Hi
Just looking for some tried and true tips....there are a few cats in our neighbourhood and unforunately, they like to use any soil patches in our garden as a toilet. This is very frustrating seeing as we don't have a cat and it stinks like nothing else, never mind coming across lovely stinky bits of poo whilst tending the garden.

Once my last round of veges had matured, this wasn't a problem as there were very few patches of soil available. However, I have recently replanted and most of my veges are still at seedling or very small stage so there are gaps of soil between plants and the cats are back and stinking the place out. I did read that cats hate the smell of citronella oil and I tried putting some on old teabags in the garden....the cats would just cover them up with soil so that didn't work. Does any one else have a tip for stopping the cats using our garden as a toilet? My husband suggested we create a litter box but frankly, no thanks, as I want to discourage them from using our garden altogether. Chicken wire maybe? Seems a bit extreme though?!

Any hints appreciated thanks (and please don't suggest we get a dog...our section is just too small!)

Thanks,
Paula



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/2007 04:37AM by ppppaula.

Paula, I have a bigger problem the neighbour's child! Just be thankful you only have cats. I am pestered by a child who digs up my plants, walks all over my seedlings and breaks all my stakes etc. Our property is fenced by a six foot wall and this 3 year old still invades!

Oh dear...sounds like the parents need training there!! My toddler is almost as bad in ours but we are managing to contain him to a small spot. Good luck!

Twice a year I receive a catalogue from a lovely company called Garden Gloves. In it there is a cat repellent, apparently made by someone called Wally Richards, a garden Guru, so it says. Now I haven't tried this product, but if all else fails, why not give it a go. The product is called Cat Repellent and it says to sprinkle one teaspoonful every square metre. The cost is $19 for 550gr; $9.50 for 200gr, or 3 for $26.

There are all sorts of garden products (and a few kitchen ones, too) including lily bulbs, and if you order over $25 worth of products, you will get 3 'original weeders', which is a handy little tool seemingly made out of the same wire as coathangers. The wire is twisted round into a loop forming a handle and is covered with plastic coating for comfort, and the working end is simply hooked over to dig out the weeds. Anyone with horses will recognise the shape, it's exactly like a hoof pick. I have these, and they are very handy. The contact email address is info@garden-gloves.co.nz or their website is [www.garden-gloves.co.nz]

Lorna, funny you should mention Wally Richards as I have him in my favourites - (well not him, but his info!!) and this is what he says about troublesome moggys -

"CAT PROBLEMS
Many gardeners will be starting to plant out hardy seedlings of vegetables and flower plants over the next few weeks. Cats just love these manicured soil areas and find them to be tantalizing toilets.
Seedlings are scratched out and a blob of cat manure is deposited.
When you try to correct the damage you need to be wary of the deposit lurking in the soil waiting for an unprotected hand.
More often than not it will be neighbourhood cats that are slipping in under cover of darkness or when you have your back turned.
It is not a nice situation and one that costs you time and money with losses of young seedlings.
Prevention is always the answer and the best thing that I have come across is commercial strength Naphthalene which many garden centres sell as, Cat Repellent. This is like the moth balls that we used to use to protect woollen clothing in storage against moths.
The crystals are sprinkled around the seedlings that you wish to protect. I believe it is the smell that the cats do not like and when freshly laid it can make their eyes water.
The crystals evaporate into the air over the following days and need to be replaced with fresh till the cats get the message or till the plants are well established.
The product can also be used around doorways and other areas where you do not want cats to go.
It will not work on all cats but appears to control over 95% of the feline populations."

PppPaula, if you can get your hands on a quantity of "commercial strength" Naphthalene it might be a lot cheaper than it's commercialised "Cat Repellent" brand. It looks as if the Naphth. balls we ordinarily use for clothing storage may be commercial strength maybe? I wonder if you can buy them in bulk which would be cheaper as obviously they are going to need replacing in the garden fairly frequently?

You wouldn't want Naphthalene to taint the veges though!! Good luck and I hope you find an answer to this common problem. The good old water pistol is a good trick but you've got to be there to deliver the water squirt at moggy every time moggy comes over to your place so that the message gets through to moggy!!
Regards,
Dawn.

fantastic thanks! I'll definitely get some cat repellant (I do like cats, just not in my patch!)

I got this email from Graham at Garden Gloves today:

Hi Lorna

I’ve had several orders today for the cat repellent.
If you wanted to post on the Forum that if they put a note on the order when ordering online that they saw this on the Food Lovers Web site I will take 10% of the price.

Cheers
Graham

The answer is a high-powered water pistol. I even stayed up one night for hours.........but no more !@#$%^&*( cats.

Cats don't like wet soil. Perhaps you could water your garden each day, enough that the top couple of inches becomes damp. Might be worth a try.

Sprinkle cayenne pepper or chilli powder around- they always sniff before digging so get a short sharp hot shock which deters them!!

well, I purchased the act repellent from garden gloves...it stinks but seems to be doing the trick!!

OK...me again and I am at the absolute end of my tether (again!) with other people's cat's stinky poos. The cat repellant sort of worked but they are now just digging soil up and covering up the repellant!! I have now found they are going under our deck (where my little son loves to play) and pooing all over an old path laid with shells. Short of covering everything with chicken wire (which also sort of works!)...any new ideas?! I'm at the point where I'm going to pull out the vege garden as I am just so sick of picking up cat poos not to mention the files they attract. Will try the cayenne pepper today but would be eternally grateful if anyone has come up with anything new. Does the bottle filled with water work same as with dogs?

Hi Paula, my garden invader hasn't gone away either. In fact I got abused by the grandfather for shouting at his little grandson who, at the time , was racking my tomato frame so hard back and forwards that the tomatoes were falling off the vine.
It is the smell that keeps cats away so it has to be something that stronger than they do. Diesel spread around the perimeter of the garden works- but you wouldn't want a child to get into it. Whatever you use it has to be kept fresh so that it smells. I am just wondering if any plants give off a smell that deters animals? Won't work for 2 legged invaders but might help you.

yes, my little one had a go at the tomatoes too (the child that is, not the cat!)...I figured that's why recipes using green tomatoes had been invented! Quite irresponsible if the child is allowed to wander off their own property on to yours! I might ask at the garden centre if there is something I could plant...currently inhaling the lovely aroma of napthalene combined with chilli powder and cayenne pepper (have brought out all the tricks at once!!)...but naturally, we just had a huge downpour so no doubt my efforts have been washed away.

Hello Paula,
I had a google - and there are some deterrents on this NZ link. Unfortunately they come at quite a price, but the ultrasonic one is cheapest and could be worth looking at. You may find them cheaper elsewhere maybe. The water scarecrow could be good too but would squirt at not only the cats...............
[www.innotek.co.nz]
Hope you get some relief soon!
Regards,
Dawn.

Thanks Dawn - amusing that these things even exist, but do you know what, I may just invest in one! At least the water scarecrow would give the garden a bit of a watering as well!!

I agree Paula, other people's desperation have driven someone to come up with these ideas! I thought the sonic one would be good, as the scarecrow's water will hit anyone going past it, otherwise good for watering the garden presuming the spray is the same width as it's sensoring vision? Maybe the scarecrow's water might deter Stephanie's 2 legged visitor?
Regards,
Dawn.

Dawn I did think of one of those but I am terrified he might like it and climb over more often.

You must have a monster worm in your garden? I did and do and it scared the little squits next door so much, the whole family moved to Waiouru. This is a true story. To follow through, you must have a spray can of bright pink to go after the worms with and ... oh no... you accidentally spray pink all over the little squits.
They are trespassing...but you have to maintain a calm and helpful manner and lots of ignorance because the monster worm is very real... He is he is..


Do not worry about men in white coats - yet.

PS..edit... when I confronted a 6yr old or thereabouts from new neighbours, trespassing on our property, I asked him who he was.. He told me he didn't have to tell me who he was and who the hell (his words) was I. I refuse to tell you what happened next but he has never been seen again. Oh don't worry, he is still very much alive but also very much subdued. Thank you Mister Monster worm.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2008 10:50AM by Kerry.

Hello Paula,
Still having cat probs - so am I and know just how you feel, wretched little blighters (I do love cats but not other peoples cats in my garden) Seems to be true they dislike strong scents and I read somewhere a while ago if you soak used tea bags in citronella and lay those around - it works. I have got as far as drying the t bags out and we are now having rain, they do not like wet ground either.
Good luck with whatever you do, it is just so ..... frustrating
Judy

Thanks Judy - I did try the citronella but the crafty wee things would just scatter dirt all over them to mask the scent!! It did seem to work for a while but then I got lazy when it came to replacing the teabags etc, I love cats too...just not their wee gifts! My husband is keen on the ultrasonic device but the cost grates seeing as it isn't our cat..c'est la vie! Now I know why the previous owners had spread stone chips over the remainder of the garden

Stephanie, I've got the purrrrrfect answer for you and your two legged intruders! Go on - lure them all you like towards and over the threasholds of your garden - I'll lend you a few electric fence standards, fence wire and the shockbox. Just sit back and watch. Of course the shock would need to be a very tame one (to start off with)!!

Incidentally, I got a huge shock under my chin one day when I was topping a copper with water for a couple of animals. The electric fence was running along the top of the paddock's fence and I had bent over to put the hose through a lower part of the fence and my chin hit the electric fence which I thought wasn't going..... whamm-ooooooh.

As the shock travelled a "white-out" flashed through my head accompanied by a huge bang and I writhed backwards and still to this day I hope the neighbours didn't hear what came out of my vocal cords!
Regards,
Dawn.

Dawn, barbed wire also springs to mind.

apparently moth balls repel cats too

my nana used to put wee disshes of jaes solution in her garden to keep the cats away

I have a meyer lemon tree which is dripping with lemons so if I dig over a new patch of garden I just break up a lemon and scatter the pieces over. Doesn't look great but it seems to work as cats hate the smell of citrus.

Bump for Chum

just fill up empty bottles with water and place em around the patch.

I have just planted a vege garden. I have tried sprinkeling pepper, to no avail and was then told to soak rags in white vinegar. Did this yesterday and hello, another poo in the vege patch. Any new ideas??

Hello..

Just stumbled on this thread as i'm also the victim of neighbours cats spraying and crapping around my house and property aswell as running rife on my roof most nights needless to say i get interrupted sleep so now willing to try something to combat this.

After googling i'm going for this option for now:

Treat your yard with a tonic made from chewing tobacco, urine, birth control pills, mouthwash, molasses, detergent and beer.
To protect plants and borders both mothballs and citrus are said to be effective deterrents. Place the mothballs, orange peel or lemon rind in the borders. Alternatively spray cloths with orange scented air freshener and place the cloths around the plants you wish to protect. Other known cat repellents are cayenne pepper, coffee grounds, pipe tobacco, lavender oil, lemon grass oil, citronella oil, eucalyptus oil and mustard oil.
Failing this will ultimately look to buy some ultrasonic motion sensors which emit a sound which only cats hate.

Hope this helps.