Noob asking a question that has probably been asked a million times....

Hello everybody im new to the forum but have an ongoing problem that im hoping you guys could help me with...

its the usual problem of cats pooing in my garden...BUT this is unbelievable no word of a lie, im getting about 20 dollops of poo a week, its making me furious...ive got two young children and they cant play in the garden because im scared they will step in it or fall in it, im forever out there scooping it up with a shovel and bagging it and binning it and im at the end of my tether with it....even picking it up doesnt eliviate my fear of germs and stuff. and the majority of the time its runny so picking it up becomes impossible

i know there are loads of "solutions " out there but thought i would get your advice before choosing one, the stupid thing is, everybody seems to say get your own cat and it will stop cats using your garden but i have a cat(male) and it makes no difference...:cnfs:

 

Hiya and welcome to GC. I've heard people say that the sonic ones work well but I don't personally have too much of a prob cause I just send the dogs out after them

 

Having a dog worked for us, it scares the cats off and can be trained to go toilet in a specific place that kids can stay away from.

 

Welcome Holbrook 99

This is an infuriating problem that seems to crop up on many internet forums, irrespective of their main subject!

I don't think any "patent" solution works for everybody. I've known people swear by the sonic deterrents but some people have found them to be ineffective.

I use small mesh nets to keep butterflies off one of my veg beds and of course, it keeps cats off too. On my other veg bed, I found that spiky twigs cut from a pyracantha hedge kept the cats at bay until my leeks were big enough to fill the space.

It's important to give cats the strong message they're not welcome in your garden. Keep a small plastic bucket of water somewhere near your back door and use it to send any stray cat on its way. A friend of mine favours a supersoaker-type water pistol.

Finally, when you remove any cat mess, sluice the area with a weak solution of Jeyes Fluid. The smell may have a short term deterrent effect.

 

Try doing a forum search in pests and diseases.

Lastly, on a large site like this you will get a better response if your title is more specific ie problem with cats etc

 

Hello and welcome Holbrook99....

 

i have thought about the water pistol thing, but the problem is i cant watch the garden all the time, its at the rear of my house and all my living is done at the front of the house, i dont even have a back door....its not a veggie patch either or flower bed it is simply a lawn.....yesterday i cleaned up about 20 lots of it and thats just in 2 days since the last clean up...im pretty sure its just one cat that does it, and before long im going to kidnap the cat and drive it far away so it cant find its way home

 

Hi Holbrook,

I will suggest coming at it from a different angle if you don`t mind.

Rather than any fruitless attempts at keeping them out, perhaps trying to tempt them to one small area of your garden which you could watch for any droppings rather than having to scour the whole garden every day before letting your little ones play out-such a shame.

I have two cats of my own and don`t appreciate kneeling on anything I haven`t noticed til too late.

An outdoor lavvy for them? Using some of that bed edging stuff you can get from the garden centres and pea shingle create an outdoor litter box, edged with cat mint and lemon balm. My cats go in this area of the garden because they love to be able to scr4pe it about and rub through the herbs.

Youcould also try allowing your lawn to grow a little longer as cats don`t like the feel of it whilst going about their business.

I don`t know how this would work for you, but just wanted to see if you might have considered going with the flow rather than flogging a dead horse, or cat rather.

 

I live out in the country and we have a persistent problem with badgers, not pooing ( although they do that as well) but digging around the garden. In the past I have used a product called Renardine which is a pungent oily liquid - (comes in a tin a bit like paint-stripper). The smell puts off most animals. I soaked strips of rag about 30cms long in the liquid and then tied them round the tops of bits of garden cane (length to suit yourself) - like a primitive torch. Then I stuck them in the ground where the badgers routinely roamed. It worked for badgers, and in a small town garden you wouldn't need to use much. If you can put up with the smell for a while, ( it is strong!) this may be helpful in seeing off your unwanted visitors. Best of luck, Lindy.

 

grass being long or short makes absolutley no differnece to this animal im afraid.....but the shorter the grass the easier it is to clean up.

ill try the jeyes fluid thing, and ill also get myself i big waterpistol but i seriously think im gunna be stuck with this problem until the cat in question is gone.....

i know which cat it is, it is my next door neighbours, so once the end of my teather is reached, the cat will be coaxed into a smooth, chucked in a box and then taken to the local cat sanctuary and passed off as a stray..

 

Thats a bit mean I hope you're joking

 

of course:lollol: