Rotten Cats!

[hopey]

I'm fed up with the local cats using my flower beds for a toilet. Does anyone know a way of deterring this that doesn't involve violence! Would putting down bark chippings or slate work? Any ideas would be gratefully appreciated. Its driving me mad!

nope...cats loved the bark chippings we had more than the soil!!!!

I have seen something which made a sound they can't tolerate, somebody has mentioned pepper, etc. MIL was so feed up that nothing worked and was spending so much money in repairing the damage (or so sad because the new flowers she had been breeding with so much care were severely damaged by cats). that she got a cat trap and keep sending cats to the RSPCA. Not that I suggest you do the same though...

It's just what cats do I'm afarid. Can't stop it without hurting the cats and I'm sure you wouldn't want to do that.

It's not the end of the world though is it? It's only cat poo and it's bio degradable and a fertilizer!

Well, as long as your children don't play by the flowers, it is OK, sad not to be able to use the garden in hot days as it will stink. I would try the pepper, cats are fast learners I don't think they will keep comming back very often. MIL got the trap and catched about 14 cats on the first month (so she really had a "cat infestation", most of them were strays which may have ended in a good home.

By the way, my front garden stinks, cat definitively love the bark chippings!!!

you can use a sonic repeller have a look here down the bottom of the page

i have got pond netting over my flowerbeds and ds's play bark. just cut a hole in the netting for the flowers. no cats have pooed in the garden since i did this and it also seems to keep all but the most determined slugs off!
you can get it from wilkos.

we had a sonic repeller the last two years and it worked brilliantly, we are cat central round here and they just stayed away. Of course this year ds has dropped it from a height and it's in bits, so all the cats are back using our gravel as cat litter until I get a new one... would definitely recommend it.

A vet told a friend of mine to put out food - they won't shit where they eat. Maybe you could just sprinkle some dry food now and then to put them off.

I used mouse traps. I've never caught/nipped a cat with one, but when they accidently brush them and set them off, the noise seems to scare them off for months. My mother has done the same in her garage in California and it works on American cats too!

My cat had his favourite spot in the garden, but we recently planted a curry plant there and he won't go within 20 feet of it now - don't know if he is just weird or if this helps generally
He does like spots that I have just weeded and dug in, so if I have planted seedlings, I get those green garden sticks and break them into about 3 bits and stick them in - then he doesn't have enuf room to go
And if he is been a real pain, I shoot him with a water pistol!
I wouldn't mind, but we back onto a great big field!!!! how lazy is my cat?
HTH

I have been using Olbas Oil on teabags - it seems to help though you have to remember to refresh the oil quite frequently.

Much sympathy - they go on my lawn, which is SO horrid when you have kids who want to play in the garden. Have tried: pepper, chilli powder, curry powder, moth balls, Jeyes fluid, orange peel, strings of old CDs (supposed to catch the light and scare them off), bottles of water, and keeping a store of used corks by the back door and throwing them at any cats I see in the garden. Limited success all.

If they went on the flower beds it wouldn't be so bad but, no, it's on the bl**dy lawn

Have heard that lion poo is the best it scares them away by making them think it's a bigger scarier cats territory, now where to get lion poo from is a different story.

My cats are indoor cats so only I get the joy of cleaning up their poo!

I bought some lion poo pellets (garden centre) too! I was put off using it as inside the box (where you couldn't see it 'til you'd paid £10 for the damn stuff) was a little warning that it can actually make the problem worse before it gets better: the cats see it as a huge threat to their territory and set about re-marking it with a vengeance.

ive noticed in the garden centres theres a pepper type powder you can get, dont know how effective it is though.

I've seen an ultrasonic deterrent for sale that shoots out a spray of water when it detects a creature in the vicinity. That struck me as being great fun, even though I normally like animals.

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I was so fed up of next doors' 8 cats (yeh, and we live in tiny terraced cottages) pooing in my garden that I ended up covering my flower beds with paving.

Now I use pots on the flower beds and find this really versatile.

No poo too!

hopey - oh I do sympathise. There are so many cats that use our back garden as a toilet that my ds cannot use our garden.
The smell in this heat is vile. When I am sitting in my lounge with the window open I can actually smell it. Will try some of the suggestions on here.

That's terrible Carly, I'm a cat lover but I can understand people getting annoyed when they poo in their garden. Have you thought about paving it I know it's not as good as grass for a child but at least it would stop you smelling it!

Thankds for your suggestions folks. It makes me mad. I've recently forked out a considerable amount of money to have my garden done and the fact that cats like to use it as a toilet really bugs me. I know a lot of cat owners train their cats to go in a litter tray and not all cats are bad, its just the dirty few whose owners just let them go and do their own thing.

Our neighbor's cat (an ugly orange brute called "Pussy" poos right outside our bedroom window. I used to quite like cats but now I'm furious and dream of drastic (!) solutions. But my neighbor lives alone and she loves her cat... and I'm not cruel, either. I just wish that damned Pussy would s**t in his own garden!

Hopey, that's not really fair. Cats aren't dirty, they are just animals who don't understand the human concept of gardens! Where do you think all the other animals go?! Of course animals poo outside, that's how nature made them.
My cat doesn't bother anyone else because she's very shy and runs away from strangers ... bless her, we put up a stairgate this weekend and hadn't realised it would stop her going downstairs too... she even tried running full-tilt at it and banged her head .

in all fairness any cat thats allowed outside will poo outside whether they have a litter tray in the house or not and it is impossible really to keep cats in (spesh in summer when you have the windows open). it is a pain i know but thats what cats are like unfortunatly.