How do I stop cats pooing in my ds's sandpit?

[2cheekymonkeys]

I've just spend about an hour fishing bits of old cat turd out of my boys' sandpit and I'm getting fed up with it. Any tips on keeping them out gratefully received. We've tried making a lid but the first (designed by DP) failed to keep them out (like I told him it would ) and the second, designed by me, worked till DP 'accidentally' broke it. the sandpit is quite big (2sq m) so difficult to cover. Any ideas?

can't u just cover it with tarpaulin rather than making a lid. Weigh it down with bricks.

What about a piece of garden netting when you're not using it, thats what i do, ive sort of tied a stone on each corner to weigh it down. Covering is the only way i think.

greenhouse shading either tacked to a wood frame or with elastic or velcro to ease round sand pit

Thanks for the ideas. has anyone tried those electronic cat scarers? I've tried putting down cat pepper around the sandpit but it hasn't deterred them.

None of the cat scarers work very well - you're better off spending the money on a cover in my opinion !

We covered ours (about 3m x 3m) with a tarpaulin weighed dwon by old planks. Worked fine until this winter when teh cover split and the cat got in! I now have teh delightful job of emptying about 1.5 tonnes of sand from it and starting again!

shoot the feckers

Ooooh, I'd love to shoot them. One of them also leavse little pools of diarrhoea in the gravel outside our front door.

Scotlou, where do you get your sand from? we ordered ours online and it cost about £80 for nearly a ton. I'd like to replace the sand completely if i could find it cheaper cos it's gone a bit manky over winter (apart from the poos i found a dead frog in it. yuk.0

sprinkle onions they don't like the smell

we have two cats who poo - i'm trying to find new owners for them ..

and people whinge about dog poo,atleast we know where they poo and most of us pick it up.Cat poo disgusting.
You could get a dog and let it sleep outside.

I HATE cat shit
its so much worse than dog poo.

If i don't clean up the poo immediately it starts to grow hairy stuff! then i can't go near it and DP has to deal with it.

reading this while I ate my lunch was a mistake, wasn't it?

we have dog poo too..

Even worse I went round to see my neighbour and the cat followed me and she said (not realising it was mine..) that's the B@s*rd cat that keeps pooing in our beds (flower)- they've got to go..

You can get play sand from the garden centre or Early Learning (Direct or shop)

green garden netting - very cheap, easy to move about, just stretch over sandpit and weight with a few bricks.
sand from elc v. expensive imo, I'd ring local builder's merchants and ask for a bulk bag price - just make sure you ask for sdilver sand not regular builders sand.

What is silver sand? Is it finer and cleaner than builders sand?

much finer, and cleaner, and less red - doesn't stain clothing like builders sand does.

Found some big old bits of board that covered ours nicely. Scruffy but effective - just make sure they're on at night.