Do anti-cat spikes work?

[Limth]

My neighbour has a new cat. I want to keep him out of my garden.

Do anti-cat spike like these actually work?

I know all about lemons and pepper to stop cats shitting in the garden. But this isn't what I'm after. I want to stop the cat coming in at all.

No. Well, mine didn't.

My cat gave me a look of disdain, then neatly jumped completely clear of the spikes and landed the other side

Dammit!

Is it the case that there was something for your cat to jump off/onto either side of the spikes?

I'm looking to put them across the top of a 6ft fence (like this - full length and width, top bit of the fence completely covered) so there wouldn't be anything for the cat to leverage off.

What is your objection to cats?

Do lemons and pepper actually work? My neighbour’s cat has decided my garden is its litter tray and I’m totally sick of it so need to find some kind of deterrent.

The fence ones do (sometimes). The mats, not at all.

Anyway, considering all the other fauna that craps in your garden, why single out cats?

Possibly, although in our old house there was one very wiley cat who'd still find his way in. Having a really big dog has been the only failsafe deterrent I've ever had tbh, but obviously not the most practical of solutions!

My neighbour put these up. The cats just tiptoed round them and used garden furniture and trees and shed roofs to jump from.

It's difficult to do this legally because your duty of care to the general public includes not doing anything likely to cause injury even to people or animals who are on your property without your consent. You may dislike cats on your property but deliberately injuring them is not a solution. If you do put anti climb spikes up you have to put up a lot of safety warning notices for the benefit of any humans who might thereby get injured and those can disrupt the tranquility of a garden.

"anti climb spikes and other anti climb precautions can be used legally in the UK as long as appropriate warning signage is presented and the anti climb barrier will not cause a nuisance. The term nuisance refers to anything which might cause harm to people or animals"

Those spikes could definitely cause harm.

The spikes are plastic, you'd have to go out of your way to hurt yourself on them. I think the roller barriers are more effective but would be pricey for a whole fence.
I'd prefer cat owners to keep their pets in their own garden.

Wait and see what happens - fingers crossed it might be a lazy assed cat.

Can’t speak for the OP but it’s only cats that are the nuisance pooers in my garden. We don’t get many foxes, and the birds’ poos don’t stink like the cats’.

If I wanted to spend my days pooper-scooping I’d get a pet of my own. Don’t see why I should have to clear up after other people’s pets in my own space.

Several of my neighbours have cats that frequent my garden, and I’ve never noticed an issue of cat poo etc.

I know someone who used them and they did seem to work - you obviously have to make sure there’s no other way in though, so no way of the cats jumping over the fence or coming under it. They’re plastic so won’t cause any harm.

I'd prefer cat owners to keep their pets in their own garden

Yeah, cats don’t work like that.

Anyway, surely you can only put them on the fences you own? Do you own all the fences surrounding your garden, OP?

They do if their owners take steps to contain them in their own gardens. My dog and all my other pets over the years would wander/have wandered too if I’d let them.

We put those spikes on top of our 6ft fences to keep our cats in. Only to find one of them patrolling the perimeter of our garden along them. We ended up with chicken mesh mounted leaning at 45 degrees into our garden atop the fences, and that was successful. Wouldn't have deterred a determined cat though, ours were delightfully stupid, which was why they were confined to the house and back garden only. A neighbours cats used our flower bed under the front window as a toilet. I got some orange smelling gel stuff from the garden centre and that seemed to dissuade it.

Honestly, if I saw you'd put them out I'd report you for cruelty. Cats bury their poo anyway so they're doing your plants a favour.

Why single out your neighbour's cat? You do realise cats roam, mostly at night. You've probably already got cats coming in and you're blissfully unaware.

By all means speak to your neighbour and encourage them to keep their cats as indoor either with a catio /or by cat proofing their garden as there are other nasty people around like yourself who could potentially injure their cat.

Do you own the fences all the way round your garden? It would be unusual as normally a neighbour would own one, in which case you can't fix something to a fence you don't own.

And as above, you need to have adequate signage. Rightly or wrongly cats have the right to roam but you can still get in trouble if your spikes cause injury to a cat or a person.

Cats really dislike chicken wire because they can't use their claws to scramble up fences, trees, etc.

If it's your fence, you could request access to the neighbour's garden and fit a 60cm strip along the top edge of the fence.

A neighbour painted anti climb paint on the fence, which seems to have worked.

My dad swore by Jeyes Fluid poured where they usually shit.

The previous owner of this house had cat proof fencing installed all round and it really works.

My neighbourhood cats are far too lazy to bury their poo 🤣 We did have a problem with cat poo due to the previous owner putting down small gravel in the front garden - perfect litter tray for them!!! With full permission of their owners we squirted them with water guns and eventually they got the message. They still swing by when the mood takes them but don't crap in the garden anymore. We did consider the spiky things but didn't think it would work or that it was humane. We've had done success with sonic scarers for foxes, but don't leave them on much as it can be unpleasant for some kids hearing.

Cat shit is NOT beneficial to plants. It's a toxic nuisance.

@brightyellowflower cats in my experience definitely do not bury their poo...

@piglet81 I have a real problem with the neighbourhood cats using my garden as a litter tray. Not even in the flowerbeds (which would be gross but manageable) but right in the middle of the grass, front and back.
I have small DC and it is really awful.
I find that if I go out every night/every other night with a spray bottle with water and peppermint oil and orange essence and spray the grass it seems to reduce the 'presents' I get and it noticeably increases if I get lazy and CBA to spray regularly. I also bought some granules from the garden centre which were quite lemony that you scatter about.
Would love to know if anything else works.

Honest question but do all cats not hide their poos etc? Ours digs and buried in the corner of our garden

A friend's girlfriend used to have a massive problem with cats using her garden as a toilet. One of her neighbours found it hilarious.

She ended up having high anti-cat fences installed and the cats moved onto the neighbour's garden - who suddenly lost her sense of humour.