Keeping Cats off of Garden - Tried and Tested Ideas only please
JDVS
Posts: 5
I would like to know a few ideas about keeping cats fom using the garden as a toilet as I'm having trouble with them in my vegetable garden. I would like ideas from people who have actually used these ideas and they have worked.
Many thanks for your help in advance.
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Posts
I have this year spread rose prunings about this year-my theory is they go ouch when they step on a thorn and go elsewhere- it has worked to a certain extent
I have put some berberis prunings down so I'm thinking the same as you ouch lol I put my hand in some cat muck this morning by accident and so put up this post in desperation.
I did try the water in a lemonade bottle trick some while back-that theory is they see a strange reflection and scarper-not sure if that worked all not
Others no doubt will tell you about water pistols but that means seeing the cat-there a lots of cat scaring devices out there-this is always a hot topic on gardening forums
At our last house OH would stick his head out of the upstairs back window and bark like a Border Terrier at cats coming over the fence - they invariably turned tail and most gave up trying - but he was working from home and could keep an eye on the back fence - and most of the neighbours were at work
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I use wooden kebab skewers you can buy a pack of 100 for less than a £1. Cats don't like obstacles so I put in lots of these between the veg it actually did work for me. Cats are also creatures of habit so if you can break there habit they will move on. We have 12 cats around our neighbourhood and haven't had one in for ages.
I moved last year into a less rural garden and was starting to be bothered by cats but my neighbour told me about this. SCAREDY CAT PLANT - Coleus canina hybrid. She tried it last year and found she had very few visits. We clubbed together and ordered some large plug plants from the Internet. I have placed mine at strategic spots around the veg garden and so far this year have only seen a couple of cats and have had no unpleasant surprises whilst weeding. They apparently deter other animals also. I have looked the plant up on the Internet and it would seem that if protected it should survive the winter up here in the north but I will take some cuttings to be on the safe side.
I have a few skewer type things I've collect over the years which I put near prized possessions Jenny if only it worked on slugs lol I do try to make things harder for them, they always seem to find away though. Not many more possibilities for them now though.
I do have one weapon of choice I'll share with you and that's a fairy liquid (sorry don't mean to advertise lol) bottle that I fill right to the top with water. Its actually really good and shoots water at quite a distance. Unfortunately I'm not a good aim except when i got one in my guinea pig pen and threw the bottle at him square in his back. It is such a dopey cat though as it comes back for more. My guess its that one who likes my garden as its personal toilet!
Thanks for all of your tips btw didn't expect any. New to this forum.
Skewers! What a great idea! I have two dogs who patrol the boundaries against cats and attempt to protect the air space from birds. Great in the day, but not enough at night!
Mulch with big stone chippings (big ones with sharp edges, not little gravelly stuff). They won't dig through it and eventually just don't come back at all.
Or, cocoa shell (but not good for dogs).
Prickle strips along the tops of fences, and occasional raljex or jeyes around the boundary is repellent to them too.
I've used all these and they work very well