Cats - the bane of my life, starting to really dislike them

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

Neighbourhood cats here are the bane of my life. I find cat turds all over the place in the borders on top of the soil. It's disgusting. They trample over my plants (broke a bleeding heart completely the other day, the only one I've got while it's in full flower). We have a bird bath which is about knee height which the birds love. But loads of times I've seen a bloody cat climb on it to drink from it and the bowl part has been knocked off the base. It's got a chip on it now. I've even seen one climbing UP to a pot with an acer in it to squat and do their business in the soil in the fecking pot FGS.

I am an animal lover (dog person really!) and must give off vibes that I'm friendly because if I go out there to try to scare them off when I see one they either just carry on lying there under the hedge staring at me, or actually walk towards me to purr round my legs. Even if I'm telling them to shove off! Last summer one even came in my house in the same room that I was hoovering in and just lay down in the sun and was getting in my way as I was trying to hoover. I had the door open because it was a roasting hot day. I don't want to actively do them any damage but how the hell do I keep them out of my garden? They need to shit in their own gardens.....

DH has recently put out those ultrasonic cat scarer things but I don't think they're having any effect. Any suggestions?

We’ve had some success with dried orange peel, cayenne pepper and cocktail sticks. .

I’ve a high pressure hosepipe ready as well.

Big water pistol- one of those super soaker things.

I'm a cat owner I scare off other cats from my garden as mine are house cats and go scatty if they see other cats in the garden.

I just use a water pistol. They soon learn.

Water pistol.
Dried chilli seeds scattered liberally everywhere.. very cheap huge bag from amazon ....

we live between a lot of cat owners but have no problem with cat poo. Think it's because we have a lot of ground cover eg geraniums. If they're on top of the soil rather than buried, are you sure that they're not hedgehog or fox?

It’s a myth that cats bury their shit.

I hear you, I bloody hate cats - and to some extent their owners - for this reason.

I had success by planting through weed control fabric and putting sticks into the ground so there is nowhere to get comfortable, plus using water if possible to scare them off whenever you see them.

It is hard because I don't want to hurt them, but they are a fucking menace.

The thing that most gives me the rage is their owners try to pretend it isn;t that disgusting

I'm an outdoor cat owner and hate the idea of mine using people's gardens as their toilet.
I dug out a large flower bed. There are only a few odd flowers in it and the soil is forked over. It looks horrid as its just soil but my cats love it. It's just what they like to use. I clear the poop every day like you do with a dog and this prevents them using others gardens. It's not 100% but it does work. I have no idea why others don't do this who have cats. It's disgusting that they don't try to make some provision for their cats.

Thank you for trying @Cannedlaughter and I agree that other cat owners are disgusting.

This is a really good idea! My cat uses my back garden but in various places. If he had a dedicated place, it would work really well. I have a dog too so the local cats use my front garden

I get the foxes doing massive shits right in the middle of my lawn.

Try chicken wire. It's worked for me.

I hear you, I don't want to hurt them either but they are a bloody menace. I've found spraying them with the hosepipe (not on a forceful setting) gets them scarpering as well as chilli flakes as said upthread. The only problem is I think the chilli flakes just get washed away by the rain so you have to keep doing it and spraying water at them only works if you actually spot them.

I sprinkle coffee grounds on my borders too because we have them every day (plus they're meant to be good for the plants).

You say you're a dog lover...... I'm sure a jack russell would soon scare them out of your garden 😏

Perhaps they do, and their own cats just choose to shit in other people's gardens instead? Cat owners always go on about how clean cats are. Maybe they literally don't like to shit in their own back yard.....

Plus you don't actually know if your own cat DOESN'T use someone else's garden unless you're following him from garden to garden.

What do I do with the chicken wire?

Hmmm.....coffee grounds....we do have those. I'll try those. And we always have masses of chilli flakes in the house but I'd be concerned at the poor birds pecking one of those up.......

DH has ordered a super soaker.

I'd love a dog, yes, and I know they are excellent cat deterrents! But we are out of the house all day both working FT. Think that's why the cats are so comfy in our garden. Plenty of nice places for them to lie hidden and no-one disturbing them. When they feel the urge to crap they simply do it.

I think cat owners should do everything they can to try and encourage their cats to crap in their own gardens. I can't even imagine what someone would say if i had a dog and let it walk up the road to do a shit in the neighbour's front garden.

Don't think it helps my dislike of cats that they seem to use our front drive and the front of our house as a well-trodden public footpath for cat, which our Ring camera captures them on every fecking night at 2 or 3 in the morning, waking me up with a notification sound. I'm a light sleeper and wake up terrified that there's someone about to break in (we have had someone peering in at night before, caught on camera), only to find it's just the nightly parade of cats nonchalantly strolling up our path and across the front of out house. I'm sure it must be a well known cat hook up spot or something.

I'll try those. And we always have masses of chilli flakes in the house but I'd be concerned at the poor birds pecking one of those up.......

Birds are immune the chilli. They cannot taste the heat at all.

I was going to say the same thing. Birds cannot taste chilli at all which is why you often get chilli flavoured bird food such as peanuts to deter squirrels as the squirrels detest the chilli but birds can't detect it.

Sprinkler system with motion sensors?