Cat Shit Everywhere

[ChukkyPig]

OK well just in the garden.

What to do???

I don't want to use a sonic thing as I like cats and think it's a bit cruel.

Went out to 7 fresh turds today though so am not happy!!!

Any advice?

I think it's my fault for turning the earth hoeing etc too often as they like it freshly dug. But I have to keep the weeds off my veggies!!!!

[Macdog]

I've heard that old-fashioned mothballs work to keep cats off, but I don't know if they'd be safe around veggies.

Silent Roar is also supposed to be good

[Spagblog]

orange peel everywhere...sprinkle the peel, the juice, or orange oil near your earth.

Also they don't like walking on uncomfortable ground, so crush some egg shells and then bake them for a bit, then sprinkle them on the earth too.

[pollywobbledoodle]

stamp down any dug earth......
put bramble branches between veg rows.....
have a 30ft range supersoaker by the back door(and train the kids to use it at the cry of bl**dy cats!)

[Goober]

Black pepper.
Cheap as chips, cats hate it.

[nervousal]

I feel for you - the garden of our last house seemed to be the local litter tray - one of the reasons we moved! I've heard mothballs work.

[ChukkyPig]

These are all brillint suggestions - thanks!

Love the idea of silent roar - put the fear of god into next door's cats that'll do it!

Going to try stamping and orange as well then work my way through the list. Thing is my veggies are in my borders interspersed with flowers so I don't want them to look to industrial!

FWIW as a payback tip - I used Nemaslug this year and it worked like a dream. No slug damage at all for over 3 months!!!

[missingtheaction]

will really help if you dig out the turds too - cats use the smell to tell them it's a loo. Which is the theory behind all the black pepper/silent roar stuff.

personally I found holly and berberis cuttings more effective than the anti smell things, will definitely use brambles and rose stems in future too

[NotAnOtter]

i am with gooper 'fresh black pepper' i tried everything and then found this

[Goober]

If getting rid of the smell, try Jeyes fluid, or just get a dog!

[ChukkyPig]

Thanks all, as soon as I can muster the energy I am going to go wrestle some turds. Black pepper and orange are my chosen first weapons. I will also be sure to dig them out (fab).

Will let you know the results of my glamorous experiments!

Thanks again.

[hollyhobbie]

I was just about to start a thread on this very topic!

Sorry to be dense, but that would be ground black pepper, not whole peppercorns? [middle class emoticon]

[fedupandisolated]

Okay - I am a cat owner and lover. I have one neighbour and suggested to him that he squirts DC (Dear Cat) with a small water pistol - just enough for her to realise that she's not welcome and to stick with her own garden.
It works - she no longer strays next door. It's unpleasant but doesn't harm her.

[wingandprayer]

We used Silent Roar and it worked a treat. Prob is if you have a big area to cover gets pricey - you have to be quite liberal to get them to sod off we found and it wears off after lots of rain.

However, one other thing I found that did seem to work was coffee grinds (free from Starbucks). I worked on assumption that strong smell would put them off and it did seem to keep them away after we'd run out of SR. Added benefit of detering slugs as well.

If these hadn't worked was planning on getting the largest and most evil tomcat I could find from the local cat home. "Security" that would hopefully go and return the favour to other owners gardens.

[AvenaLife]

I was told by a lady in a pet shop that tea bags with jeys cleaning fluid deters them. I think you hang them around and they hate the smell. CD's alos work, they reflect the sun at them. Make some mobiles out of old ones you have and hang them around the garden.

I hope they work.

[ChukkyPig]

Update - dug em out and liberally peppered. So they went and shat all over the front garden instead!

Seems to be working though. Also going to get some Jeyes.

[lulu25]

get a cat. they never poo in their own gardens, but at the same time other cats are reluctant to indtrude on their territory.

it's foxes i have a problem with...

[hollyhobbie]

Update- the black pepper is working well so far. I think I have to buy some more to make sure the whole garden is covered, though.

The added side-effect is that it will hopefully stop DS eating soil, which seems to be his favourite pastime

[Tabatha21]

Always found that a .22 rifle cures the problem. The only pain is that you have to sit up a few nights a week to catch them all. I can highly recommend the Remington 504 .22 rifle (with night scope of course). Bought mine from guntrader.co.uk, excellent service, satisfaction guaranteed!

[chloemegjess]

I have the same problem, but they are MY cats. So I don't think I can do any of these as I obviously dont want to get rid of my cats - would just prefer them to poo in the great big empty field behind out house instead!

But saying that, this time last year we were moaning about smelly cat litter trys inside the house, which was far, far worse.

[unfitmother]

We had some building work done last month. I was told that they were giving us a 'free gift' of some golden stone for the drive.
I hate the way it looks but the local cats love it. It looks like a giant litter tray!
I have to step out of the car carefully now, I'll try the black pepper first.

[chloemegjess]

How do you tell if its cats poo or foxes? As it might actually be foxes poo in our garden as I have never actually seen my cats do it. I have seen them wee in our garden, but not poo.

[SmugColditz]

I'm another one for lots and lots of black pepper.

it's the only thing that's worked!