Sick to death of neighbors cat pooing all over my garden - what can I do

[LeftoutDIL]

My neighbours have a cat which has decided to use our garden as its litter tray. It’s pooing all over our garden (front and back!!) multiple times a week and I’m sick of picking up poo for an animal that doesn’t belong to me.

I don’t have pets because I don’t want to spend my time picking up its shit, so having to do it for someone else is driving me nuts. I’ve also got a young child who trod in it this week which I’m absolutely livid about !!!

We’ve tried putting coffee beans out and have bought a high frequency cat deterrent - neither of which have worked.

Before I waste more of my hard earned cash on stopping someone else's animal can anyone recommend tried and tested deterrents please ??

BTW I’m aware legally that cats have a right to roam but I don’t want to be dealing with this anymore.

Water pistol?? I'm an owner of 3 and I'm very conscious of them going on my neighbours garden.
Also black cotton strung between a couple of posts low down. Apparently cats can't see the black? Not sure if this is an old wives tale or not

You can get anti cat spikes to go on top of your fence, that might stop it jumping over into your garden

it’s mainly the front garden which is an issue and we don’t have a fence there - it goes from the pavement to our drive & lawn but thank you anyway

I got orange scented anti cat granules and sprinkled them around the garden Cats here orange

I’m never quick enough to get there ! I will try the black cotton thank you

@LeftoutDIL worth a try. Hope you find a solution soon

Water pistol is what my vet recommended for neighbouring unneutered cat trying to intimate my cat in her own garden!

Doesn’t it bury it? It’s pooing in the middle of the grass?

as pp said water pistol is your best bet.

you could speak to the neighbour- I’d couch it as concern- you know cats usually stick to borders and soft ground where they can bury their excrement, you’re worried that the cat maybe ill if it’s crapping so much in open places…but the owner can’t actually do much unfortunately.

First of all don't do anything dangerous to the cat.

Could you maybe explore a spray or something? Perhaps citrus based?

Hope the child is okay.

Put chicken wire, cut brambles or cat spikes down. There is cat pepper too.

I really sympathise, unfortunately the cat’s owner’s can’t control where it goes.

You can also throw water at the cat if you catch it in the act - 2 or 3 times will sort it. Have a bucket of water ready to go.

I have a cat water sprinkler, but it’s in my back garden.

Here is another way of approaching it. Is there anything that is attracting the cat to your garden? Just a thought.

If your neighbour is not completely unreasonable as if they would make a loose soil area or tray in a bit of their garden that the cat can use. We started with one of those trays that grow bags are in and put soil in it when our cat was confined to a catio, then moved it to the back of a border when she was free, then got rid of the tray but made sure there was plenty of fresh loose soil regularly topped up for her to dig in.
If they are prepared to do this and you simultaneously put down stuff like chicken manure pellets or citrus in their current preferred places you could break the cycle.
Cats are creatures of habit so you need to break the habit to go in your garden.

It’s very unusual for a cat not to bury it - are you sure you don’t have foxes?

Are you absolutely certain this is a cat? Cats usually go in a corner/flower bed & bury it. My neighbour swore my litter tray trained cat was shitting on her lawn. I kept cat in for 2 weeks which quickly proved it was foxes.

Get your own cat

My neighbours cats go on my patch of grass and no burying involved. They also go in the big plant pots in the garden, cats i had as a child all buried but they don't seem to round my way! .

Also - move the poo. Put it off your property or somewhere out of the way eg under a hedge, to encourage it to go elsewhere

Anti vandal.paint if they are accessing via a fence. They hate it. You will need to put a sign up (for the vandals not the cat!)

lion poo or pee soaked straw from a local zoo

Cats bury it if they can, and also if they're not using it as a boundary/territory marker.

If there are a lot of cats and territory is hotly contested, some cats will just shit out in the open as a very obvious visual and scent marker for 'this is my area, fuck right off'. It is called middening, and lengths of black cotton aren't going to stop that - that will stop them digging holes (possibly).

And some cats have learned to do this in previous homes and then carried on once moved to an area with fewer cats.

Solutions for this are entirely down to the owner, as a cat determined to midden somewhere is going to do so regardless of the surface or what deterrents you put on it really - I have seen cats even ignore motion activated water sprayers if the pressure to mark territory is strong enough.

Neutering toms can help. Keeping them in, obviously. But in some cases really the only answer is the owner going round and cleaning it up daily.

My neighbours cats don’t bury their shit. They do not like going in their own garden though. They used to like going in our garden, until we borrowed my mum’s dog for a week. One of the cats was just settling down for a poo when we let the dog out… I have never seen a cat jump so high!

I would find a friend with a bigger Tom cat and drop their poo and kitty litter with wee in strategic areas and put some of their fur onto the bushes (from their brush).

Are you sure it's a cat and not a fox or hedgehog?

Cats usually bury it and don't to crap in the middle of a lawn.

Speak to your neighbour and see if they have a litter tray. Then you know they are at least tryuto be responsible cat owners.

Other than that water works

Alas, this is the issue in my garden. I reckon we have five different neighbour cats who regularly come through and some at least shit right on the lawn, and some spray. (We do also have foxes who come through…)

I’d love a solution.