to not expect b*^£"rd cats to use my garden as a toilet??

[lucyellensmum]

I know i am being unreasonable, cats will be cats but since our dog died we have done our garden for the baby to play in and now it is full of cat shit. i'll paste this in gardening to see if there are any child friendly cat detterants on the market. I know about lion poo but the zoo here wont give it out anymore (health and safety!)

Cat owners? would you be horribly offended if someone knocked on your door, having never spoken to you before (newish neighbours) and asked if your cats had worms, i am worried about the health implications and could easily get them some wormers.

Gardeners - any child safe, veggie plot safe cat detterants - that work?

I actually gave my neighbour a water pistol to use on my cat years ago. She made this beautiful (if you like that sort of thing) clay mermaid thingy holding a fig leaf which was by her pond. My cat used it as a platform to sit on and watch the fish.. it broke . She mended the mermaid and used the water pistol on the cat. Everyone was happy - well maybe not my cat but hey ho.

This drives me insane. Every day before my kids go out in the garden i have to search for cat shit and it drives me insane. WE have soaked the cat everytime it comes into garden, put orange peel down...nothing works. Might try pepper and see if it works.

I was going to try pepper but my theory was if I put pepper near the poo then my dog would just see it as a lovely seasoning to make her meal even more enjoyable - thats Dalmatians for you

I hate it too - drives me mad.

shoot it or poison it nice!

squonk - yeah, thats what i thought too

the issue with worms is, if my daughter picks up shit with worms in it and then touches her face, she runs the risk of going blind!!!!!!!!I dont think i am brave enough to go and knock on the neigbours doors suggesting they neglect their cats, which they clearly don't as they are nice healthy things. Trouble is, some people rely on bob martins shite from the pet shop and it doesn't work! Would umbrage still be taken if i offered some super dooper wormer for free? I don't expect other people to pay for my neuroses.

The ironic thing is that we chose not to get another dog because of poo, now there is more than ever - simple solution then, another dog it does make me so when one of the things dd loves to do is help mummy in the garden, but helping often means tasting!

I am really bloody pissed off about it to be honest but i do appreciate that cats do this and its not really the owners fault. Someone did say that cats tend to keep to their own gardens - if only!

SO, im going to get some cat repellent, sprinkle some pepper, put oragne trees in the garden and buy a super soaker water pistol.

Random theory my grandma used to have: dab eucalyptus oil on used dried teabags and dot them about the borders of your garden. Apparently cats don't like the smell over much. In time the bag mulches into the soil, just replenish them as you go along.

Can't say if it's a proven theory, cats don't tend to poo in the gardens round here as there's a lot of waste area they prefer Or maybe they just don't like my garden? Might be something to do with the frogs

Agnes

Poison can get you into a lot of bother. A bit of teabag recycling doesn't

Agnes

I have two cats and unfortunatly you can't really control where they poo, unlike our dog! I wouldn't be offended if you asked me if they were wormwd (they are, regularly) and would even hapily come round and clear up after them if you asked me to, after all I wouldn't leave my dog's poo on the pavement so why should I leave my cat's poo in someone elses garden. That said not sure how many people would confess to not worming their animals regularly so think you may be on to a losser with that one

we had a problem with a cat that used to poo in our garden now she's had kittens we have an even bigger problem. the kittens haven't worked out how to cover up and they regularily seem to have upset tummys. drives me crazy as I can't work out who the cat/kittens belong to or even how many there are (i've seen at least four together.) Feel I should probably tell someone their cats are unwell but don't fancy a fight (live in a bit of a rough area) so every morning I have to do the cat poo scan. would love to know if any of these ideas worked
How much eucalytus on a tea bag?
Do you have to replace them often?
Can eucalytus damage plants?

MT hope you're joking but theres always some idiot that thinks stuff is OK coz someone said so on MN.... If not then seriosuly out of order, as Is aid before someone did this to my old cat and we lost a gorgeous creature from it . Both of my cats were abused- one OK now, one terrified of peole and missing a leg, tail, part of his jaw and harming animals is so NOT okay.

If eucalyptus is a possibility how about planting some? Its is a plant after all

I wouldn't mind if someone asked me if my cats were wormed. And I would feel really guilty if they pooed in their garden!
We got our cats because everyone elses ruddy cat pooed in our garden, and my mum said if you get a cat they won't, and cats don't tend to poo intheir own back yard!!
This has worked a treat, no more poo! Though I guess it means our cats are off pooing in someone elses garden....
I've heard planting curry leaves can keep cats away, too.
Also, your daughter could catch tapewrom if she gets poo on her hands from wotmy cat, but the worm that causes blindness only lives in dogs, not cats. Hope this is some consolation?

Oh I would like to find an answer here. My neighbours put scaffolding on my property last year and left it there all summer for their house extension - without permission. so now I find their cats even more offensive - they poo only in my garden. I too have tried all the peppers and other remedies to no avail. I am thinking of putting a note through their door informing them that I will be putting some poison down at some point (due to rats) and please for them to ensure their cats do not come into my garden.
I won't put any poison down, but I am harbouring this plan. Anybody think this might work?

the thing with cats is they never sh!t in their own backyards

I hate the furry feckers

Not unreasonable at all. How would your neighbours like it if you sent your toddler round to their garden to have a poo on their lawn

We suffered with this in our last house and suffer from it a little in this house. It infuriates me when I think about it too much. My DH ends up having to do a sh*t collection (which ends up in OUR bin) everyday we want the children to play outside.

In our last house he collected it up and hung it onto the front door of the people who own the cats and left a note asking them to dispose of their property. Then the police came round to chat to DH as the neighbours felt harrassed In all fairness to the police, they had difficulty keeping a straight face when they discussed it with DH.

I remember a similar thread not so long ago. It turned into a very 'heated' debate.
Unfortunately, as horrible and annoying as it is there is nothing anyone can really do apart from putting deterents in the garden. Cats will roam. Even if everyone kept their own cats cooped up indoors all the time, there are always strays.
2 things I can think of that will help:-

1. There is a little machine that plays a really high pitch noise. Cant remember what its called but my dad has one and it works! cats hate it! Humans can barely hear it.

2. Get a big dog that barks at cats!! Like ours!! I have not seen a single cat in our garden. I would be a death wish!

I've been thinking about posting an identical thread as this problem has really been getting my goat since moving into our house last year.

I've got two cats, but until a few weeks ago they were house cats and so they always use their indoor litter tray. Also, I keep them in at night as it's safer for them, safer for birds etc, and it means that I KNOW that all the poo I find comes from neighbours' cats - there's a whole gang of them who congregate on a nearby shed roof. The really infuriating thing is that I have enough to do with cleaning up after my own cats, I really don't want to be cleaning up after other people's.

So basically

1. getting your own cat doesn't always work - mine are often chased indoors by these strange cats who obviously think my garden is still their territory.

1. pepper dust and citrus peal doesn't work. I scattered peal last week, and guess what I found nestling in the middle of it the next morning, almost as if the cat was saying, "F* You"!

1. filling an old coke bottle half full of water and laying on the beds is supposed to work as cats don't like the reflections.

It doesn't. Found my cat admiring the reflections .

1. Whether the cats have worms or not, it's still disgusting for us to have to collect their mess - and what do we do with it? Seems unfair to put it in the bin for the poor binmen to collect.

1. What I would like ALL cat owners to do, is NOT let their cats out at night. Mine are quite happy to wander during the day, and sleep or play indoors after dusk. And ALL cat owners should be encouraged to train their cats to use an indoor tray so they are less likely to be caught short outdoors. It's not true that all cats bury their mess, and even when they do, it still smells and it's still there in your garden, waiting for someone to unearth it.

Any other cat owners out there willing to start a Responsible Cat Owners Poo campaign?

LW it wont work coz you cant keep cats in one place without locking them in, and non-house cats rarely tolerate that and can get quite ill.

Can see your point of course (ours shite in our backyard so we have to do the poo thing as much as anyone), perhaps the scaffloding would be easier to address though?

How about putting all th shit in a bag each day and delivering it? Perhpas with the additional gift of a litter tray and litter?

OLurs are in at night, actually its clased as neglect now if theyre not in at night.

I suppose the vague upside is that peole raised around cats are less likely to develop toxoplasmosis when they are pg? (nasty illness comes from cat shit and can cause a miscarriage)

Not very reassuring?

Oh dear

Trouble with the poo gift bag with added litter and tray (like it )! - is, do you know exactly whose cat is responsible? I have a choice of 6 or 7 regular visitors, and only one whose owners I know (this one used to live with our house's previous owners but moved to a neighbours when his home was 'invaded' by two babies), he has now taken to coming through the cat flap if my cats are out of the way . My daughter was a bit disconcerted to find 'Ginger' waiting for her in the hall when she came home from school the other day!

We had one of those sonic things that emits a high pitched noise that they hate - that worked a treat. You have to be able to position it right though, so it works well if it's one cat or if they all come in from the same place eg from next door. Or have more than one device I suppose (we used it when next door's cat used to come in, so always over the same bit of fence).

If you can catch them coming in, water pistol or shouting 'Sod OFF you disgusting creature' is quite satisfying.