact that they think it’s possible to teach a cat to do that ....would solve a lot neighbour hood parking disputes!

[Beamur]

I keep a big patch of bare soil in my garden to try and get my own cats not to shit in other people's gardens!