Any tips for persistent cat pooer in garde!

Copperdog

I’ve often heard of other gardeners bemoaning cats pooing in their garden and thought it’s surely not that much of a problem…🫣 I now completely understand where they are coming from as I have a neighbours cat constantly pooing in same place in the border. I could honestly fill half a bucket a week! Not sure how to deter it? I’m happy for him to come in the garden as I love cats but my goodness he’s making a Mucky mess and scraping up the soil etc 

ChezNous

I had the same problem and it was just horrible every time I needed to do anything in my borders (they liked to spread out). I guess there was more than one cat and they would at least leave me gifts of decaying mice and little birds on my patio and lawn. I tried everything but really nothing worked. They only stopped visiting when eventually my borders were full enough with plants that it was just too uncomfortable for them. So from my experience just plant something big enough in that favourite spot!

pansyface

We recently took possession of a young female rescue cat. She used a litter tray indoors for a few weeks but then we let her do her thing outside if she wanted. She has never explored very much beyond the back door, being rather timid, and soon decided that the flowerbed beside the door to the house was the place she liked best. Not the easiest place to clean up, since we have a very large and thorny rose growing there, and the soil is soft and dark and friable and perfect for her to walk it all into the house.

So we decided to try to encourage her to use some of the other flowerbeds that were a little further away and which would give her a chance to “wipe her feet” before she came back in. Various things were tried, but the thing that really put her off was a good thick “mulch” of pea gravel (excuse the pun). Too hard on the paws and too pebbly. She chose another spot, luckily one without a rose bush in it.

If your garden flowerbed can take a few bags of pea gravel, give it a go. 🙂

B3

I use holly. It deters squirrels too. I always poke short, dry holly twigs in the top of newly planted containers and remove them when the plant obscures the bare soil.

NoSlugsPlease

I stick bits of old bamboo cane all over bare soil.

Lyn

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Homarden-Square-Digging-Deterrent-Plastic/dp/B07R4PZM17

Copperdog

Lots of great tips! Thankyou so much everyone x

KT53

Bamboo kebab skewers are cheap.  Push them into the soil, quite closely spaced and the cat will soon get the message.

Simone_in_Wiltshire

@Copperdog In my experience the best way to avoid this mess is to give cats a soil toilet in the garden. Seems that your neighbour’s cat prefers the same spot day by day. You are lucky, my cat occupies each plant free space in my garden. 

Hostafan1

Another £1

AnniD

I was getting worried there @Hostafan1