Animal lover but want to keep other's cats out of my garden

[Snowandtinsel]

I am a through and through animal lover, but since I lost my elderly dog last year, I've been having my neighbour's cat come in my garden. They have decided that my pet rabbit is fair game and are using my raised beds and lawn as a toilet.

I work with children from home so this is creating a bit of a potential hygiene issue. I clean up everything I see, but it's becoming a real worry for me.

I live in a terrace with overlapping plank fences so prickle strips won't fix. The cat is either climbing up the fence and jumping in or getting onto my shed roof and coming in that way.

Are there any kind methods of preventing access please? I think cat is also coming into the garden early in the morning.
Thank you

Good luck with trying to stop them.

To deter our 3 cats from using my tubs as toilets, I stuck a few small canes into the soil in each one so that it is not easy for them to get in and crouch down for a poo.

I can't say that I have seen any cat just do a poo on a lawn though. YMMV.

Before I had my little cat, one local cat used my newly dug garden borders as a litter tray, made worse by it having very loose stools. I had no way of cat proofing my garden so did a lateral move: provided a litter tray in a more suitable space. Neighbour thought I was bonkers but it worked! No mess in the borders and easy to clean up what it left.

Bamboo skewers dotted through a border as @LauraNorda suggested, can help

Cat proof your garden fences , it will stop them getting in as well as getting out

You could pay to cat-proof your garden.

The best tip I was ever given when I was getting frustrated with my neighbour’s cats using my garden as a toilet was to feed them!

I was told that cats never poo in their own garden as it’s considered ‘home’ so if I make my property ‘home-like’ for them too then they’d stop pooing in the garden.

I was sceptical but also very desperate so I decided to give it a go!!

So for the last few years they’ve been coming to my garden every day for treats and chin rubs and they’ve never pooed in my garden since.

Not all cats, unfortunately for OP. My cat absolutely toilets in her own garden which I am glad for. I'd be upset if the neighbours fed her as she's on a vet prescribed diet.

OP, what have your neighbours tried to keep the cat on their side? We found providing some freshly dug soil (initially with used cat litter in, but later on anything even slightly dug did the trick) got both our cats to toilet on our side.

What about a motion activated sprinkler on your side when the children aren't out? Presumably the rabbit is in a secure run so you can site the sprinkler away from that.

Plant some holly and spread holly leaves over any bare earth. It looks nice and they can’t squat. Orange oil or peel makes them gag so spritz the top of the fences with it.