Cats damaging garden fence and pooing in my garden

kuepper

I have a ~5' traditional fence with overlap panels but to get between gardens my neighbours' cats scramble to the top of the panels and cling there before jumping down the other side. Through their claws and their weight (and an increase in the cat population in recent months) the panels have become loose and damaged. I don't see the point in replacing them like for like as the same thing will just happen again. Can anyone recommend a cat proof solution that affords reasonable privacy?

I'm also getting sick of the cats pooing in my garden too, any suggestions to deter them welcome!

missile

You could try one of the ultrasonic deterrents ?

Just a suggestion. I have never used one and do not know if they are effective.

Ruski

Sit there with your hosepipe and trigger spray ready for action - they soon get the idea

HTH

Russ

Davesnave

We have these questions about cats every year.

There are dozens of 'answers,' most of of which don't work, but people try them because they're too daft, poor or lazy to do things that will work.....or maybe the cats aren't really the huge problem they say they are.

I have chickens, badgers and foxes, not all together of course, because if the other two access the chickens, they're gone. So, I don't get any options, except to build a 100% fox/badger proof fence. I have and it works.

You can build a cat proof fence, but I cannot pretend it'll be cheap or pretty.
Just a bit of bird netting on top of a typical fence would certainly help though.

Failing that, you can create what I have naturally for my cats, which is areas of dry, friable soil where the'd much rather 'go' than on other areas where digging is harder. It's not 100% foolproof, but it's better than an old lemonade bottle half full of water on the lawn, or scattering grapefruit skins around the place!

Oh, and if your fence panels really fall to bits because of cats, I'd hate to think what the force of a 65mph wind would do to them!

Ant555

I had similar issues a few years back and was only partially successful.

I considered putting something spiky on the fence but decided that was not right so opted for persuading them to toilet elsewhere.
Wilko had a 'cat repellent' spray that smelt absolutely awful and a bit like garlic that I sprayed every other week over the winter and it did indeed keep them away. Not sure if its still available.

I wasnt able to stop them walking along the top of my fence however it seemed like an amicable solution that I let them use the fence if the went to the loo elsewhere!

Silvertabby

The best way to keep cats out of your garden - is to get a cat of your own.

Otherwise - try soaking used tea bags in olbas oil and scattering then around the 'poo' areas. Cats hate the smell.

thebigstillmeister

When we moved in to our house, the front lawn was covered in it from the neighbors cat. The smell in the summer walking to my front door was terrible, mowing the lawn was just nasty and was worried about my little boy getting covered in it.

Literally every day with out fail there was something. The worst thing was the cat used to go in the top of our new topiary balls we had planted.

I bought some of the cat scanner off ebay, about £20 each, the day I put them in I had zero mess,.. lasted for about 2 months or so, batteries ran out and immediately we had problems again.

I had about 4, 1 i think is now a bit knackered and the others have run out of battery, so only down side is you do have to keep replacing the batteries which I havent done so much through the winter, but now its getting nicer weather I am going to get them all working again,

societys_child

you do have to keep replacing the batteries

Noticed recently that solar powered are now available.

ITtim

missile wrote: »

You could try one of the ultrasonic deterrents ?

Just a suggestion. I have never used one and do not know if they are effective.

I've had good success with these devices. The only thing is I seem to replace them every year but they really keep the cats away

thebigstillmeister

societys_child wrote: »

Noticed recently that solar powered are now available.

Might have a look,. although I usually bury them in a hedge out of sight, so not sure how much sun they would get.

kuepper

"Oh, and if your fence panels really fall to bits because of cats, I'd hate to think what the force of a 65mph wind would do to them!"

They withstand the wind fine, it's the tops of the panels that have been ruined by the cats over the past few months, there's no 'if' about it. I haven't got a cat myself it's my neighbours who have, there was only 1 cat for many years which didn't cause a problem but now there's a few of them. I think they use the tops to sharpen their claws too