Will replace my lawn with hard surface stop cat?

ahfat41

So fed of having to clean cats poo on my lawn everyday.  It is disgusting I cannot put my washing to dry outside without stepping on their poos.  I have tried everything from sonic etc.  Having tried to block their ways with prickly branches do not work, they go around it.  I have just bought scaring cat mat sfrom ebay upposed to be harmless to them but act as a deterrent but it is so expensive & not discreet.  I am going to take on board somebody suggested bbq stewkers and give it a try will have to wait in summer as do not think they are being sold now.  Has anybody find something that works, the cats in my neighbourhood are determined to use my lawn as their toilet. I would not mind anywhere else but not the lawns.  Thanks

ahfat41

As last resort replacing the lawn with hard a bit drastic but will it stop them?  Also thinking of changing my iron gate to a tall wooden one will that deter them?  If they are that determined they will jump over.

molerat

No, cats still poop on gravel. They will climb over a wooden gate.  If you want to keep cats out you need to look how a zoo keeps them in !

I spray lemon juice, bleach and disinfectant randomly on hard surfaces

KxMx

Changing the gate may help, it won't stop the most deermined cats but the casual pooper may well look for somewhere easier. 

I'm pretty sure you will still be able to find BBQ skewers online even this time of year, try eBay or Amazon. 

Cats may still poop on gravel but if the stones are large it's not very attractive to them. 

Just don't go for the small pebbles aka giant litter box! 

tacpot12

I don't know what people's experience has been with artificial grass. We have cats and artificial grass in the back garden and we don't have a problem with cat's pooing on it, but this may be because our cats keep the neighbours cats away, and our cats poo in the neighbours' gardens. (I really hope they don't do this, but they are cats after all). 

The artificial turf looks much better than I expected it to, although we bought a premium product. 

MalMonroe

Are you sure it's cats? Have you actually seen them? Why on earth have all the cats in your neighbourhood decided to flock to your garden? Please don't be cruel to cats. I love cats and own one but she's been an indoor cat since we found her as a tiny kitten, for the very reason you outline above. (Cruelty that is, not toilets)

I don't believe that so many cats are using your garden. Most cats are meticulously clean in their habits and prefer to use somewhere other than grass because they like to bury what they produce. So if you've been digging in the garden and there's soft soil, that's what they'd choose. And produce manure for you.

It could even be foxes. We have badgers and foxes where I live and both poo on our garden. And on a couple of occasions our neighbours' dogs have escaped and done the unthinkable. (Their owners have been very apologetic and cleaned it up.)

Cats don't like citrus smells so you could try putting out some orange or lemon peel or spraying Citronella but there's also 'silent roar', which made me laugh at first but it seems to work and it's fairly cheap - https://www.greenfingers.com/p15810/silent_roar_cat_repeller_05kg.aspx

Grenage

Our neighbours put netting across the top of the fence to stop their cat leaving the back garden.  As a bonus it seems to stop other cats coming out way.  Anything that keeps the sadistic things out of my garden is good in my book.

WeAreGhosts

I've never known cats to poo on lawns - as MalMonroe says they much prefer to bury their waste. Could it be hedgehogs? They're the only animals that I've encountered pooing on lawns, and the occasional fox. Hedgehog poo tends to be black or very dark brown and long and thin.

wort

I have to agree, it would be very odd for a cat to poo on a lawn they look, for an area where they can cover the poo . So on ground that is soft, or sand,and gravel. Cats easily climb up wooden fences and gates so replacing the gate is no good. Does the metal gate have bars that you think a cat can squeeze through,? If so try putting chicken wire across the bottom portion of the gate so no animal can squeeze through.

-taff

Cats poo on my lawn, one in particular always decides to do it when the grass is not newly mown. Thinking this might be the reason I did my best to keep it cut and maintined over the summer. Result, still cat poo on lawn. They do it.

I'd personally wait with a water gun and spray them when I see them. Might discourage them a bit but to be honest, there's not much that will stop a cat from pooing where it wants to except a dog who doesn't like cats.

Apodemus

Yes, I can also testify to the fact that cats definitely poo on lawns!   

Hedgehogs quite often use their scats to mark territory, so you will often see it on top of some other marker such as a stone, or a small stump.  Once at a camp-site I noticed one evening that someone had dropped a brand-new, pink, scourer/sponge on the path between the tents and the washing-up sink.  I left it there as they would see it when they next came back.  Following morning on my way to the building there was a hedgehog scat very neatly placed on top of the sponge, and on my way back there was a large and very beautiful butterfly sitting on the scat!