cats in my garden grrrrrrr

vroombroom

Ok so this woman moved into our road a few months ago - along with her dog, her children and several cats.

The cats...oh the cats. I have a small front garden and they have taken to crapping in the two small strips of soil where my beautiful flowers are. :mad:

So far we have used several store bought concoctions - pepper dust stuff, spray that smells like garlic and more powder stuff. Never worked. I got some lemons and sprinkled the juice and the skins, never worked.

I have just got home from work and am so enraged to find yet more crap in the garden I've emptied two bottles of lemon bleach on the soil. What else can I try?

Water - cannot do this unless I sit at the window 24/7. Its mainly when I'm work.

Dogs - got two bu they both hate cats and if either caught a cat in the garden, well the cat wouldn't live to tell the tale. Plus the front garden is not fully enclosed so they'd likely run off or get nicked lol

Sonic sound thing - cheapest I have seen is £30, reluctant to spend this as it will potentially get nicked.

Any other ideas? Will the smell of bleach put them off? I am tempted to try barbed wire next....

flutterby_lil

Nothing to suggest as we have tried the same things as you. My 4 year old son even made a "no cats allowed" sign lol, but that didn't work either!

Keen to see what other suggestion you receive. I feel your pain.

ca55ie

Yep - totally disgusting isn't it. :mad:
I use crumpled chicken wire to cover all the exposed soil. At times I forget to move it but the plants just grow thru it. Seems to cause problems for the cats tho - so result.:T My OH says it looks disgusting but to be honest its not that obvious until you get close up to it - and its worked so far

Elsewhere

You should have posted this in the gardening thread, you'd have been overwhelmed with suggestions!

"Get off my Garden" crystals have worked well for us

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Get-Off-Repellent-Scatter-Crystals/dp/B000LS57O0

Someone on the gardening thread suggested a water spray gadget that is attached to a motion sensor. However, this might be a little unfriendly in your front garden!

tea_lover

I feel your pain, I had this problem in my old house. The most annoying thing was that the neighbour thought it was really funny. I hope you find something that works (I found moving house worked a treat but might be a bit extreme!)

paulineb_2

Cats dont like the smell of oranges. I wouldnt do anything that could hurt the cats, could you not speak to the owner?

My cats are indoor cats but my mums are outdoors, but she keeps an eye on them to make sure that they dont wander.

One of her kittens was screamed at by a neighbour, he has a cat himself but hes horrible to anyone elses, and shes now terrified of anyone apart from people in our family.

Sorry, but I really wouldnt be putting barbed wire down. You might not like the cats but they dont deserve to be harmed. And if you do that as a deterrent to the cats and they do get harmed you might end up in a battle with the neighbour that you dont want.

The problem is with the owner and its her you need to speak to. Also, if it really is causing a nuisance, consider contacting environmental health and they might letter her or speak to her.

If someone put barbed wire down and your dogs got injured, Im sure you would be upset and I appreciate that some people really dont like cats, but one of the cats I rescued was abused by a family before I got him, you dont know what has happened to an animal in its life before it goes to another home.

You could suggest that the owner buys a pen that a cat can run around in, so they can be outdoors and not go out of their garden, they arent cheap, but they can be bought.

megela

This has long been a bug-bear of mine, if I let my dog cr*p in their garden I'd be in all sorts of trouble.

My dog goes in a certain place in our garden that the kids know to avoid, the neighbour's cats aren't so decent though!

We do have a sonic scarer thing and I think it works when I remember to put batteries in it. A water gun was suggested to me, but perhaps not a good idea in your front garden where you'll be seen!

pigpen

Putting smelly things on the area means they have to mark their territory again so will be back to do more .. that becomes a vicious cycle.. they mark it, you mark it, they mark it again.

As a cat owner.. if they want to poo somewhere they will, there is little you can do about it..

One psycho neighbour we had a while back suggested we train the cats not to go in his garden (terrace of 10 houses, we had 3, woman opposite had 10 and there were lots of others but only mine went in his garden apparently) .. XH said if he could train them he would have them take the lid of his milk and $h!t in the bottle.. this was after a series of unneighbourly acts such as poisoning my 3 year old with ant powder!!!!

I picked up the cat and said to him.. 'do not go in this garden and poo' ... That didn't work either.

We've had cats come in over the years to poop, I found the best option was to have an area they could use.. that seems to work quite well.

bitemebankers

vroombroom wrote: »

I have just got home from work and am so enraged to find yet more crap in the garden I've emptied two bottles of lemon bleach on the soil.

!!!!!!...?

You are aware that that's a criminal act, as well as being mind-bogglingly stupid?

Troutwrestler

Nothing has worked for the abhorrent old witch across from me... She resorted to threatening to poison my cats with antifreeze. I keep my cats in now.
If you have a zoo nearby lion poop in the soil is supposed to deter them?? Might be an old wives tail though

marleyboy

A cheap method of discouragement is to strategically plant a few small canes or spikes in the soil, wide enough apart so as to make it difficult for the cats to squat.