Fed up of cat sh*tting in our garden

[Ttcpph]

Our garden is fully enclosed by 6 foot fences/ gates all around.
we have a dog who, I believe I should be able to be let out in our enclosed back garden without fear of him eating cat shit!

how can I stop a cat coming and shitting?!
the dog eats the poo which is disgusting, a health hazard, and I'm pregnant so worried about toxoplasmosis.

dont know who's cat it is.
I can't buy those granules as the garden is a decent size so realistically can't cover the entire area in granules/orange peel/garlic/whatever else.

its so gross, my dog comes inside with the most vile smelling breath, and it makes him ill as he has a sensitive stomach.

so frustrated. I honestly feel like unless you live in a remote area where your cat can roam without being an annoyance, it should be an indoor cat.
people would be furious if I just let me dog shit in their gardens as I walk him, without picking up. How is this any different?!
somehow it's ok for cats to just shit anywhere?!?

@CeruleanBelt
😂I'm going to have to be on permanent cat watch I think, and then let the dog loose 😂

Be aware that kids can hear the noise.

my parents got one yers ago and my nephew refused to visit their house - we found out the sound was hurting his ears and making him cry. He was three.

It's honestly the only thing I've found that works! I tried literally every remedy on the market but only getting a dog and allowing him to chase the cats made any difference. The neighbours thought i was joking when i said i wasnt going to stop the dog chasing the cats.

One of the neighbours moaned the first time they heard their cat get chased. For years they'd told me shitting in gardens is just what cats do. I took great pleasure in telling them chasing cats is just what dogs do.

I had this, and I returned the shit to their doorstep and flower pots. It honestly stopped. My next move was their letterbox, but luckily that wasn't necessary.

Not human friendly either - I have to walk past one on the school run, so antisocial! Many people can hear them.

OP next door’s new cat kept shitting in our flower bed by our front door and it stank in the summer!! Not a good welcome for our guests. Planting lavender has worked a treat. There are many cat-deterring plants apparently!

Buy some of the green plastic-coated metal fencing you can buy in garden type centres. I got mine in The Range.

Screw it into your fence, about 6-8 inches below the top, (on your side of the fence) using screws and washers.

It should stick up vertically about 1foot minimum. Mine is about 18 inches.

Bend it over towards you so it's a horizontal overhang. ie when viewed from the side it's an L shape.

It will support itself but anything standing on it like a cat will feel it bend down and not chance falling so will retreat.

You have to do it round your whole garden including above any gates etc so there are no access points.

Cats can't get in or out.

I have this to keep mine in. But it also keeps ferals out. Win win.

Cost me about £35 for the fencing plus cheap screws and washers from screwfix. Maybe about £45 all in. I already had wire cutters and a drill plus screwdriver.

Gives me peace of mind.

Get some black cut outs of cats and put them in the garden

https://www.coopersofstortford.co.uk/cat-scarers/

My neighbour swears by garden mirrors at low heights - cat sees itself and fucks off.

Or try some anti- cat spike mats in the area it poops. This has worked for me.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155905444360

I bought mine on Amazon. Stops them stepping on your flower bird

@CotswoldSleuth

'My Mum and Dad have a motion sensor...'

🤣🤣🤣

Is that fitted to the wayward cat?

People always say this but it's not true. Many cats don't bury it.
Cars definitely pooh in my garden I've seen them.

I find shit eating dogs a bloody site more revolting than cats that have the decency to bury it.

That said, we cat proof our garden so ours can’t get into other people’s. It’s not difficult. We have 4. I’m a keen gardener and just don’t come across poo when I’m planting, weeding etc. so they must bury it pretty efficiently.

I genuinely don't understand why people have cats to then roam around other peoples property all day? Wouldn't happen with a dog. My garden is like a meeting place for several cats all who shit in it.

Walk your dog in your back garden on a lead or just don't let it go out at all. I haven't heard of a dog eating cat poo, mine certainly doesn't. That's disgusting.

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/why-does-my-dog-eat-cat-poop/

There is scientific explanation as to why some dogs do this. Mine have, hence the reason for my use of mirrors, spikes, scarers.
Dogs are scavengers and try to get nutritional benefit fwhere they can.
It’s not ideal, but dogs are pretty disgusting if left to themselves. But no way would I out them on a lead in their own garden, unless they had an injury.

No, under normal circumstances I wouldn't walk my dog in the back garden either but I would if it prevented them from eating cat poo. Sometimes when you want to make life easier for yourself you need to do these things.

Our neighbour's cat used to shit on our lawn, we bought a motion activated jet spray, which connects to the hosepipe and that seems to have stopped it!

I can only provide moral support I'm afraid. I used to be one of those cat owners but I am reformed and now realise how selfish I was to bring home an animal, which is essentially wild and non-native to the UK, allowing it to make a disgusting mess in other people's gardens and then to have the audacity to cry when the cat gets run over because I let it out of the door. They're an utter menace to wildlife and humans but there are so many cat owners in the Uk, even the RSPB won't come straight out with a robust line. I don't know what to suggest but as an owner I used one of those high pitched units to keep my own cats off of my lawn (I can only apologise) and it was effective. For what it's worth I've heard cats have their own routes and don't tend to cross paths so at least if that cat suddenly disappears you might not be bothered by another one for a while.

It's called Pica I think, and means dog's diet probably nutritionally deficient in some way. It's the same thing that gives pregnant women weird cravings.

So consult vet about ddog, and walk him on a lead in the garden as well as taking him on proper walks.

Mirror and silhouette sound worth a try. I might try this for our front garden.

They might bury it but you know dogs can dig, don't you? Takes a dog about 2 seconds to locate a cat shit.

Op's dog belongs in her garden. Random dirty cat doesn't. No bloody way id be walking my dog on the lead in it's own garden.

At one time before i got the dog I had all the neighbours cats (6 of the filthy bastards) taking turns shitting in my kids vegetable patch.

Well said.

Round here they don't even bury it, just crap on lawns, verges, even the footpath. I caught one in the road shitting behind my car. No other domestic animal is allowed to do this; though dogs were free-range when I was a child, the law changed. About time it changed regarding cats.

I picked it up and left it by their car door. Let them tread it into their carpets.

I have cats who come inside to use their litter trays - they prefer their clean, warm, private toilet to doing it al fresco. All the neighbourhood cats are known and if a cat is shitting in someone's garden the village culture is to be neighbourly and to try and solve the problem, rather than rude and confrontational like some of these comments.
One of my previous cats was a rogue shitter. I gave the neighbour he was troubling one of those pump water pistols that the kids use. It worked on that garden, but in the end I had to stop that cat going out roaming as it treated the entire neighbourhood as an extended toilet and I had to confine it to our garden. I've picked up cat poo from neighbours gardens if they ask because it's the right thing to do.
Whilst it's not against the law for cats to shit on other people's property, cat owners should accept it's their problem to solve - it's anti social.

Try a super soaker and just blast the cat when you see it. It is quite effective, I did that to deter a cat that was coming into our garden and bullying my cats.
Before anyone jumps on me, my cats do go outside but come inside to toilet into the litter tray !

You should have confined it to your own garden in the first place instead of putting the onus on your neighbour to solve the problem.