Fence spikes to keep cats out?

[Shootingstar2289]

So we live in a village with a huge cat population lol. We don't dislike them but my OH is severely allergic.

Anyway, for a while we have had a HUGE problem with cats pooing in our garden. I have a son with Autism and a crawling baby. Both don't watch where they are walking (crawling). So we are on the constant watch out for poo and picking it up. We cannot relax in our own garden. We cannot even less be our back door open as they often walk in the house!

My partner bought some plastic spikes from Amazon and wants to put them along the fence.

Are we in the right to do this? We tried some kind of cat deterant spray with no luck as well as cat scarers. Neither worked.

We are at the end of our tether.

[ApostrophesMatter]

Should my cat hurt itself on your fence then I would pursue you for vet costs.

And you would probably be told where to go. If you let the cat roam, them's the risks you take. What if it got run over - would you expect the driver to pay vet's bills? Or if it was attacked by a dog?

Keep it in your own garden if you want to be sure of its safety.

[CaspoFungin]

I don't get all this cat poo in gardens, my parents 3 cats poo in one corner in the garden, don't all cats do this??

[Stripyhoglets]

It's like a high pitches whistling noise. Neighbours had one I think it was motion sensored as I'd hear it every now and again - don't hear it now but it might be because I've got older and just can't hear it now. Plastic fence spikes are fine as long as they don't injure the cat.

[JayDot500]

Vet costs? Haha!

What if I don't put up the fence and the lovely owner instead agree to come round to my house every morning and remove the poo? Yeah, sorted.

[TheHauntedFishtank]

The plastic spikes won't hurt your cat foursilly but if they're anything like mine they'll just walk on them.

[londonrach]

Ive found something called move it works well. Weve been struggling with cats and their poo recently. Yanbu!

[JellyBellyKelly]

Absolutely fine - and I own 5 cats.

I go out of my way to ensure they have shitting places in our garden, to try to minimise the impact on our neighbours.

Also... Put down egg shells or chilli powder on cat poo 'hot spots', and drench any cats you see in your garden (super soakers are good for this). They'll soon go elsewhere.

[JellyBellyKelly]

Should my cat hurt itself on your fence then I would pursue you for vet costs.

How ridiculous. How would you ever know they'd hurt themself on the fence??

[lazyarse123]

We put grease on top of our fence, not harmful but cats hate it. Doesn't stop them altogether because they can squeeze through the hedge sneaky bastards that they are.

[tabulahrasa]

"What do they sound like to human ears? I have no idea."

It's a really high pitched migraine inducing screeching noise...

I deliver parcels (as a job, not just randomly) there are a couple of houses on my route that have them in their front gardens, it's absolutely awful, I'm literally wincing the whole time I'm anywhere near their house.

Ive seen cats saunter up quite happily though, while I twitch away.

[ClarkeyCat]

Just to say:

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

don't use chili pepper or cayenne or anything like that to deter cats. They get it on their paws and then it gets in their eyes whilst they are cleaning themselves. It causes them great distress and some cats have been known to blind themselves from scratching their eyes in panic.

One thing they really hate is citrus so you could try spraying citronella or the like around these areas after you have taken the poo away.

[JellyBellyKelly]

get it on their paws and then it gets in their eyes whilst they are cleaning themselves. It causes them great distress and some cats have been known to blind themselves from scratching their eyes in panic.

Learn a new thing every day. Thank you.

[Mommawoo]

And how can you let your baby crawl around on a lawn full of cayenne pepper?

[ElegantDream]

I say again. Cat fencing. Keeps cats in their owner's gardens and keeps cats out of other people's.

Ideally, all cat owners would have if, but if you really don't want cats in, it really works.

[JellyBellyKelly]

mommawoo

well, in fairness not many cats I know crap on lawns... It's generally flower beds where there is soil they can dig.

Appreciate that this doesn't take away from the wider point, however.

[MidniteScribbler]

Try making these instead of the spikes:

yoursassyself.com/roll-bar-fence-diy-keep-your-pets-in-others-out/

[Unpropergrammer]

I love how non-cat owners think you can just keep a cat contained to your garden.

It doesn't work that way. And if someone's dog bit my cat I would expect contribution to ver fees just like if my cat scratched or big someone's dog I would contribute.

[ElegantDream]

You can keep your cat contained to your garden. You cat proof the fencing.

[tabulahrasa]

"And if someone's dog bit my cat I would expect contribution to ver fees"

Well you can expect it if you want, but there's nothing you can do about it if they say no.

[AppleMagic]

Cats behave differently in their own gardens. I used to catch my neighbours' cats shitting right in the middle of our lawn. It's another way of marking territory.

[charlestonchaplin]

I love how cat owners think non-cat owners have all day and night to sit around waiting with a water pistol for their cats. Or, if they can't spare the time, they should invest significant sums of money on other deterrents. I don't take advice from cat owners on this issue. I come up with my own innovative solutions.

[WeirdAndPissedOff]

I think anything that's designed to deter cats and not hurt should be fine - I'd have no problem with it.
Yy to cats treating their own garden differently - our cat poo problem stopped once we got our own cats, since they use gravel or flower beds. (Except for the youngest, who's an incurably feral little beastie).

I believe you can hear higher pitched sounds the younger you are? So there's a good chance your two DC would be able to hear it. I used to hate it - one of the local houses I delivered to as a teen had one and it's headache-inducingly ear piercing.

[cantthinkofabloodyname]

I have used 'Silent Roar' lion poo extract which is a sterilised form soaked into pellets. This is fairly safe, even with DS3 who tries to eat most things in the garden.
It is very funny to see a cat on the fence when it gets a whiff of it. Funnily enough the prolific pooing machine jumped down off the fence & into the next garden where there was a dog.
The sound deterrents did nothing to deter the cats, they only annoyed DS2.