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Bloody cats!!!!
Phil Stockton
Posts: 13
in Talkback
Hi everyone I have a major cat problem, I have a thin border at the throat of my house which I have recently planted some established fuschia cuttings in. The problem I have is most days/ nights I will find evidence of were cats have done there business in the border and either dug the plants up or ripped the plants to peices. So what I was going to do was to put some gravel down as I've heard this helps to prevent them digging but just wondering if anyone had any advice or experience in what type of gravel would be best? Thanks...
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Posts
Hi Phil, if you search the forum topic threads you will see many people have had this problem and there is various advice, helpful and not on there
Cats are attracted areas where the soil is fine and loose like a seed bed for instance. When I create such an area I lie twigs esp ones with thorns on top, and this generally deters most cats. You could also try putting cat repellent chemicals in places soiled by the cats as they can be atrracted to return to the same place to use it as a toilet. You could try to decoy them by providing a litter tray for them. If you grow fruit cats are helpful in that they have some deterrent effect on birds.
another £1 for me.
Plenty of threads here with plenty of advice, good, bad and indifferent
http://www.gardenersworld.com/search/forum/cats-toilet/page/1/
Good luck
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I've planted a bed with some small new geraniums, and the cats kept digging, so I have stuck kebab skewers (pointy end up) at roughly 20cm centres into the soil. This has stopped the digging, although the crapping continued for a couple of nights.... I wondered if creating a network of black thread between the skewers might have been even more effective. After a few months I expect the area to be less attractive to cats and will remove the skewers.
Hi Phil
You say you were thinking about putting some gravel down. Was this to be a surface dressing over the soil? If so - I don't think small stones such as pea shingle would be effective - cats will dig in gravel or shingle.
I think, however, that a reasonably thick layer of larger pebbles or slate chippings would probably do the trick - it would also help keep weeds down and retain moisture and may enhance the look of the border if it's in keeping with your style of gardening.