Worried about new neighbour's cat sh*tting in our veg bed....

[hazbaz]

Just started raised beds for veg this year - very excited about it.

But we have new neighbours with a new cat. That has been digging up, & therefore sh*tting I assume, in the nice soft lovingly prepared earth of my veg bed

What is the danger in terms of toxoplasmosis? How long does it stay in the soil? I'm growing beans this year but would it be a danger if I grew root veg next year with it's offering mixed in?

Thanks in advance

Hi hazbaz. Sorry to hear about the cat shit. It's a nightmare.

I don't know about how long toxo stays in the soil I'm afraid. Removing the 'offering' and burying it somewhere you're not growing veg will go a long way to help, I think.

I can, however, offer you some tips to keep the bloody thing off your beds. I've had exactly the same issue, except we've got about 5 cats on our little road and they all had a go at shitting in my raised veg beds. I like cats well enough, but not when they're digging my seedlings up.

1. Cover the beds with branches or canes while the seeds are coming through. I used willow branches and twigs from a tree we cut down, but any twig or cane would do. I laid them over the surface of the soil, balanced on the edges of the beds. These make it difficult for cats to get to the soil surface.

1. Citrus peel. Cats don't like the smell of it. This worked quite well for me. Chop up any peel from oranges, lemons etc and scatter over the soil surface.

1. Action. It sounds mean, but if you see the cat in your garden go out and shoo it. It'll learn to treat your garden with caution, and it may come in less regularly. (I'll cover my arse here and say I'm not at all advocating being horrible to the cat. Just whoosh at it a bit )

The good news is that cats are creatures of habit. If you let them get into the mindset that your beds = toilet, they'll keep coming back. But once they've been deterred once or twice, they'll find somewhere else to go. If you keep at it, eventually they'll just stop trying. This is what's happened with me. My beds are poo-free nowadays

OK. I've had a quick look in my preggo books (we're TTC) and the word on toxoplasmosis seems to be that if you're worried you should wear gloves when gardening and wash all veg. You'd be washing and peeling root veg, which is even better.

Interestingly, there is a toxo risk from soil whether or not cats are using it as a loo. So it looks like you're best off taking the precautions anyway (but it'd still be nicer to have poo-free beds, obvs )

What I do (and this is to keep pigeons off mostly, but it works for cats too) is to have fences and / or covers on my raised beds, made out of bendy plastic fence mesh from the garden centre. It's very quick and simple, and means the plants are fully protected.

I'd put nets up I think. I just use bamboo poles with empty drinks bottles and cans over the end with cheap nets draped over them to keep pidgeons and butterflies off. Apart from the toxo thing it's just not nice to be digging around and come across a rogue turd.

Thanks Adamlambsbreath, good to know that your beds are now poo free! Great tip about the citrus peel, will try that and cover the beds.

I like the idea of bottles on bamboo canes to hold the netting, will stop the pigeons as well like you say. Thanks for the tips everyone.

My local cheapo shop sells bird netting and pegs to hold it down with for a pound or so. It's useful to keep butterflies off brassicas as well because they lay eggs which turn into caterpillars and eat through the crop practically overnight.

I have what is called a "London garden", I.e. 50' patio. My darling cat was digging up all our pots to use as a toilet, I don't know why she wouldn't do me the favour of going to the neighbours. The main problem was the ankle-deep soil everywhere which I took to clearing up using DD's seaside spade, less bending down. I bought a roll of plastic stuff with spikes in that can be cut up and laid in the pots, I think it was from Scott's of Stow. It has worked wonders, no more soily garden. She has now taken to shitting in the shower sometimes which I suppose is an improvement!

Scaffolding nets are cheap and easy to drape over plastic pipes or bottles on sticks. Helps reduce the slug and pigeon issue as well!

I £$%^&*( hate the neighbourhood cats- neither us or the neighbours either side have cats and so we seem to be an immediate attraction for thousands. I drew the line when one sh@t in my greenhouse and I stepped in it in flip flops.

So now we net everything, we shoo when we see them and we have a water spray and a laser sonic thingy. And we give our oldest a penny for her money box with everyone she chases out of the garden

Toxoplasma only affects the foetus of a pregnant woman

A. you are more likely to catch it in lambing season with contact from the contents of ewes birth
B. most cats are vaccinated and vet checked regularly so the risks from cats are relatively low

All sorts of things poo in your soil, whether it's your raised veg beds or bog standard mixed border. There will be bird poo, frog poo, fly poo, hedgehog poo, fox poo, beetle poo, mouse poo, mole poo, rat poo, bat poo... Etc. If you dig in composted manure every autumn (which is good practise), add cow and horse poo to that list. If it bothers you, wear gloves. Poo is part of soil and part of life. It's really no big deal.

I have lovely clear flowerbeds from a LOT of weeding I did recently so there is exposed soil just lying there invitingly for the neighbourhood cats to use.

I got bamboo skewers (for bbq) from Tesco, snapped them in half, and put them in the soil about 4 inches apart. As my plants grow, they can be pulled out in half a sec, and they discourage the furry fiends - haven't had a turd in a week, it was daily before I put the spikes in!

Cats aren't vaccinated against toxoplasmosis.

However you can only catch toxo from a cat if
(a) you haven't had toxo before
(b) the cat is in the midst of it's first toxo infection (after this, it has antibodies and cannot be infected again).

So I wouldn't worry unduly but the precautions are sensible. I agree that bamboo canes or sticks stuck in the ground about 6" apart or closer will stop them squatting while plants are tiny or the bed is empty (it's what I do in my raised bed - but only there, my cats have the rest of the flowerbeds to shit in). Once the plants are growing well, there won't be any space for the cats to squat in between them. If there is space, maybe buy some marigold plants to stick in between (attracts the blackflies off the plants too!).

Another point to raise is that cats love to poo in freshly dug earth which is why the well cared for soil in beds for veg plots is so attractive to them. If you can sacrifice another patch of the flowerbed to dig over frequently then they may be attracted there instead (that is what I do in my garden and it works pretty well).

I don't know if this works but I read somewhere that if you half fill eg a 2 ltr bottle of water / coke / lemonade with water and lay it on its side - cats don't like it and will go elsewhere .

Perfectly prepared to hear this is an urban myth.

We have put out a old plastic box filled with sand for the cats to use as a toilet. Its behind the shed and we clean it once a week, also a few holly branches in the vegetables beds works for us.

Just gone out to discover two massive heaps of cat shit in my seed bed

They have found the 20 square cm that isn't covered in branches and done it there.

I do think it's different to horse or cow shit, both of which I use. Herbivore shit = fine, carnivore shit = not fine. Plus cats dig, and that's one big reason to keep them away from your seedlings.