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Cats
Doreen43
Posts: 17
We are plagued with cats using our veg/flower borders as cat litter. On our worst day we had 15 cat mess to clear away. We have 6 solar sensors, have used Silent Roar, Cat training gel and have now wire fenced our borders and still they mess everywhere! I dug a border and mulched it yesterday, raised bed with wire mesh around it, and this morning cat mess!
Help!
0
Posts
Water scarecrows seem to be the most successful option (Google it)
Hostafan will be along shortly to claim another £1.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Don't leave them room to squat. . . . . put short lengths of cane/twigs into the soil.
Electric fence,that will work. It won't hurt them. A neighbour has put one round his pond,he say's that it works and it doesn't hurt the herons.
It's an eternal question and the person who can come up with a fail proof solution will make an absolute fortune. If it's a comparatively small area then canes and twigs may do the job. Also keep one of the high power water pistols handy and be ready to blast any cat you see in the garden. Most cats don't like water and will eventually learn to **** somewhere else.
Somebody did suggest bringing in a law to force cat owners to keep them on their own property. That I would vote for in a heartbeat!
Waterscarecrow is the only thing that works for me - and I've tried all the most successful methods.
You wouldn't believe how they could still get into a raised bed covered with vertical bamboo skewers and hooped canes....
Last edited: 23 October 2016 18:07:30
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
beat me to it raisingirl.
Thanks all of you for your responses, I'll investigate the waterscarecrow, anything that prevents them from messing in my veggies will be welcomed! Thanks.
Doreen i have a major problem with it too. Every single day I was clearing cat mess up. When they dig the soil they buried small plants under a mound of soil. I was literally clearing a small carrier bag worth after just a couple of days.
This is largely due to having a house that backs on to lots of terraced houses all joined together with a 5ft wall so the cats have easy access to everyone's gardens.
A couple of weeks back I had a huge spare roll of chicken wire so I put this up against the back wall which is where they mostly come from. I also had tons of spare barbeque wooden skewers so I put lots of these in the soil with the pointy bit sticking up so that if they try to dig, they will find it very difficult! I also put lots and lots of rose prunings and bramble over whrere I have mulched and fingers crossed I haven't had to pick up cat mess for over 2 weeks!
The garden however looks ridiculous with all the skewers etc however it's only for the winter and I'm not out there that much now but hopefully it will discourage them from doing it in the future and hopefully by spring they will have found some other poor person to bother
But try the skewers they are cheap and you can get them on eBay. You have to put quite a lot of them in the ground though as they seem to be able to poo in the most tightest of spots! Hope this helps.
Last edited: 24 October 2016 09:18:57
In my garden, cats do it on the lawn. They don't seem to bother digging a hole.
I read somewhere if you had a cat yourself they wouldn't do it on your garden.
Last edited: 24 October 2016 10:20:42
Skewers certainly don't work here - see my pic earlier in this thread.
and anyway, why should I have to stab myself to death every time I then go to do something in my garden.....
water works - you have to move it around, but it's the only remedy I've had.
They do it on the grass here as well Logan, but they now c**p on my neighbour's lawn instead of mine.
Think the window cleaner has learned to be quite speedy too....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...