Deterring cats !

Hi

I have a smal veg patch in my back garden, and one particular part which is about 2 meters square and currently growing Parsnips and Salsify seems to be attracting cats who use it as an impromtu litter tray.

I've tried cat pepper to no avail. Anyone got any other suggestions (apart from shotguns as we have 3 cats ourselves, and its probably them !).

Thanks

Craig

 

Yes, I'm afraid that from your cats' point of view you have probably provided very tempting facilities ... I love cats and often feel I have to apologise for the entire species whenever an irate gardener discovers that some moggie or other has decided to do a spot of garden redesign. I do lose patience myself from time to time. At the moment I am gunning (strictly water pistols at dawn) for a cat I've nick-named Asbo, who finds it amusing to spray up my front door on a regular basis.

Deterring cats is difficult. My neighbour has even tried lion poo (!!!), to no avail. One thing which does seem to work quite well is to stick lots of prunings (preferably prickly ones) into the area of soil you want to protect, so that there is no comfortable area for feline posteriors. If you have them, rose cuttings work well. Give it a try!

 

I used to have a lot of problem in the back garden with the damned pests and bought a whole load of oranges, cut them in half and spread them around the area it/they were using - seemed to work as apparently they dont like the smell.

As Im now in the process of converting front lawn into plant border, Im experiencing the same problem and next visit to supermarket will include said citrus fruit on the shopping list.

I wonder if there is any form of trap that can be set to catch them, or is that breaking the law ?:wink:

 

Oooh, cat trap... That sounds good.

 

k-lNoooooooo!k-l k-l

Why not a chav-trap instead? They're much more of a nuisance and have significantly lower standards of personal hygiene :(

 

To my knowledge I havent had a chav poo in my garden or kill the lovely wee birds that fly in it and leave their dead remains lying around. Nor for that matter has a chav licked its own a**e then licked my face immediately after....

I currently have a downer on cats (can you guess ??? :wink

 

Blimmin cats. We're talking about irresponsible owners who just open the door in the morning and let the cats go and scratch up their neighbours gardens to poo wherever they like.
Where do they think they go for their toilet ??????????
It's not difficult to provide an outdoor toilet area for cats - or to train them to go there. See my other posts.
It's just ignorant cat owners.

MAKE AN OUTDOOR LITTER AREA BY DIGGING OUT A SQUARE YARD AND FILLING IT WITH OUTDOOR LITTER. yOU CAN BUY THE STUFF, BUT IF THAT'S A PROBLEM THEN USE SAND, ASH, CYNDERS, DIRT, SAWDUST - ANYTHING CATS LIKE TO SCRATCH IN.
eVERY FEW WEEKS SHOVEL THE MESS INTO A BIN BAG AND REFILL WITH CAT LITTER.
sURELY IT'S BETTER THAN EXPECTING YOUR NEIGHBOUR TO CLEAN AND CLEAR ALL THE STUFF FROM THEIR VEG BED. cOME ON ! SHOW SOME RESPONSIBILITY.

 

Cats again:hehe:

 

I have had a chav regularly relieving himself in my front garden on the way back from the pub, though. :D. Cats tend not to leave empty Strongbow cans everywhere and to my certain knowledge not even a single feline has ever decided to kick in my back gate. Paulr - if you don't like cats why do you let them lick your face? :lollol:

 

I'm fascinated by the lengths some of my neighbours have gone to in order to deter cats - it seems that one hits on an idea and they all copy it. First, every garden sported bits of orange peel, ('cats don't like the smell' - which disappears within hours anyway), but then they had to negotiate the cat poo in order to deal with the rotting fruit! Then it was the lemonade bottles filled with water which cats weren't supposed to like, these were followed by bits of kitchen foil and old CDs (although I'd swear I've seen cats using the CDs as mirrors to check their feline features!) and for a while our local shops must have had a pepper shortage. A couple tried those sonic things whilst others planted rue and/or rosemary and finally there were the black metal things that are supposed to look like cats and, in one instance, an ornamental heron!

Now, I can understand people being annoyed by cats, but a quick count up in our road of 11 houses, revealed that 5 actually have cats - some more than one - making the total cat population 7!

I'm not saying mine never 'goes' where she shouldn't, (how would I know) but I do have an area which I leave bare and onto which I dump the spent, dried out, root filled compost from pots, tubs, troughs and the like which I know my cat uses and I'd be surprised if she alone produces that much poo. True, I have to 'deal' with what's there, but it is only 1m square and no more arduous a task than dealing with a litter tray.

All I have to do now is persuade the foxes to use it as well!

 

Hi Fidgetsmum

I have a feeling that people are a little more tolerant of foxes than cats simply because they are considered to be 'proper wildlife' ... until they decide to keep rabbits or chickens.

I've found that twigs, especially rose prunings, are a very good way of keeping cats out of areas where plants are getting established - no self-respecting moggie wishes to be uncomfortable. If only it were that easy to deter slugs, snails and all the other things which are intent on destroying plant matter.

 

Its not so much the poo that bothers me, like I said, we have 3 cats and I suspect its Oswald (the youngest one) thats doing it, because I've caught him several times. Its the damage thats done to the plants when he/she/they are actually digging trenches to poo it.

I did have some netting over them when they were seedlings but now they have grown they were getting crushed by the netting which is why i took it off.

Thanks for eveyones advice anyway.

Craig

 

Hi, I've got three cats, and I bought my neighbours two cat repellers called The Big Cheese. I also turn the soil in my flower beds and put sand in all my own borders, as well as two outdoor litter trays at the bottom of my garden. I want my cats to go in my own garden, so leave plenty of space between plants and shrubs, and I avoid planting anything that might be too delicate.

Cats love a bit of room to maneuvre, so dense planting will keep cats away more than the odd plant or shrub here or there. An open border with loose soil is a cat's idea of cat heaven. I hate the though of my cats going to the loo in my neighbours' gardens, and offer to clean up if they do venture anywhere else. Sadly, though, cats are wild animals and so do roam where they choose. I wish they didn't, but that is their nature.

 

On a slightly different tack - when my cat came home with a 'prize' koi carp, I knew immediately from whence it had come ..... my neighbour's pond. Now, I know nothing about fish, but I do know koi can be expensive so, with not a little trepidation, I knocked on said neighbour's door (cheque book in hand). 'I, I'm awfully ssorry, bbut mmy cat seems to have killed one of your fish' I stumbled. 'Oh, don't worry about that,' said my neighbour laughing, 'I've been watching them, it was our cat that taught her to fish out of the pond anyway!

 

:rotfl:

Oh dear. Unfortunately with the best will in the world you can't keep a cat in his own garden unless he wishes to co-operate. My mother's mog was recently at the centre of a controversial rape case. :hehe: The owner of a rather smart Siamese claimed that Mum's cat had got into the house via an open window and, er, forced himself on the pedigree feline. Fortunately Mum was able to prove that her cat had been taken to the vets long ago and no longer possessed the necessary equipment.

Mum does, however, have an interesting collection of rubber gloves, J-cloths and woolly hats which the cat has pinched off other people's windowsills. Unfortunately he has always had a penchant for housebreaking. He is a repeat offender who shows no interest in going straight. I blame the parents. He was a rescue cat.