How to I deter cats from using my garden?
Leslee asks:
I moved into my house last summer but ahve neglected the garden ever since. I am looking to sort out the garden in time for Spring/Summer but my biggest problem is that my neighbour’s cat uses my flower beds like a litter tray.
I moved into my house last summer but ahve neglected the garden ever since. I am looking to sort out the garden in time for Spring/Summer but my biggest problem is that my neighbour’s cat uses my flower beds like a litter tray.
How can I stop/deter cats from using my garden? I have used powder (seemed to be like pepper) in the past and found it did not work.
Put lemon peel around the edges of your garden, cats hate it.
Buy a shot gun.
cats have a strong dislike for acidic smells, such as lemon juice and onions.
either squirt a little bit of fresh lemon juice on soil that you dotn want cats to go near, it will only slightly change the acidity of the soil but not enough to damage plants.
hope that works!
Get some mothballs, and scatter them round. My wife does it in our garden, and it works. There are lots of cats where we live, and they give our garden a wide birth. Good luck..
Spray water and make a hissing nose the cat relate it to the garden if you keep at it.
If the problem is based on one single cat then the best remedy is to shoot it.
Buy a rotwieller and don’t feed it.
befriend a mate with a big dog, and borrow it when they go on holiday for a week or two before you start the garden conversion. works a treat, the cats soon get the message.
Get some lemon oil and sprinkle in the places that the cats are using,Also plant some mint there,As cats hate the stuff..
There are lots of gadgets and deterrants in garden centres. I used to have this problem and I had to check the garden every time the kids wanted to go out and play, but when we were in the process of moving I started to kindly return the poo to my neighbour every time I found some!
buy a dog
I have the same problem, Ive tried Orange Peel, also proprietary chemical deterrents, none of them work, I’m going to try one of those electronic gadgets that let out high pitched noise next, hope it works, because all that’s left then is a trap, and then to “relocate” them to another town!
small clear plastic bottles of water. Very attractive though!!
Spread orange/lemon skin. Cats hate citris. Or they have repellent to buy
Like wow man, finally a question I can answer. Buy a water gun man. If you can’t stand watch, put bowls of water out. They like hate that man.
Lemon and other strong citrus smells can deter cats.
You can buy a device that makes noise that is beyond our hearing range which helps to deter cats.
Another idea my dad uses to help protect his pigeons, half fill a two litre bottle and lay it on its side around the garden. apparently cats dont like this.
My dads other favourite is a kick up the backside but not too keen on this one myself.
Cut onions up and scatter them where the cat goes,it wont be back.
Clear plastic bottles half-filled with water. They don’t like them…
sprinkle chilli powder on the flower beds. they dont like it at all.
I’ve tried just about everything people have said here, and none of it has worked. I’m now in the process of making friends with the cat so I can catch it and take it for a drive quite a distance away. The owners wouldn’t care…they are a bunch of junkies and don’t care about it anyway. Maybe it will find it self some decent owners
You do realise that you are effectively at WAR.You will have to be ruthless and show no mercy.Lemon peel ,sprays, pepper ,water guns ,lemonade bottles full of water,cut outs of bigger cats ,mothballs,tried ‘em all.Try covering your beds with the prunings of your prickly roses or thorns or stick pointy sticks in the ground.The cat will not lower its furry bum down on those to have a poo!(got that tip off a gardening program)Find out where its getting in.Bung up any holes .We bought a topper for the wall which had rubber points on it they hated that .I put up a pea net on sticks over where they came in that threw them.You can buy plants at the garden centre that they hate.A combination of this lot should get ‘em on the run.The thorn carpet and a particularly high powered water gun were the best I found.Good luck in your campaign
Moth balls don’t help we have cats that will come through our yard and spray their scent on the moth balls.
I have found that the bed thing that worked is to set metal cages out for them. When the cat is caught I take it to the animal shelter.
If I catch the cat more than once I take it to the country to a friend of mine that owns a dairy farm.
I figure if the owners cared about their pets they wouldn’t allow them to roam freely.
B&Q does a good cat deterrant that you can even use on vegetable patches. You just have to remember to put more down after it rains. It’s also quite stinky though.
I’ve also heard the best thing to stop cats pooping in your garden is to get a cat! As you’ve discovered, cats never poop in their own garden and will defend it from other cats!
My parents have a cat and their garden is always poop-free.
I don’t know whether you obtained the powder from a local greenhouse or farm and garden store, but I would suggest calling them if you haven’t already. They may be able to suggest some products that would be completely humane, but keep the cats at bay. You may also try calling a local vet.
Having said that, I’ve always heard that spreading moth balls around wil keep animals away, but it may also keep humans away as well. Those really do stink!
Do check with the pros - they should have some solutions that will help you.
Holly prunings, or any prickly plants cut up small and used as a mulch on the flower beds will be an effective deterent, but you may get pricked yourself! You could try zoo poo, but it is pricy. Also, Coleus canina is a cat deterant plant you could try.
Or go the other way, and gift your neighbours with nepeta or cat grass, both of which cats love!
get to know the cat by feeding it befriend it take it in to your house before u know it it will not do anything in your garden cos it classes it as its own
tell the moggie, the bloody vets on is way!!!
Short of buying yourself a Rotweiler, I would suggest that you decide that the cat is really not such an enemy. All it is doing is fertilising the garden for you - you will have to put in something that likes acidic soil though.
No seriously - plant shrubs or flowers that are pungent or rough in texture - the cat will avoid them.
Good luck!
You need Cat Scat from Gardener’s Supply (or something like it). They are these spikey pads that you place in your flower beds, and they really work! I have two cats and a agrden, so I know what I am talking about!
http://www.gardeners.com/Safe-Cat-Deterrent/default/31-954.prd
i have a few things you could try
mis together 2 tbs of cayenne pepper, 3 tbs of powered chinese mustard, 4 tbs of all purpose flour in 2 quarts or warm tap water. allow to stand for 1 hour. strain and put into a sprayer. spray around your garden.
mix 2 oz of vinegar with water in a small sprayer and spray the area
place rubber toy snakes in and around the garden (might help with rabbits too)
fill plastic soda bottle 1/2 full of water and place around the garden
surround garden with chicken wire fencing
plant catnip far from the garden so they will go somewhere else
use an herb called rue, scatter the leaves around the garden or start growing the actual plant as a border
Use a product called ‘Liquid Fence’ for cats and dogs. You can spray it around the border of your garden as well as directly on the plants. Great for rabbits, squirrels, etc. Also wont wash away in the rain. It reaks when being applied but after it is dry within an hour the smell goes away and we cannot smell it anymore.!
go to your local zoo and ask the lion or tiger keeper if you could kindly take home some big cat poo dig this into your flower beds and trust me those lil cats wont come near for fear of being attacked by a much bigger smelling cat. eaither that or get some stay off from your local garden centre. or hang old cds on a bit of string on sticks amongst your bedding plants it scares em. or get a big dog to scare em off or just put up with it?
If you can get it, tiger or lion pooh. Sprinkle this onto flowerbeds. Little cats are terrified of big cats!
Alternatively, get your own cat. Your own cat’s pooh is not as bad as the neighbours’ cat’s pooh!
Buy a cat deterrent for your garden they cost about £30.00 from mirror shopping
Fresh orange peels of an orange, lay them on top of bed, and spread them all around.
Denise