Neighbours cat sh*ting in our garden

[Sasha818]

Does anyone know how I can stop this from happening pls? I have a toddler who loves to be outside playing in the garden. Next doors cat for months now has decided our garden is it’s toilet.

There is sh*t everywhere around my child’s toys, on our cobblestones just everywhere around the grass in the garden really. My partner is picking it up every night.

they have 2 small kids 2 big dogs and artificial grass so I’m guessing that’s why the cat comes to ours (was told they don’t usually toilet on artificial grass?)

please give me some tips to get this creature out of our garden without me constantly being afraid of my child falling or rolling in it’s poo! It’s also a very scruffy outdoor cat.

Yes to either getting a dog or inviting a friend with a dog to come round regularly and spend time in the garden.

Citronella is the main ingredient of cat repellents but needs replenishing every couple of days or when it rains. The sonic repellents also work but require lots of batteries. Both are quite costly and the moment you forget or they have run out of batteries, you'll be picking up cat mess again. A lot of cats don't seem to dig a hole and bury their mess nowadays, possible they were taken away from their mums too young. It is horrid finding it in the middle of the grass and dangerous for your toddler.

To clean it up, if you use bleach the cat just thinks another cat is having a turf war with it and goes on the same spot again. The answer is to use biological washing powder as the enzymes break down the mess and don't make it smell like another cat. Netting can help. A PP has recommended lemons which sounds good as well.

A motion activated sprinkler should solve this. As soon as the cat realises they're going to get a soaking every time they enter the garden, they should soon bugger off. Just remember to turn it off when you go out in the garden yourselves 😂

@Sasha818

Cats don't go that often, every couple of days in my cats case (too lazy to climb fences or dig so goes on the horrible from previous owner plastic grass

I lay mesh down on the worst areas and that worked well. I got a sonic scarer, but my kids can hear it. Artificial cats with big eyes, borrow a dog even for an hour. Chase them out everytime I see them.

I have a dog and he eats the bloody cat poo so I am also at war (he'd eat the cat too if he caught it). I put holly branches on all the fences which helps a bit, and across any bare earth.

I got rid of this problem by sprinkling my garden liberally with chilli powder. Put it in the sieve and sprinkled! I bought a big bag from the supermarket. It's effective I promise!

My dog is very prey driven but that cats still come...

Honestly cat shit winds me up! It’s horribly toxic to dogs as well and can kill them, why on earth they’re allowed to poo everywhere is beyond me.

We've had all sorts of problems with cats as I have crazy neighbours who feed ALL of the local cats all day long. They cook trays of meat every day and throw it to cats outside. So we get shit and chicken bones/rotting bits of meat everywhere. It's insane. Also now encouraging seagulls to sit on top of my house all day long.

The things that have helped are shooing them away if you see them/squirting with water and getting one of those little machines which makes a very high pitched noise if a cat comes near. Some of the cats were really bothered by the noise and ran away, others less so. I think a sprinkler one would be extremely effective.

Motion activated sprinkler or massive dog. I went with the latter. I also threw a beer can at one once and it frightened it enough that it stopped coming over.

Sorry, no helpful advice, but a couple of things here -

cats DO shit on artificial grass/rugs/doormats/middle of a lawn

I've had cats for 42 years, and my old boy only goes in his litter tray (I know that as our garden is completely fenced off and he's not able to climb nowadays)

A water pistol is the only solution, I think

Yes, I'd be be launching that back over the fence if it was definitely their cat.

In my experience of being a cat owner they are very much creatures of habit and territory. You need to persistently deter them with pump action water pistols and garlic granule cat deterrent/spiky plants/chasing them for a few weeks. That way they will get in the habit of using somewhere else.

As you don't have a cat your garden is effectively 'disputed territory' and a number of cats probably think of it as theirs.

Alternatively get a cat. If it's anything like ours it will defend your garden like a little bad ass furry trooper 😂

The answer is prickle strips!!

www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Prikka-strip-security-spikes/dp/B07JGSNYR8/ref=asc_df_B07JGSNYR8/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=269126795226&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10075940113863844416&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9044975&hvtargid=pla-790396576514&psc=1

We've finally won our war against the neighbourhood cats toileting in our garden using prickle strips - literally cover the whole bloody place as much as you can. We covered all the bare earth in the flower bed so they can't dig it up, and also blocked the easy access/entrances (e.g. if there's on place they always come through, make their life heard - put the spikes on top of the fence post they jump onto). Tricky when you have a toddler that uses the grass but make the cats' life hard enough and they'll give up and go elsewhere.

We've been trying for 2 years to stop them using all sorts of ultrasonic devices, lion poo, garlic, chilli - prickle strips and blocking the easy entrances/exits is the only thing that has worked. (Combined with vigilance and water pistol them/chase them away every single time you see them anywhere near your garden, if they even look in that direction).

Have you read the other 5,815 threads on this subject?

Get a giant cheap tub of curry and/or chilli powder. Sprinkle it around every day for about a week. Their noses are very sensitive so this puts them off. On the downside you may find a queue of folk waiting for a takeaway in your street.

We've deterred two persistent cats successfully with a super soaker. It only took four or five days of vigilance. I suppose some cats must be more stubborn than these two.

A word of warning about the sonic deterrents mentioned up thread.

Please don't use one as they emit a horrible anti social sound. The neighbour of a relative has one and all my children can hear it and say it really hurts their ears. I can't hear it properly because I'm over 50 but I can hear it intermittently and feel a nasty pressure in my ears when I walk past it.

Following for advice. New neighbours moved in about a year ago and have at least EIGHT cats, who have decided that our front lawn is their litter tray. It is now full of cat shit, and holes where they have tried to bury it. It is driving me mental 😫

Are you able to install fence spikes?
I tried some cat repellent powder in my front garden it worked for a while, I think offending cat now realises we have dogs, so keeps away.
A hose pipe is a good deterrent if you can catch the crapper in the act.

Our cat is too shy to poo anywhere but his tray, but neighbouring cats love our garden (pretty rude). Haven't found anything to deter them unfortunately. If you catch them and make a hissing noise that usually freaks them out but you have to be quick. On behalf of cat lovers to cat haters - we understand it's annoying as fuck, and if the cats would listen I'm sure we'd tell them to stay out of other gardens.

With a toddler around?

It’s grim & only thing that works is having a dog.

Which is a huge decision , cost & long term commitment obvs.

Installation of spikes is causing deliberate harm.

Sadly cats will go anywhere and usually anywhere except their own garden.

My neighbour aggressively approached me (she's a horrible narcissist) and told me my cat had been shitting in her garden. My cats sleeps all day and goes out at 3am, back by 5am, so unless she sits up all night watching I'm pretty sure the cat goes on the field where she hunts two houses down from mine. They also have a big dog that shits piles and piles which is left for days on end and not cleared up, so yeah, I'm not convinced.

Sorry, not answering your question, just getting it off my chest 🤣