Any ideas please? :(

timesrunnigout

.....on how to stop all the local neighbourhood cats c****ing in my garden .
My son has Autism and i check every single time he goes outside to the back garden.....there is always cat c***p!!
I've tried filling bottles with water as someone recommended......no good.
I can't put anything down that may be eaten as he eats non food things (Pica).......i really am sick of picking up after cats.
We don't have any pets....and i'm not a cat hater honestly.....i just hate what they constantly leave behind.
Does anyone have any ideas...old recipies.......or.......??
thanks for reading

Linda32

Pepper works best for me. Just sprinkle cheap white pepper on the ground when its not likely to rain and the cats tend to go elsewhere.

This does mean that they will find another spot, but you just sprinkle pepper there. It seems to work well here. I just use the basic pepper which is about 15p

timesrunnigout

I'll get some pepper tomorrow and give it a go!:D

valk_scot

A pump up water gun is really quite effective at scaring cats out the garden. I love cats but even I won't tolerate next door's slinky menace when it tries to get into the nest box after the baby bluetits. A few wet blasts from the upstairs window soon gets the message across.

splodger_seedswapper

cats really don't like vinegar :cool:

Badrick

There's another thread here with various suggestions.
Cheap but good sonic cat repellent - ideas?

Leif

Does anyone know how to stop badgers and foxes pooping in a garden? I seem to get fox poop on a regular basis, and it stinks. When mowing the lawn, I have to leave small areas uncut. :rotfl:

valk_scot wrote: »

A pump up water gun is really quite effective at scaring cats out the garden. I love cats but even I won't tolerate next door's slinky menace when it tries to get into the nest box after the baby bluetits. A few wet blasts from the upstairs window soon gets the message across.

I can confirm that it works, but I would not do it in very cold weather.

Davesnave

I won't be popular for saying it, but most of us have been here before and seen the same old wives' remedies trotted out, ad infinitum.

The question is really how much do you want to exclude cats from your child's play area? If the answer is "very much" then it's likely to cost you quite serious money and require a bit of DIY ingenuity too.

Those of us who keep chickens know that excluding foxes isn't easy, but if we don't, the consequences may be dire. This involves very strong, high fencing and maybe an electric wire or two. The idea is to convince foxy that it's not worth the hassle of trying to get in.

Perhaps something short of fox-proofing would work for the vast majority of cats. For a start, they won't bite through polypropylene (Tensar type) netting, so you could use that. While I'm sure your garden is very attractive, to a cat it's just one of many, so convincing them to go elsewhere should be possible.

What's more, just as my chickens have a safe play area, so would your child, if you made the only easy exit via the house.

valk_scot

Leif wrote: »

I can confirm that it works, but I would not do it in very cold weather.

Most cats don't tend to go out much in very cold weather so less of a problem. But even so, it's not going to actually hurt them to get a bit wet, they won't dissolve. Yes it will be more unpleasant for them to be both wet and cold but that's even more of a deterrent. My last cats used to come in soaking wet and just go and sit under the radiator, hoping for a rub down with the old towel I kept there.

OP, the only other thing you can do is to have a very careful walk round the garden each time your son goes out, with rubber gloves, a plastic trowel and some poop bags or nappy sacks. Remove any areas of gravel, keep exposed soil to a minimum by using ground cover plants or putting upturned buckets or pots on any temporarily bare areas. Net veg beds and keep sandpits covered. Keep the grass short, rake up the loose leaves, don't have any quiet corners with loose surfaces that cats can rake up. Paving is pretty cat proof, gravel and bark chippings might as well have a "Cat Toilet" sign above them. It's no different from what you have to do when there's young children playing in the garden.

timesrunnigout

...for your thoughts and ideas....i'm going to give them all a turn.....well except the electric fence....though i'm tempted .

I will report back in a few weeks and let you now if i've had any successes :T

wellused

Do you happen to have any old carpet gripper rods knocking about?