Unwanted cat in my garden

[purplepen88]

I recently had two high garden beds made in our backyard. I planted impatiens and marigolds. We have a neighbourhood cat who likes to use our garden as his litter box. Any suggetions as to how we can keep this cat out of our garden? We've tried spreading cayenne pepper and it didn't work.

 

[marlingardener]

Do you have any garden trimmings that are thorny (blackberry canes, rose canes, etc.)? Cats' paws are sensitive and they don't dig where it hurts. If that fails, since your plants are annuals, when the bed is empty spread chicken wire over the soil, cut holes to plant your flowers, and the cats can't dig.

 

[CanadianLori]

Shishkebob (spelling?) Sticks stuck in the soil and close together will stop it. Those or even coffee stir sticks take away the open space and pussy has no spot to poo.

I use these to keep squirrels from digging in newly planted pots too.

 

[TobiWallis]

I have a similar problem. Love the cats, but not their habits! I use twigs and small branches to make it difficult for them. I'm reminded of a children's book I once read which spoke of cats planting 'stinkpots', followed by the rather dry comment: "These never grow"!

 

[Mockingbird]

Animals of all sorts are in abundance in my area. I have never had a problem with the cats bothering the planted beds. What I did to keep some of the creatures out was I went to the local sporting goods store and got some tiger pi$$ I figured this would be a good way to keep the deer out and save the bushes. Some creatures will not stay in an area if they smell a predator. I guess it worked on the cats. Just be careful, some of these scents are very potent, case in point coyote gland EWH!

 

[alexiskilgannon]

The best thing I can think of is putting chicken wire down, as someone mentioned in a previous post. I know it might cause some confrontation depending on your relationship with your neighbors, but it might not hurt to contact them as well. It's not fair to you when their cat is on the loose pooping in your garden. It has to be frustrating. Maybe you could talk to them about the issue?

 

[Beth_B]

The best thing I can think of is putting chicken wire down, as someone mentioned in a previous post. I know it might cause some confrontation depending on your relationship with your neighbors, but it might not hurt to contact them as well. It's not fair to you when their cat is on the loose pooping in your garden. It has to be frustrating. Maybe you could talk to them about the issue?

Ditto this, really if it's someone's cat they should be responsible pet owners and keep it contained in their property. Not fair to either the cat, or you!

When I had to deal with this I got a couple of boxes of wooden toothpicks and poked them into the planters' soil to create a little forest of pointy things around the plants. Worked like a charm and really inexpensive.

 

[IcyBC]

I had this cat problem in my front garden too, but I don't know whose cats they belong to. We have too many stray cats in the neighborhood to count. I will give CanadianLori's advise a try this coming summer.

 

[Beth_B]

I had this cat problem in my front garden too, but I don't know whose cats they belong to. We have too many stray cats in the neighborhood to count. I will give CanadianLori's advise a try this coming summer.

And I actually do something about it. I (along with a kind neighbor) TNR feral cats in my neighborhood and you can too, if you care. We are approaching zero new cats around here in five years, because some of us actually take action instead of complaining, and take the humane and effective route to managing cats.

http://www.alleycat.org/page.aspx?pid=285

I have live traps and get cats spay/neutered for $10-25 each through local non-profits. Cats are extremely territorial and tend to stay close to their territory and form strong bonds. Feral and stray cats are a 100 percent human-caused problem so I think humans should be instrumental in (humanely) managing them.

 

[CanadianLori]

No one was referring to feral cats. They were talking about the neighbours little treasures who stray. I personally have not seen a wild cat in years but that could be because I live in a suburban area.

 

[Beth_B]

Well, we don't know what the OP meant by "neighborhood cat" so until she returns and clarifies nobody knows the status of said cat. Could be feral, could be an abandoned stray, could be someone's "little treasure." But if I had an animal I regarded as a "little treasure" I certainly wouldn't let it be running around pooping on my neighbors' property.

That said, I brought up the feral cat issue because it is huge, depending where one lives. And I wanted to point out that in many communities there are very inexpensive options for fixing and controlling them. If one wants to.

 

[Corzhens]

We have the same problem. The neighbor's cat is roaming around our yard at night. Worse, we have the suspicion that cats are using our cars for their beds. The windshield has some dirt in the morning and sometimes traces of liquid... probably from the cat. We still have to find a way to drive away the cats. Although we have dogs inside our house, we do not want to use dogs to chase those pesky cats.

 

[ReadmeByAmy]

My mother had told me when we had the chance to talk on the phone last week the same problem when I asked her how is our garden already because I miss it already. She had mentioned to me that there are always cats coming from the neighborhood and they are always choosing our garden as their place when they are fighting at night. They are very noisy and the next morning my mother will just see some of her pots are broken and the plants are destroyed already. She said every night the cats are like that and aside that it had always interrupted her sleep the cats are doing damages to our garden already.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

I have 6 cats, and I have many many gardens. Then there is the rest of the property. All these years have never noticed or run across the after effects of where they do their business. Never see my gardens disturbed, nor have run across anything if I am working (always use gloves). Once in a while I see one of then squatting out in the woods. Always find these issues of cats disturbing gardens in a wonderment. And my cats are quiet also, no fighting etc. (all fixed). Yes they are outside at will.

 

[marlingardener]

Amy, there is a water gun called a "Super Shooter". It looks like an AK47, and shoots a stream of water quite a distance. Many toy stores carry them, or something similar. Your mom could take up target practice--no harm to the cat who will soon get the idea to stay away, and you can give your mom a sharpshooter's badge!