Keeping cats out the garden

[Flopsy145]

There's a new cat in my area and has pooed twice in my garden, I like cats but I hate dealing with their poo especially as I'm pregnant and have kids who are always playing out there. We also love the birds and don't want them to get caught. What's the best way to prevent cats from coming and pooing in the garden that's safe for other animals?

Minimise bits of bare soil? I tend to put cardboard now to temporarily cover the soil or holly clippings. I also avoid gravel for the same reason.

As above - the less bare soil there is, the greater the chances of them going elsewhere.

A fine excuse to get planting - especially evergreens or big perennials that have foliage that never quite dies totally down over winter. e.g. ferns where the foliage goes crispy and brown and stays on top of the soil, has worked here.

Spray them with water every time they come in your garden, they'll soon stop.

My feline lads are as good as gold of course, and butter wouldn’t melt, but there’s a bloody Tom that lives locally that has sprayed in my garage and if I catch him he’ll regret it.

If it’s just the one cat causing a problem, then maybe chat with the owners and see if they can think of a solution. You could try the water gun trick to make it think twice. I have a bigger issue with my garden. I have aviary’s with (some very rare) exotic birds so my methods are a little more extreme (7-8ft fence with anti cat spikes, then a border laced with irritants).

Have a super soaker full and ready to use whenever you see an interloper. Imitating Rambo while using it is optional. Cat poo is no joke, particularly when you're pregnant or for kids.

My sister has had great success with a couple of these strategially placed for cats. I'm on the verge of getting one myself because we have a fox rave up happening every night in the back garden in the early hours, and they're driving me nuts!

I have a cat and a garden. I put sticks upright as spikes in the beds where there is any bare earth.

Cat pee is a pain. Our Scottie’s used to come in from the garden with their beards stinking of it, and my spaniels with it on their ears 🤮. Fortunately at the moment there aren't too many cats around here, and our current dog goes baying down the garden if he see one, which seems to see them off!

Thank you all lots of great advice, unfortunately we've just extended our borders and also done a cut back, by April the plants will have grown big enough and I can fill the extra space with mire plants, so there won't be as much bare soil but right now there is a fair amount! I'll try breaking up some bamboo canes and plonk them about and just take any out round the edge when the kids are out there.
I don't know the owners and can't tell which house the cat is from, it's a very pretty ragdoll type that I've only seen the past few weeks so hopefully we've not become a routine yet. I will definitely be scaring it off and spraying the water if I see it come back in -hopefully without my daughter seeing and she thinks it's our pet 😂

I'll try breaking up some bamboo canes and plonk them about and just take any out round the edge when the kids are out there.

Get (or improvise ) some cane toppers.

Wine corks work quite well as came toppers, especially the plastic ones.

I just use sticks from around the garden but then I’ve got a lot of trees and shrubs and therefore a lot of sticks.

@spanishviola we don't have too many, but for some reason I have about 10 very long bamboo canes 😂

Good idea to make some toppers! Thanks all!