To ask you please to advise on how to keep cats out of the garden?

[Summertimeblue]

I have a cat problem. It’s ruining my enjoyment of the garden. Our garden is literally our happy place as we rarely go out and it features our ‘homemade beach’ where SEN DS can be his best self enjoying swimming and playing with sand. I built it myself and put all my limited money into it and it’s gorgeous. It really is just a very large sandpit next to a pool with some nice decorations I made ( I’m very crafty and have an eye for reclamation and upcycling).
the problem is that 2 or 3 visiting cats keep coming in and using the sand area as a toilet. I’ve no idea how they are getting under the covers which I’m weighting down overnight. But I’m constantly digging through suspicious patches and finding poo then having to throw away the sand around it away and pour bleachy water into the holes. I’m really tight for money at the moment so can’t just order another £600 sand delivery or rebuild the structure so that it can be netted ( which will also spoil the appearance). Is there something plant or smell wise that will just make them not want to come into the garden? The lower end is all big trees so even if I did do something to the fences an athletic cat could use the trees to jump across and then descend into my bit. I’m so fed up with the constant fear of finding disturbed sand and knowing there’ll be shit in it. I love dogs but don’t have one to avoid there being poo in the garden so why do I have to have someone else’s minion of misery coming to crap in mine?
any advice welcome as am at wits end.

This is so horrible. Poor you OP. Like a previous poster I'm amazed it's allowed/socially accepted/encouraged for so many people to have pets that just crap in other people's gardens. We got big gravel with jaggedy edges to stop them pooing in that and grew plants everywhere else (did have some success with strong smelling plants but really the only things that worked was making sure everything was covered with sharp gravel and foliage). We have a strong heavy wooden lid on the sandpit.

At Christmas we had some Christmas spice flavoured coffee and the grounds from that really did get rid of them for a bit though!!

@LimeCheesecake yes that’s kind of poetic, maybe a Bluetooth speaker with sounds of the Serengeti prides or something to add authenticity.

My NDN don’t cover their sandpit and I have regular nightmares about their young DC picking up some poo one day. Honestly no idea how they’re keeping cats out of it or if they even are, I’ve never seen the thing covered.

Anyway, don’t use bleach as others have said because cats just think ammonia and want to cover with their own scent. You need a very good cover, an elasticated one would be good weighed down with bricks.

Sonic cat deterrent was a game changer for me.

The trouble is you have basically made a giant litter tray for all roaming cats.
I get its bloody annoying even though I have cats. But it's the equivalent of putting a giant pile of chips on the beach and going mental when you get mobbed by gulls.
Animals don't know your circumstances and are just going about their day.
So in this case the sand needs to be covered when you are not about. If you can show us a picture maybe we can make suggestions.

Get a cat. That’s the only way to guarantee no mess. They won’t go in their own garden and they won’t allow anyone else to either. Win win. You get a cute pussy cat and a clean garden 😜

This 100%

We used Get Off which seemed to work.

Sonic device, motion sensor sprinkler and get that cover really anchored down.

arsehole cats are and I have my own.

Borrow my doggy type site? Would allow you to regularly add a dog smell around your garden without taking on the commitment of your own dog.

Citrus peel and reflectors as they hate the same and get spooked with their reflection. Has worked for us.

If you have a few hundred pounds, and 6' fences, you could add a DIY cat containment system like Felisafe - to keep cats out. You can also simulate this with cheaper brackets and mesh.

It's not 100% as some determined visitors can get in, but they won't be able to get out again, will panic and never visit again after you release them. We've had ours up for 6 years and only 2 occasions of panicked interlopers.

We use ours to keep our cats in, as we don't believe that we should allow our animals to roam.

I'm sorry, but you have constructed what is essentially a giant cat litter tray in your garden. You can't really blame them for not understanding that they aren't supposed to use it for that purpose.

The only thing you can do is to make some sort of an impenetrable physical barrier.

You can cat proof a garden by placing special nets around the top of the fence but it isn’t cheap

My cats over the years have all gone to toilet in the garden, every one of my pots has a load of cat poo in it from her (current one).

I dont know where this idea comes from that they dont poo in their own gardens