End of my tether with the cats

[Cleaningismycardio]

Posting for traffic as I am out of options and hoping someone will have an idea of how to help me. I live in a lovely street but we have quite a few cats. They constantly use my garden as a toilet. I could cope with this if it were just in the soil, but it is all over my grass - back and front. Sometimes they also go on my path. Definitely cats as a dog would not be able to get through my gate into the back and the dogs here are never out without their owners. I have spent a small fortune on deterring them in humane ways. I have done the following so far: got an electronic sound sensor (they crap right in front of it), changed to plants recommended to deter (e.g. tons of lavender plants back and front), sprinkled coffee, peppercorns, shop bought cat repellent, have jars of vinegar dotted about, sponges soaked in oil dotted about, chicken wire over the grass, lion manure on grass and in soil. Nothing works and since I have started doing all the work to the front, this past 6 months they have now started to go on my back grass too!! No deterrents working there either. I have a child who can't play in their own garden and guinea pigs who will not be able to go out on the grass in the nice weather (the parasites in cat mess are dangerous to them). I am absolutely sick to the back teeth of cleaning up their mess, to the point it is actually starting to affect me - I actually just want to cry when I go and scoop it all up. At present I have 7 'deposits' in my small front garden and 6 at the back (possibly more in the soil), all in random places, not in one spot, but it is so soggy and wet I will have to wait until another frost for it to freeze before I can clean it. It is a modern estate so the gardens are roomy enough to play in but not huge so this amount of mess means they are out of bounds. Spraying cats with water is the only one I haven't tried because they come in the middle of the night.
My neighbour is an early riser and have chased them a few times about 5/6am. My non-cat owning neighbours have the same issue with mess, but it seems to be only me and next door who have it on our actual grass. Apparently there was never any bother until a neighbour took in a stray and it started messing on the grass. So sorry for the long post. Please help me!!!! I really don't know how much more I can take!

YANBU

I know cats have the right to roam but I really think it’s bloody selfish of cat owners who know their cats are shitting in other peoples gardens. They would be horrified if a dog shit in their garden and it’s no different just because it’s a cat (both meat eaters, both nasty parasites in their shit)

I know people say it's more likely to be foxes but we're on a new estate, neighbours further down have a seemingly huge gang of cats which are constantly crapping on our front and back garden.
What's worked for me (we have't had any since last summer (touch wood)) is-

• Pouring hot water and citrus scented cleaner over all loose chippings round the front and side of the house.

• Keeping a bottle of cold water near the front window. They use our front path as a short cut so whenever they come near I fling it over them.

• Orange peel scattered over the lawn- it took a few goes but did seem to work. I shredded it really small and it seemed to make it smell stronger too.

Our last resort if they start to come back with the warm weather is pave the entire front garden, which we will hopefully have done by summer, and put some high plants up along the back fence.

I feel for you OP, I absolutely hate the fact that you can own a cat but it's everyone else's responsibility to clean up their mess, especially with the risk to small children and pregnant women. They're selfish pets to own in my opinion.

@MadeOfStarStuff

YANBU

I know cats have the right to roam but I really think it’s bloody selfish of cat owners who know their cats are shitting in other peoples gardens. They would be horrified if a dog shit in their garden and it’s no different just because it’s a cat (both meat eaters, both nasty parasites in their shit)

Selfish how - for having cats as pets?

I know it isn't nice to deal with but cats are independent animals and most of them would lead miserable lives inside. There is nothing you can do if a cat chooses to toilet outside. Mine have litter boxes - one uses the litter tray, the other would go out in a hurricane before he used a litter tray. I advert added areas of bark and gravel in my garden to encourage him to do it there but I can't force him. If the OP has never seen the cat(s) and therefore has never been able to let the owner know then they can't try and do anythings about it.

BTW hedgehog shit also looks quite a lot like cat shit and fox shit.

@Bakeachocolatecake2day

I am 99% sure it won't be a cat doing most of this. It'll most likely be a fox - they are territorial and will crap to mark territory. This is why they are coming back over and over and re-making the same space.

You may be on the edge of two fox territories, which is making it doubly bad.

Cats will occasionally poo in the open but only if stressed or ill, and not usually repeatedly.

This - Cats bury their poo - Foxes leave it in prominent places on lawns to mark their territory.

Not cats. 99% sure of it. You can tell from the smell, very distinctive smell fox poo - well distinctive for people who have dogs that like to roll in it 🤢

As Sandi Toksvig says why buy a cat and keep it in my garden?

Catproof fencing at the back, OP. And a permanent sprinkler in the front garden, movement activated.

Cat owners are selfish for choosing to have an animal they know will wander onto other people's property. You assume everyone's garden and property is available to your cats. It is not, and people who won't tolerate them will take action accordingly. I wouldn't have allowed a baby to crawl into and poo in a neighbours garden. Cats should't be allowed to do so either.

Really unlikely to be a cat pooing on grass and pathways. They have a really strong instinct to bury their mess and are usually quite clean animals.
As others have said, it’s much more likely to be a fox. I have one that regularly visits. I live in the middle of an estate, near a busy main road and he quite happily jumps over the 6ft fences between gardens. A noise woke me up the other night and I looked out the window to see him chilling on the roof of the shed! Foxes poo everywhere in order to mark their territory, cats bury it to avoid attracting predators.

I had a cat poo problem and bought this sprinkler, it works really well, and reaches quite a distance. No more cat poo problem. Even now, when the sprinkler has been put away for winter, the cats zoom at speed through the garden and never stop.
amazon.co.uk/dp/B004YCUT4W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_4QGXAPXJE9267FX4AXRQ]]

We started off using a super soaker water pistol, never tried to hit a cat but the spray of water near them was a great way to put them off, but was early morning when they seemed their most busy.
I have also used those electronic cat deterrents but children can hear them. The sprayer was much better.
Good luck

We had an issue with the cats from neighbours on both sides using our garden as a toilet.

One weekend I dog sat for a relatives Lurcher. It was a hot weekend and the patio doors were open all day and the Lurcher had free range (enclosed garden, 6ft fences).

Never seen a cat again since that weekend. OP... can you borrow a Lurcher for a couple of days?

Cats are the only domesticated animals that seem to have freedom to roam and defecate anywhere they like ...and their owners know it and let them , and don't clear it up . It's disgusting ; easily as bad and as much a threat to health (and life) as dog poo .
I sprinkle white pepper and woodash in places I have been digging recently but the only real solution for my garden has been a Jack Russell terrier .

My neighbors cats are constantly shitting in my garden and it's disgusting. They say it's just what cats do. I borrow a neighbour's big scary dog to scent mark in my garden every now and again and that works for a few days. I hate them though. I actually like cats, when they're not leaving turds everywhere. I can't put bird food out because the bastard cats kill them and leave their corpses for my children to find. We are absolutely surrounded as well. The sooner people have to control their cats the better. It's done in other countries.

@CallistoSol

Can't stand cats, or their entitled owners, who are always the first to screech about dog shit. Personally OP, I would be on a stake out with an air rifle, I would also leave the bagged up crap on the doorsteps of all the cat owning households in your neighbourhood.

Horrible post and absolutely unreasonable.

[quote spencerprattisaprat]@Radio4Rocks not arguing, she implied it. [/quote]
Yes she did by saying that they should be taken away and disposed of.

@Radio4Rocks 'people that won't tolerate them will take action accordingly' Somehow I don't think she was talking about deterrents and spraying them with water.

The only thing that worked for me was getting (three of) my own cats. An over reaction maybe but I’ve had no further problems!

@HeidiHaughton

Call the local animal cruelty charity and tell them there are strays which need to be removed and destroyed. People cannot let their animals wander like this, perhaps having them killed will make them think twice about doing it again.

OK psycho

People saying cats bury their poo. Really they don't. I previously had both grass and flower beds and the vats made no attempts to bury it. Just crap and walk off. CCTV would often catch the cat or cats in question, and I would bag up the poop and return it to their owners doorstep. Regularly. My garden is block paved now and we have limited incidents, but it if happened again I'll be returning the poop to it's owner. It makes me so mad that cats seem to just crap where they want and the owners take no responsibility.

@HeidiHaughton absolutely vile statement further down about having them destroyed. Yuck.