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CATS!

I think you know where I am going with this post my small garden is a battleground. During winter one of my borders is covered in dead leaves which I leave on purpose, the other border gets the brunt of the said problem above. Now that spring/summer is upon us my borders are still growing the ground cover to stop cats using it as a toilet. I have used planks on bare soil, pebbles on areas after removing the feces, cat repellent granules and spray, moth balls yet they still find spots and don't seem to be bothered by the repellent or moth balls. Suggestions please I'm getting hacked of with them! 

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Posts

  • iceice Posts: 332
    Nope same problem did have 6 or seven thinking we're a litter tray. Wire mesh is on veg plot and loaded water pistol for any I catch in the act. Doesn't completely work as now have presents in the lawn.
  • GemmaJFGemmaJF Posts: 2,286

    When you give up on all the 'remedies' people swear work, buy a Contech Scarecrow

     

  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,888

    Gemma: another £1 for me I think. image

    Devon.
  • AlieshAliesh Posts: 179

    I put wooden bbq skewers in the soil pointed end up !  in any bare patches of soil. this stops them  but it depends how much bare soil you have you may need a few packs of skewers.

  • Jules BJules B Posts: 30

    I know how you feel. I've had years of other peoples cats using my garden as a toilet. I choose not to have pets but still have to put up with the negative side of having pets i.e. their poo.  I have tried everything over the years. Probably spent a small fortune. Last year they even got in the greenhouse and used my seed trays. I just had enough. I changed my fencing to very tough six foot stuff, increased the height to 8 feet with chicken wire and used anti-climb spikes. Around the property boundary i put thorny bushes and blocked any possible entrance/exits with chicken wire. I was off work for a few days too and was in the garden with a good water pistol. Any cat showing interest was given a little shower. And am pleased to say my garden is now cat free. Yes, an expensive and time consuming way of dealing with the issue but totally worth it. 

    and before anyone accuses me of being an animal hater, the cats are not to blame and i've constructed them a nice little area for them to poo away from humans along with a small feed area that i fill each morning. The cats are happy, i'm happy and the owners can carry on being useless lazy s***. 

    I have mentioned chicken wire. This is great stuff when you are trying to stop cats going on your garden. You can use it for fencing, protecting raised beds, blocking holes in hedges etc and you can grow a nice climber up it too. I bought a large roll from ebay for £20. Great investment.

  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,012

    It's a perennial problem and one for which there doesn't seem to be a uniformally successful solution.  It's not so bad if they leave the deposit in the border as you can use twigs etc to stop them.  Not so easy when they do it on the lawns.

  • Jules BJules B Posts: 30

    True. It's a difficult issue. hopefully we can all find a resolution one day.

  • Mel MMel M Posts: 347

    I like cats, not as much as dogs but I do like them. What I do not like is them sleeping in my plastic cloches, flattening the young plants!! I solved this by sprinkling ground white pepper on all the dry soil inside the cloches. Result! They sense it as soon as they try to get in, don't like it and go somewhere else. So it does them no harm. Mind you, they do give me some dirty looks now as they stroll through my plots.

  • TooeyTooey Posts: 95

    I've tried the ground pepper and that seems to be helping my problem with the local cats. Someone else I know recommended chilli powder but I've not tried that one - yet! 

    I used some holly clippings across bare areas which also seemed to deter them

  • maureen60maureen60 Posts: 193

    Could you borrow a dog for a couple of days to scare them off?

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