To spike my garden

[CuntingToms]

Because of cats (I am a cat owner myself)

Name changed because combined with my other posts, info about problem neighbour could be outing..

Honest to god it’s really starting to get me down now.

My neighbour won’t neuter his cats, I dread to think how many are inside, the female is on heat every few months and the street is absolutely overrun with entire Tom cats now and they are really giving me the fucking rage.

It wasn’t too bad at first when it was just the one Tom, they are breeding and there’s now at least six entire toms I see (and hear) regularly!

A huge tray of violas binned after they constantly dug them up and left crap all over the top of them, a dead hebe from spraying it, dead herbs from spraying, sometimes I come downstairs and my whole downstairs heaves of cat urine where they have sprayed the front door.
Pooing on top of clumps of flowers, I’ve just seen one of them has pooed on top of yet more of my flowers and then scratched the shit out of the surrounding plants shredding them and no, they weren’t trying to hide the poo.
It’s sat right there in the middle as a clear territory marker 😡😡😡

I deliberately left patches of bare earth all over my garden specifically so the cats could toilet away from my flowers!!

My garden is their favourite haunt and I’m starting to feel like giving up trying to make it nice as they are just ruining it.

Am I allowed to put varying heights of cocktail stick/bamboo skewer all amongst my plants or am I going to be punished if one of the bastards lands on one and injures itself?

I can’t really cat proof it’s my front garden so ‘open’ massive fences and cat mesh will look really odd
😖

YANBU to be annoyed about the selfish neighbour and the fact they are so irresponsible about their cats, that would rile me too. YABU to use cocktail sticks - they're too short to be much of a deterrant, might damage the cats and will rot quickly anyway.

I use a variety of bamboo canes and other sticks, cut to lengths of around 8 inches, which I stick into the soil upright near to any small plants/seedlings. They are sturdy enough and large enough to get in the way of any cat wanting to dig around etc. I also have a variety of stones and slabs that I place between shrubs and flowers, so there is very little bare soil left for any cat to walk on. In winter when flower beds are empty I cover them with black landscaping fabric which suppresses the weeds, and cover it with wire mesh, held down by metal grip pins - animals don't like walking on it.

I spray paths with a mixture of water and lemon scented washing up liquid to get rid of cat pee, and cats tend not to return as they dislike the lemon smell.

Slate chippings are useful as cats don't like the sharp edges.

To be honest though, with so many cats nearby this is likely to be an uphill struggle unless you can get the council to take action on grounds of environmental health, or get an animal charity to take action. In your position I'd be tempted to place chicken wire fencing around the entire boundary of your shrub/flower beds, and top off with a layer of netting, until the cats have been dealt with. I might also get the sonar devices to drive them away, but that won't stop them yowling and the sound carries. Maybe ear plugs might help you sleep?

Good luck OP. I like cats, but as a keen gardener I sympathise wirh your plight.

I don't understand why people are suggesting water pistols and hoses. The OP is hardly going to stay in her garden all day and all night ready to drench them with water.

We have a similar problem OP. Before my children can run to the trampoline, I have to insist they wear shoes and I inspect the grass before they go outside. The cat poo is always 'wet' which means taking it up messes up the grass all around it and I have to put kitchen paper on top of the messy grass. It also stinks. I know cats don't know who owns gardens but as a non cat owner , it is very unfair that I have to constantly clean up their crap.

Since Covid, I have noticed a reduction in the number of cats in the back garden. I have seen maybe one cat in four months. Unfortunately I have had to pay a large amount of money to pest control because I have seen rats in the garden instead.

I don't think I'd care if I had a back garden or not anymore tbh. For a tiny garden, it is very expensive in terms of time and effort.

I think the aspect of this that I get upset about is that these ideas have got cost attached, buying things to solve a problem that someone else is creating.
Sadly my neighbours cats don’t just use soil they crap on the paths too.

We got a sonic cat deterrent gadget when next doors 2 cats were repeatedly killing things in our garden. It's a small garden and most days it was covered in dead pigeon feathers and entrails for me to clear up. Really upset my kids.

I could not hear the sonic thing at all although kids said they could and the cats clearly could as they took a wide bearth around it and then stopped coming. I didn't bother to replace the batteries and they still didn't come back. I can highly recommend getting one. Looks like you can now get solar powered ones that rotate. Only costs 20 quid. If I had the problem again I'd get another.

I guess the problem is your own cat though. It would go off if she goes in the garden too.

Contact the cat charities, jeyes fluid, olbas, spikes, is downright abuse and disgusting.

If he is having this many cats and not neutering then this may be considered neglect.

I would capture and send to a rescue, say you have a stray cat problem around your area. If the guy is that bothered he'll look for them and they would have hopefully been spayed by then. It might not stop the behaviour completely though but it will stop the breeding. You could act innocent as if you didn't know they were his if confronted