Cats fouling gardens

[Wokman Profile Website]

Our neighbour's cat has taken to using our rockery as it's own personal toilet. I have used different deterrents such as Scat-a-cat granules (they work fine as long as it doesn't rain) and even bought a scary-cat silhouette from Kleeneze that is supposed to scare off cats.

I have been looking at electronic devices on Ebay that emit a high frequency sound to scare the blighter off, so I was wondering if anyone here has a suggestions.

[Joanbunting Profile]

Hi

Our cats don't use our garden or daughter's next door. They know to go into the field/orchard. We taught them by squirting with a water spray However a neighbours cat does/did and totally ignores the water spray. I use something called, in French "Repulsive chiens et chats" it is a spray but, as you say you have to renew it when it rains.

We have discovered however, since mulching both gardens (only borders) with pine bark, Buggerlugs as we call her is much more easily deterred. A friend told us to spray diluted lemon oil on the mulch so will try that when the repulsive runs out. The other thing that puts her off is the bee windmill I was given and stuck in the border. So on days when there is a breeze she doesn't come near.

[jeral Profile]

You could try one of the remedies suggested here: http://www.homeandgardenideas.com/garde ... lower-beds I'm not convinced that citrus works personally. At one time they sold male lion weewee (being the king territorial cat) but apparently it didn't work. Around my rockery, I dug out a shallow moat surround about 10" wide and put big pebbles (potato sized) on, then shingle in the gaps. The plan was that it'd look nice and stop invasive grass from the adjacent lawn. It had the unanticipated effect of stopping passing marauders.

Another idea is that as cats prowl rather than jump, a low picket fence surround might work. The cheap plastic archway sort could be enough temporarily until the cat finds somewhere else.

It woz footballs and kids' feet that made me tear my hair out, so I understand the Arghhh moments...

Edit PS, as Joanbunting said about windmills, if you have old CDs, the light-reflecting side can be affixed to the fence, or placed strategically. Confuse-a-cat.

[Wokman Profile Website]

Thanks for the ideas, I am now getting to the point where I will try just about anything short of sleeping in the rockery

Any other ideas are more than welcome before I go splashing out £50.- or so on sonic gadgets that might not even work.

[hungryhousewife Profile]

Get a jack russell terrier!!
We never get anyone's cats in our garden!!
HH

[Wokman Profile Website]

Get a jack russell terrier!!
We never get anyone's cats in our garden!!
HH

I'm taking a break from having dogs, I used to own and train police dogs for years and they were better at scaring off humans than cats
I'm just looking for a cat friendly way of getting rid of the little blighter.

[Global_Worming Profile]

HH before Max we used to get badgers, foxes, cats and rabbits.

[Global_Worming Profile]

Get a jack russell terrier!!
We never get anyone's cats in our garden!!
HH

I'm taking a break from having dogs, I used to own and train police dogs for years and they were better at scaring off humans than cats
I'm just looking for a cat friendly way of getting rid of the little blighter.

Thats interesting Notts police started using Boerboels like Max

[jeral Profile]

Best do research on the sonic thingies before splashing out. Some have quite a narrow V focus (they're not surround sound) and where to site for best effect, plus distance of how far sonic travels - they're all different. I read up on these a while back. My thought was that you could probably "V" it for an area but jolly difficult to sonic the whole garden and it'd just make me neurotic about my garden lol. The plan really is to live with nature, not zap it to get the upper hand. Which makes me wonder if a cat litter box might work that's easier than climbing on a rock garden given cats like to bury their output... then gradually move the litter box somewhere else. Can only try.

[Wokman Profile Website]

GW,

I have never known the police to use a dog that would snog somebody to death, although a Boerboel is good for protecting the house.

Jeral,

The one I was thinking of getting is this one, with a variable frequency:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STV-Cat-Repel ... 27bfaa2f2c

I only have a small rockery, so I think this one might do, and this is cheaper than others I have found.

[jeral Profile]

Well, it's only money (and batteries or recharging them). I don't know what the return conditions are if the gadget is physically operational, so not mechanically faulty, yet doesn't achieve the objective as that would be hard to prove. The ones I looked at were wallmounted immediately the other side of a plug-in electrical socket.

However, going back to basics, if it is just one cat, do you know how it enters your garden? A chickenwire plastic strawberry net might be enough at that point to persuade it to go elsewhere, or even bubblewrap if ground level. Confuse-a-cat.

[hungryhousewife Profile]

Re the sonic thingies, if you have teenage children, they will go mad. I have a sonic mouse/mosquito scarer in the house and my children can hear it and keep turning it off!
HH

[jeral Profile]

Yes, the sonic thingies were used as a trial in doorways to stop teenagers collecting in them. It was a couple of years ago so don't hold your breath while I find a link. I think they said up to about 16 years are affected.

A frequency resonance does my head in from some popular music that son plays (just some, not all by any means). It's pleasantly melodic and not really that loud given the level they play them at, but just does my head in. After wondering why, I learned it was frequency, 30Hz rings a bell but don't quote me, so I hope they don't make an adult sonic thingy. Son and friends are oblivious to that resonance and can't understand why I ask them to play something else, so it clearly changes with age. Dunno about cats though...

[Global_Worming Profile]

GW,

I have never known the police to use a dog that would snog somebody to death, although a Boerboel is good for protecting the house.

Wok the kiss is just foreplay .I rescued him from an idiot who bought him as a trophy dog and when he started behaving like one was going to have him destroyed. Max is about 65 kg of muscle, he sleeps outside and is very territorial.

[hungryhousewife Profile]

Have you tried sprinkling the affected area with doses of Cayenne pepper?
(I am not anti-cat per se, but I have lovely hedges full of beautiful birds, and I don't want them mauled by puddy-cats - or the mess!!)

GW your Max looks lovely!
HH

[Joanbunting Profile]

Arnold and Dora use the wisteria and the vine to get from garden to balcony and hence the cat flap. Dora's favourite perch is on the balcony rail where she thinks she can spot birds - but she has never caught one. You should see them coming down - like firemen on the pole!

They are both jumpers jeral and if they wished could get over a small railing. I think they don't disturb the garden because they both know on which side their respective breads are buttered. I think it is untrue that you can't "train" cats except in respect of catching wildlife.

M-I-L bought a very powerful water pistol (well gun actually) to deter the grey squirrels that used to steal the birdfood on the table in her garden - she also used it on the heron that stole the carp from her pond. Not sure what the RSPCA would have to say about it though.

[Wokman Profile Website]

I rescued him from an idiot who bought him as a trophy dog and when he started behaving like one was going to have him destroyed. Max is about 65 kg of muscle, he sleeps outside and is very territorial.

Sounds like a lovely dog, but I can't have one at the moment due to being out a lot.

Re the sonic thingies, if you have teenage children, they will go mad

Too late, my teenagers went mad long before they heard anything sonic

I think I might give the chicken-wire option a go, as I think he just strolls in between the bars on the wrought iron gate.

[Tatihou Profile]

Which makes me wonder if a cat litter box might work that's easier than climbing on a rock garden given cats like to bury their output... then gradually move the litter box somewhere else. Can only try.

Yes.

Our cats have litter trays in a shed just outside the house - accessible by them via a catflap - but even so, as they often prefer to turn over a few clods of the real thing (soil) in order to perform, we've provided them with a soil and sand area - easy digging. This is further from the house, in a secluded spot sheltered from wind and rain - we can skip it out intermittently or hose it down if it's getting a bit pongy. This definitely reduces the little surprises in the flower beds, long grass, etc.

We started them off by transplanting poops and pees from other areas of the garden and they caught on very quickly. So, Wokman, if you can bear providing a cat loo, you may at least give the rockery some respite.

[Wokman Profile Website]

Hi Tatihou,

If it was my own cat I wouldn't mind getting a litter tray, but this little blighter belongs to a neighbour 5 doors away, and I want to deter it from coming into the garden rather than making it welcome.

I was talking to another neighbour today who lives between me and the offending feline, and the neighbour told me that the same cat was also using her flower pots as a loo.
When the neighbour started banging on the window to scare the cat off it just looked at her as if to say "excuse me, I'm on the toilet"

[hungryhousewife Profile]

I think the previous advice to get a long range water pistol is good - or a Nerf gun!
HH