dog and cat fouling on property - help!

[MythologicalPersonage]

Just moved into our new house and there is an area of land next to our house which we own, but is not fenced in due to a restricted covenant. We are having to pick up dog and cat mess from this area on a weekly basis, found it on DS' pram wheel! We have just tried stay off our lawn spread, is there anything else you can think of to help us with this problem? Thanks!

a small polite sign re dog mess has actually worked for me; still get the occasional pile but it is much much better as people have to actively disobey it.

cats are more of an issue, but various free ideas are online so worth a try. The commercial stuff is generally useless.

Could you grow a prickly hedge around it?

Jays fluid splashed around the area or sprinkled. It's safe but animals don't like the smell

Thanks very much, I didn't think of that, have now purchased a sign and hopefully this will stop it!

Thanks we'll try Jays fluid as well, sadly the prickly hedge too is not allowed under the restricted covenant.

Jeyes Fluid is only animal safe if it's used as described on the packaging. I don't use the stuff but I believe you're supposed to dilute it quite heavily and allow the area to dry completely before letting animals out on it.

Used neat it can be incredibly harmful or even fatal to both dogs and cats.

I e found keeping the grass short stops our cat from pooing on the grass

Thanks, I will look at the dilution instructions for jeyes fluid. The area is gravelled. It does have a lot of weeds on which DH is trying to get under control.

I know a homeowner who planted a hedge round her side garden due to the number of primary school children who cut across it. You could literally see the path they made through her grass.

The hedge was really little and weedy at first with a protective plastic netting to help support it but 3 years on it is a thick hedge which has done what it set out to do.

What exactly does the covenant say?

This ultrasonic repeller worked for us, on our gravel front garden which was being covered in cat poo. The front garden has got a low wall around it though (as opposed to being open to the pavement) so maybe it helps if the offending cat is lazy.

We got an open railed cast iron railing fence around our corner plot despite having s restrictive covenant. The building company were fine with that, just no walls and none see through fences

I didn't realise that gravel would be so problematic.

The covenant says something like the front garden should not be enclosed in any way. However, our piece of land is next to our driveway on the opposite side to our front garden so it may not apply.

We are thinking of putting permeable paving over the area as this won't need planning permission but i'm guessing it would be expensive.

wafflesnaffler I have just read the reviews for the ultrasonic repeller and it gets great feedback. I am ordering one for delivery this weekend. Fingers crossed it will solve this problem.

We have started to find deposits in our fenced back garden so we now believe that it is mostly a cat problem although a family who have now moved away did have a dog that I never saw being taken for a walk.

It could also be a fox, a cat will try and bury it's poo, and fox will dump and go.

I've cats and dogs and the cats bury it in my garden, the dogs I pick up,straight away. But each morning I still find piles of black with berries fox poo...

As ever on thread such as this, we'll be removing any posts which advocate cruelty to animals. Please bear this in mind.

Many thanks.