How do i stop cats fouling in my garden?

Mrs_Ihenetu

Firstly, apologies if this is on the wrong board but i wasn't sure where the correct place was to post this

The local neighourhood cats have decided to use my front and back garden as their toilet and i wondered what was the most effective way of stopping them from doing so.
As i have 2 children under 3 i also need to use a method that is not dangerous to curious children.
I have no pets of my own so i don't mind if the method suggested deters all animals from going into my garden.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as i really despise having to pick up cat poo

peachyprice

The easiest and most aesthetically pleasing method is to put a good layer of bark on your flower beds (£5 for a 90 litre bag at Wickes) , they won't want to poo on it and it has the added benefit of keeping the weeds down!

Mrs_Ihenetu

Forgot to say my garden is all grass apart from a small path around the edge. They also poo in random areas of grass, not just in one place.

delain

Garlic is meant to put cats off, you can buy garlic spray which is harmless and doesn't smell bad to people.

It has worked for a relative of mine before.

Gloomendoom

Get your own cat.

It worked for me.

cjmumto2

We have Prikka cat strips on the fence, they are spiky plastic things so not pleasant to stand on for cats although does not harm them, birds can still stand on the fence. They are not supposed to like citrus sprays either so perhaps leave orange peels around and get a water pistol so that is one does come into your garden you can give it a spray to deter.

bagginslover

Get some 'zoo fertilizer'. Its made from lion poop from zoos, the cats will smell the preditor and not come close (I beleive it comes in pellet form so should be safe for children). sprinkle it round your perimeter.

mymerrywidow

borrow a friends dog for the day.

Mankysteve

Mrs_Ihenetu wrote: »

Forgot to say my garden is all grass apart from a small path around the edge. They also poo in random areas of grass, not just in one place.

Keep you grass trimmed. They will only use grass if it's uncut in my past experience.

Energize

Can you install an electric fence in your garden? I have found this to be the most effective way to keep unwanted animals out of my garden.

Pinkdebster

We have the same problem and I would LOVE to know the answer

As to the suggestions above.............

We have grass.............that we keep short! Still they do their business on the grass!

We have bark on all the borders.............still they do their business on the bark!

We got a dog..........a big black labrador (still a puppy but huge in comparison!) ............. still they are not deterred.............they sit on the fence and mock him!

We have tried everything, without success. In addition, we also have foxes nesting under the shed

If anyone knows of anything that works..........I'd love to hear it too!!!