Help...flower bed is the local cat toilet! Pic attached

[Richtea67]

So this is the flower bed at the front of our property and I'd really like to do something with it! However every time I clear it and plant things the local cats decend and treat it as one big litter tray. I have even suspected that someone has allowed their dogs to crap in it We have tried spraying orange and peppermint oil, and growing plants that deter then but it's no use. In the end I have given up and it's in the state you see now. It's an eyesore. I have considered just concreting over it, but would like to keep some sort of greenery. It's quite large...around 8ft x 4ft. I also have a chronic health condition so it would need to be fairly low maintenance. Any suggestions greatly recieved!

Struggling to post the image..Will try again!

I think once cats get used to a space it’s tricky to get them out. Personally I’d dig it out and then fill the space with some nice thorny shrubbery like gorse. Which can look pretty but wouldn’t be s cat toilet of choice.

Cayenne pepper or chilli powder will deter dogs - they don't like the smell (don't worry it won't hurt them) and think it will also work for cats. We have used this successfully several times for dogs who are allowed to shit on the pavement outside the house - they will do this in a regular spot if allowed to by their shitty owners. Give it a go - it works very quickly and you may then have to dust the bed occasionally to maintain the deterrence.

Thanks for the tips.

@Elephantswillnever will something like gorse spread quickly over the space? This would be ideal. Are there any other species of thorny shrubs you can recommend please?

@Epwell I will dig out the spices and give that a try, thank you.

I've got a couple of very beautiful and very thorny Berberis. Cats go nowhere near them.

Dig it out. Fill with cat unfriendly gravel and plant thorny plants, anti cat plants as well as nice plants.

Cats love gravel! It's just like cat litter.

This happened to me so I've got a pyracantha in mine now. It's really spikey and it's also nice and colourful when nothing else is.

www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pyracantha

Depends what kind of gravel.

The heavier it is, the less likely they are to be able to move it to try to cover up what they have done and certainly they will not like walking on it, in the same way walking on large pebbles for humans is horrible but walking on sand is fine.

I suppose people associate the word gravel with small sized stones. What I really mean is get larger irregularly shaped pebbles rather than gravel. They won't like walking on it and will not be able to cover what they have done with it.

Apparently, the scent of human urine (early morning pungent pee) can keep animals such as cats, foxes, and rabbits away from your garden! [Obviously collect in a container indoors THEN put it outside 🤪]

White/distilled vinegar works for my garden. It's about 40p for a big bottle from Tesco and lasts for ages. We had a similar area dug up and plum slate put down. However, as a previous poster said, this kind of stuff can attract cats to poop there. Every so often I squirt it with vinegar and it keeps the cats away. I've tried various other things, orange peel etc but nothing works as well as the vinegar.

We had this problem so we covered all the ground with thick black weed fabric and planted shrubs through it. Never had any issue since. The plants quickly grew over the fabric so it was invisible but the cats could never get to soil to dig.

And cats just love gravel.

Could you build it up into a raised bed? You'd still need to deter cats but dogs wouldn't be able to reach it plus you'd have easier maintenance as you wouldn't need to bend down.

Put pointy sticks all over it every 6 inches so there isn't enough room for them to settle down for a wee/poo.

Planting pointy/thorny plants works as well but the sticks will be an immediate solution.

We have a kind of hedge made up of colourful thorny shrubs, interspersed with dog roses. No cats.

I really hate cats for this and many other reasons - so we unleash the hose drench the buggers. Better then a BB or paintball gun and works. Softies will say it's mean but I simply don't want my garden full of shit. Contain your animal or it's getting a soaking.

Apparently leaving plastic water bottles (filled) scares them as they think its reflection of water.

What about an ultrasonic cat repellent? I've used them with good success in the past.

One of my cats used to sit on my neighbour's ultrasonic repellant.

Thanks for replies all. We did try putting a weed membrane sheet down and had cat shit just sitting on top of it! They seem very determined. I think I will plant with some spikey ground covering shrubs, and try sticks poking out of the soil every few inches to deter. We did try white vinegar and no effect, but haven't tried chilli powder so will give this a go.

I feel your pain. Spiky plants very useful - I also found this helpful because you can put it around plants and adjust as they get bigger. Chicken wire is an alternative. They don't look that nice but I have used them while I'm getting the area covered in plants (which normally does the job for me).

selections.com/products/set-of-2-plant-prickle-strip-dig-stopper-anti-dog-and-cat-protection-2m-30cm