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Bodily functions of cats in my garden
in Clubhouse
'Turned out nice again', I thought, 'I'll pop out and dig over my veg patch in the garden'.
That'll be the veg patch that's full of cat sh*t, then. I live in what is probably one of the most densely cat-populated cul-de-sacs in the country. Both of my next door neighbours have cats, which appear to be using my garden as a 'dumping' ground.
Short of cracking a pop at them out of the loft window with an air gun, how can I stop them sh*tting in my garden? I've tried putting pepper down, and I've tried sprinkling the contents of tea bags on the garden as well (apparently they don't like the texture of tea on their ickle paws - these ones must be caffeine addicts).
Any ideas?
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Comments
Lion poo.
Yes, really. You can buy it on-line.
You need your own fighting tomcat, DS ... the type that dozes purring on your lap when indoors but beats up all comers when outside ... and then goes and craps in the neighbours' garden.
Simples!
I keep a small patch of garden dug over for my cat. Cat's prefer freshly turned soil, so she always uses that area and keeps away from the rest of the garden.
And she keeps other cats away. Problem solved.
depending on much you hate these cats
they love the taste anti freeze apparently but it will kill them
or get a dog jack russels are good but it will kill them
hmmm not much of a choice really
I used to have a postage-stamp sized lawn (bout 10 foot square) so in the autumn I would cover it in
that green netting you get to grow peas up - pulled it taught so there was space between net and lawn. My neighbours used to have nine cats and they used to love crapping on my lawn once the grass got long.
I have 2 toms - no idea where they go, (
) not in my garden as that's been destroyed by next-door-neighbour's toms. They both just sit there, staring at me while they wee and poo all over the grass.
I was going to say holly/berberis and other prickly stuff laid down, but see that's already been suggested.
No idea if you could do this, but another suggestion would be to make a network of string (as you would to keep birds off) across the patch. If you did it at the right height, it might be enough to prevent them from walking onto/across the ground - or they might get caught up in it.
If you are willing to spend some money google 'cat proofing garden' for some fencing ideas. You can also get water sprays that go off in response to movement. There's also things that let out high pitched sounds: but I hear cats learn to ignore them pretty quickly.
I'd also talk to the owners: they aren't legally responsible, but any reasonable person would try and do what they can about the problem by providing the cat with an indoor tray (though many prefer going outside) or a latrine area (area of regularyly turned soil, partially screened by bushes or similar)
I wouldn't try Goldbeetles options (hope someone was joking... but just in case). Poisoning or setting dogs on cats is likely to get you prosecuted for animal cruelty and possibly a prison sentence in the nonce wing.
Rowan, as a cat owner (and a responsible one at that
) I'd say that there's b*gger all you can do to control where your cats go during the day/night and what they do when they're there.
If another cat, particularly tom, comes into their territory (ie your garden) - they'll be out marking it by weeing/pooing.
My neighbours leave their cats out all day, so they come into my house eat my cats' food and sleep in their baskets. I don't particularly like it, but as soon they hear me, they whip out of the cat flap (and then proceed to give me the eye from the garden). One of them has now started attempting to mark my house as his territory by weeing on it
.
I've mentioned it to my neighbours, but they're very nice people and I don't like to make a fuss. But - they still leave their cats outside all day and night.
Rowan, I'm not an advocate of animal cruelty, I'm sure goldbeetle was only joking!
I think most of the cats round here are neutered, though I can't say I've checked...I don't think there is a fat lot the owners can do tbh...cats are cats. And I don't have a lot of money to throw at the garden either - I might try whacking a few curry plants in the veg patch, I know they're not keen on those. I could intersperse them with holly...
I use orange peel to keep my cats off some bits of the garden...but then I did purposely peel oranges in their faces a few times when they were little...they don't like the smell anyway but I was just reinforcing that.
But I do have one bed that is covered with bark chippings that is all theirs to poo in - I just shovel the bark out every so often and replace it
Other than that, water pistols do work - my mogs don't scratch sofas anymore after a few weeks with the plant spray treatment if they misbehaved
The cats that shit all over my garden leg it the second they see me but I'm out at work most of the time so they continue to shit to their hearts content. My next plan is the get some netting ...