Neighbours' cats using our garden as toilet

[UlStED]

We have 5 or 6 cats roaming between the gardens in our street and it has never bothered us. In the last two weeks though they (or maybe just one of them) have started using our garden as toilet. It's disgusting and not safe as we have small children.

Does anyone have any experience of effective cat 'repellents'?

[ashepherd]

We had similar problems a couple of years ago, though I think they were all at it, rather there being one single offender. I tried most of the common recommendations - smelling salts, lion poo, ultrasonic emitters, weeing on the lawn (yes).

in the end I think the orbit yard enforcer had the greatest effect

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Orbit-62100-Enforcer-Activated-Sprinkler/dp/B009F1R0GC

there are similar products on ebay/amazon for ?20-40 but they were rubbish.

It's pricey but worth it. and makes for great entertainment. It only broke when I forgot to detach it during a freeze, which broke the internal valve, however since the effect has persisted. Or maybe it was something else altogether. Anyway, the upshot is the cats are pooing elsewhere and the kids can wander safely on the grass.

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

I had to put those plastic spikes on top of my fences to stop the cats using my garden as a toilet.

Fence Wall Spikes: Pack of 10 (4.5M to 13.5M) ? BROWN https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0046YJNCM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_AVCEBbBS209F8

[Mrs TP]

Are you sure it's cats and not foxes? Fox poo is beyond stinky and they are just as athletic and sneaky as cats.

[yard]

black pepper sprinkled regularly over the garden often helps

[Inbound]

The cheapest and most effective solution that happens to be great fun!

Invest in a water pistol as cats are well known to have an aversion to water!

[niall]

i've used an ultrasonic Lion covered in spikes. that seems to have done the trick.

[Passiflora]

Oh dear, what is an Ultrasonic Lion covered in spikes? Is that just as terrible as putting spikes on top of a fence?

[Padders]

We have the same problem. Ended up just covering the area with bin bags. They only like to do their business on soil, it seems, so it's worked a charm.

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

Yes, it?s terrible when cats are locked out of their homes all day so that they don?t have access to their litter tray, or even worse, their owners don?t have a litter tray for them so they go and soil in other people?s gardens. There are people like me with children, who have spent a fortune on all different cat deterrents and months and months fighting a losing battle. We couldn?t use our garden as there was poo everywhere, not to mention the flies and it very got smelly in warm weather so the windows couldn?t be opened. I was spending every morning cleaning up poo from cats that aren?t mine.

On top of that I have to spend a fortune replacing my artificial lawn in my courtyard because despite removing all the poo every day, it?s still stuck into the turf and cannot be removed despite spending a lot of money on cleaning products to remove the stains. I also had to spend money on a handyman to install the spikes. For cats that should be using cat litter trays.

I used to have a cat before I moved here. My family have cats, we all use litter trays, our cats used them so we know they weren?t taking upsetting our neighbours by using their gardens. My child comes first and cats using my garden as a toilet is not acceptable.

The cats are not recoiling in pain at the spikes, they simply do not go anywhere near my garden as they usually jump on a shed and then into mine. They now simple sunbathe on the shed and go elsewhere instead of leaping onto my fences.

Passiflora Wrote:

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> Oh dear, what is an Ultrasonic Lion covered in

> spikes? Is that just as terrible as putting spikes

> on top of a fence?

[EPB]

I doubt whether the cat that left the uneaten blackbird corpse in the middle of my lawn early this morning was a poor waif that had been locked out by its cruel owners. Much more likely to have been the ginger tabby that comes in via next-door?s shed roof.

[niall]

Passiflora Wrote:

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> Oh dear, what is an Ultrasonic Lion covered in

> spikes? Is that just as terrible as putting spikes

> on top of a fence?

Listen, and understand. That ultrasonic lion covered in spikes is out there. It can?t be bargained with. It can?t be reasoned with. It doesn?t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until that cat stops crapping all over my garden.

[rendelharris]

DulwichBorn&Bred Wrote:

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> On top of that I have to spend a fortune replacing

> my artificial lawn in my courtyard because despite

> removing all the poo every day, it?s still stuck

> into the turf and cannot be removed despite

> spending a lot of money on cleaning products to

> remove the stains.

Extremely unlikely that cats will have been regularly relieving themselves on a hard surface like astroturf, they always want something they can kick over. Much more likely foxes, that seem to prefer hard surafces, as the state of my garden step regularly tesitifies.

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

It?s definitely not Fox Poo. I lived in Sussex and got fox poo there, they look and smell different. I?ve had cats so I know the difference and my neighbours here have had issues with cats using their gardens as toilets too. I?ve shooed the guilty party out of my garden enough time.

[worldwiser]

We've got a neighbour's cat that loves peeing on our garden furniture which is delightful. And when we leave the back door open it happily relieves itself in our kitchen and one time even our lounge. We've been nothing but inhospitable to this wretched creature and still it persists. Our latest approach is planting lavender everywhere and we did spray a lemon scented liquid we got off amazon for a while but nothing has yet worked. I'm prepared to drench the blighter with the garden hose but I wonder if relations with the neighbours would take a downturn.

[jimbo1964]

We have a similar problem. The ultrasonic deterrents seem to work (with the odd Nerf super soaker). I've had to spend ?70 on stuff to stop other people's animals crapping in my garden which really annoys me.

[Take Note]

I'm getting that spikey ultrasonic Lion! :)

[fruityloops]

worldwiser Wrote:

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> We've got a neighbour's cat that loves peeing on

> our garden furniture which is delightful. And when

> we leave the back door open it happily relieves

> itself in our kitchen and one time even our

> lounge. We've been nothing but inhospitable to

> this wretched creature and still it persists. Our

> latest approach is planting lavender everywhere

> and we did spray a lemon scented liquid we got off

> amazon for a while but nothing has yet worked. I'm

> prepared to drench the blighter with the garden

> hose but I wonder if relations with the neighbours

> would take a downturn.

We have a cat. And if it was pissing off a neighbour by using their garden as a toilet, I'd fully expect them to turn the hose on at it.

I wouldn't expect them to hurt it, but water pistol is fair game, supersonic lions, lion poo as well...

[Anna from HOP]

Chicken wire.

Lay it over the affected area. Doesn't hurt the cats, but they don't like walking on it.

Leave down for a few weeks till they get out habit of using that area.

[ribrob]

rendelharris Wrote:

> Extremely unlikely that cats will have been

> regularly relieving themselves on a hard surface

> like astroturf, they always want something they

> can kick over. Much more likely foxes, that seem

> to prefer hard surafces, as the state of my garden

> step regularly tesitifies.

We have astro turf too, and i assure you that cats will, and do, crap on it. Regularly. I've watched them do it.

I'm with DulwichBorn&Bred, my children should be free to play in our garden without the fear of rolling in cat-crap.

People have a right to prevent animals using their garden as a toilet, for both practical and health reasons.

Deterrents like pepper or gel all get washed away after a day's rain, so aren't workable solutions.

But DulwichBorn&Bred, i will also say that owners probably do have a litter down, and the cats access to it.

They just prefer to go outside - when we had a cat, he did the same.

In fact, having a cat was the only true deterrent to other cats crapping in our garden.

Sadly though, i expect he was probably crapping in our neighbours' gardens.

[Gadge]

I have experienced this. I just bury the poo immediately at least 4" down with a hand spade. It fertilises your garden and the cats eventually just stop. Its a territorial thing for them.

[rendelharris]

Can I just throw in here (as someone who doesn't currently own cats) that if all domestic cats were removed at a stroke the rat population would quadruple within a month and continue to expand exponentially (due to their rapid breeding cycle, a single pair of rats can be responsible for 15,000 new rats in a year, and half a billion within three years). I agree that all cat owners should be responsible and provide litter trays and encourage cats to use them, but as any cat owner knows they're wilful buggers and do as they please. But a bit of cat shite or a plague of rats, your shout!

[ribrob]

Hmmm, not sure that the two only options for humanity are a rat plague or pooh in UlStED's garden, there's probably a third option somewhere.

rendelharris Wrote:

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> Can I just throw in here (as someone who doesn't

> currently own cats) that if all domestic cats were

> removed at a stroke the rat population would

> quadruple within a month and continue to expand

> exponentially (due to their rapid breeding cycle,

> a single pair of rats can be responsible for

> 15,000 new rats in a year, and half a billion

> within three years). I agree that all cat owners

> should be responsible and provide litter trays and

> encourage cats to use them, but as any cat owner

> knows they're wilful buggers and do as they

> please. But a bit of cat shite or a plague of

> rats, your shout!

[rendelharris]

ribrob Wrote:

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> Hmmm, not sure that the two only options for

> humanity are a rat plague or pooh in UlStED's

> garden, there's probably a third option

> somewhere.

Let us know what it is then - cats have played an integral role in the development of human civilisation in keeping vermin out of barns and homes...I haven't heard of a better solution yet!

[rendelharris]

I shouldn't go too far on this (but obviously I will) - we share this planet with millions of other species, they all shit and so do we. We chemically process our shit and spew the chemicals into waterways and the ecosystem. Within the lifetime of our great-grandparents London's streets were knee-deep in horseshit, everybody dealt with it. I think it's a bit precious of us as human beings to get too agitated about a little animal dung in our back gardens, no?