To HATE cats and not want them in my garden. Any solutions?

[TotallyAndUtterlyPaninied]

I know there are animal lovers out there but I am not one of them and I really hate cats. They go through my rubbish bags and poop on the lawn where my 1 year old plays.

I don't want this happening any more. Any solutions? I don't really like any animals, so a dog is not an option.

Your poor mog peachy

TBH it upsets me to know how many animal-haters there are out there.

I don't think anyone has said they would put pepper on the cat; they have said they would put it on the garden.

I have a cat whom I adore but I can totally understand you not wanting them to use your garden as a loo.
Cats don't understand reprimand but 'acts of god' so if you arm yourself with a water pistol with a mixture of water and lemon juice only needs to be v low concerntrated and the cat gets fired at he will then go to clean himself but he will not like the taste and therefore associate your guarden with the taste.
Also the empty lemonade bottle filled with water also works- we used this when I was growing up at my mums hose to keep the pesky cats away from my rabbits.

I love cats but I don't want them pooing on my garden either (and I've seen them too unless it's those foxes in their fancy dress). Also, why is it 'sad' if people don't like animals? Surely it's just like people not liking certain foods.

Anyway to get to the point: the man in my local old-styley DIY shop said that moth balls work a treat. Apparently cats hate the smell but don't eat them so there's no worries re. poisoning.

theres a type of grass you can grow in pots spotted round your garden, and cats hate it

Have ordered myself some of those Scaredy Cat plants - Coleus Canina - got 6 for about £6 from E-bay.

It's not the cats eating the moth balls that would worry me - it's my 2 year old!

missm - disliking all animals is a bit more serious surely. We share your earth with thousands of other species. I think it suggests a slightly odd attitude if you hate all of them!

Peachy - didn't mean on cat - it works a treat on top of the soil - the cats seem to hate the smell and avoid it.

I don't hate cats just their bird munching tendancies - since the local cat numbers increased the birds have vanished - then the slugs and bugs over run us.

Fair enough, just tehre are prats about IYKWIM, sister works with a vets so we get to hear about the people who actually do hurt the cats.

I wonder- would chilli plants work? Incredibly cheap and easy to grow IME, and they do smell like the chiliis. Might give them a go.

No idea. used chilli to keep the squirrals out of my bulbs so thats how discovered that. Plus only have to apply once or two whole year so cost effective. Don't think a long term approach for cats but 4 year old seems to be working here! plus i get some peace - speaking of which have to go rescue the volcano expt... bi carb and lemon juice. messy but fun. Not good for plants though.

Just gone running out into my garden like a lunatic hissing and shouting at one of the local shit-machines which was sunbathing in the middle of my lawn!

Surveying and chosing a spot to crap in no doubt

Scared the living daylights out of it Hope it'll put it off coming back for a while.

And if anyone thinks I am over-reacting, please bear in mind I am 8 and a half weeks pregnant and allergic to cats so I have never had one as a pet then read this

especially the bit that says...

"If toxoplasmosis is caught in early pregnancy and is transmitted to the baby then there is a high risk of miscarriage.

If infected during the first or second trimester the baby may be born with: hydrocephalus (water on the brain), brain damage, epilepsy, deafness, blindness or growth problems.

The developmental problems may be so severe that the pregnancy ends in a stillbirth.

If toxoplasmosis is caught in the third trimester of pregnancy and is transmitted to the baby then there may not be such severe and obvious problems. However, although things may appear to be fine at birth, health problems may develop, particularly with vision, later in life. "

Toxoplasmosis is indeed dangerous- did your MW's never warn you about it, or is this your first pregnancy?

The chances of me being vulnerable to Ts are almost non existent as ahve rehoused various scruffy moggies over very many years, however I stillexercise caution in pregnancy and would never change a tray for example

But if needs must, gloves'll do it

Second pregnancy and yes, I was warned both times.

I only tend to go on the full cat offensive when I am pregnant though as if I'd been trying this hard to keep the sods out for the past five years or more, I'd have gone crazy by now!

Haven't read all the replies... you can buy lion poo pellets (called 'lion roar', I think), we saw an improvement but didn't totally solve the problem and I had to use loads of it. I would also use a water pistol to spray visiting cats.

We had a cat problem in our garden so got our own cat who uses a litter tray, so doesn't poo in our garden and keeps other cats out! However, we blocked up the gap under our garden gate (to keep our new cat in initially) and it stopped the lazy neighbour's cat coming in. Have you got an obvious cat-sized gap or maybe you could use some trellis to stop them coming over the fence?

Also, we found that our neighbour's cat didn't poo on our awful large woodchip, unfortunately only found this out after we removed it. Definitely watch out for anything in your garden resembling cat litter

You can also get sonic devices but I'd be a bit careful around children as they can hear some frequencies adults can't. However, you could turn if off when your DC is in the garden.

Can you get a rubbish bin to put the bags in (use a bungie cord to secure if necessary)? It might help move them on somewhere else if they're not getting yummy leftovers.

Good luck, it's a bit of a nightmare.

again, i'm not sure why the onus is on anyone other than owners to deal with this....maybe if they can't be housetrained (or own garden trained) they shouldn't be kept as pets

(speaking as someone whose hubby cleared up over 1lb of cat crap in 1 week..and gets bl**dy fed up of it every day)

I suppose Polly its a bit like Burglars; the onus is on them not to nick your things but you'd have to be a bit daft not to lock your doors

Except the cats can't actually know we don't like it

BTW if you dont have a cat you will of course have a much alrger problem as your garden will be disputed territory, hence owners not necessarily realising there's an issue- there isn't for them / us. Our own cats defend their property from passers by.

Automatic anger agianst all cat owners isn't sensible then, whilst mass annoyance at uncaring cat owners who dismiss your concerns is of course valid

Polly you know I dont think cats are necessarily the most sensible of anmals to have domesticated but they are here now and short of mass euthanasia that's just the way it is.

A final thought to OP: do you know for sure thee cats aren't strays? If so then there's nobody to house train them and a call to cats p[rotection is in order

This is a slightly extreme thought - but there is anti-cat fencing you can buy..

have never liked cats either, can't stand them atall. i don't like the fact they just swan around and poop in anybody's garden. It p*sses me right off when I see one in the garden actually. It's a safety hazard with young children when they just poop anywhere and everywhere.

YANBU to hate cats.

Really? Anti-cat fencing? That sounds exactly what we need...where would I buy such a magnificent sounding product from?

B&Q sell a sonic animal repellant gun with laser light sighting!

Am strangely tempted!

Try purrfectfence.co.uk, or google cat proof fencing. It's more usually sold to keep cats in, rather than out, but what's good for one thing...

You can also buy prikastrips which screw onto the tops of the fence. They have lots of little spikes which make it uncomfortable for the cats to walk on.

I would have some only the fence the cats come over belongs to the neighbour who has the cats and as the kids already call me a b1tch for "dissing our cat" after I put fishing wire up during my last pregnancy (again - supposed to make it uncomfortable to walk on the fence)- I daren't try it

at 'dissin our cat'. But not very nice for you Sarah.

Honestly, I still think that it's fine not to like animals, as long as you don't harm them. Good point about sharing the earth with thousands of them, but surely unless you're doing them some serious harm then it's just a harmless opinion. I, personally, really dislike dogs, but I'd never treat one cruelly or be unkind to a dog owner (except when they don't clean up its crap and then I'm tempted to become a trained assassin).

My smelly plants arrived this morning. Now just need to get DH to plant them as obviously I can't go digging in a garden infested with cat poo whilst pregnant.

So hope these work!