Cats in the garden

We have various cats around the garden at various times, but haven't noticed a poo problem. I'm pleased to see them as I think they should discourage mice and rabbits. We couldn't have one of our own even if we wanted to as I'm allergic to them.

We had a terrible problem with cats using our garden as their toilet when we moved to this house. We tried everything on the market I think with varying degrees of success and usually for only a short time. I think the sonic deterrents were best.
My husband has cobbled our planting areas in the back garden now and since then, nothing! Hard work maybe, but worth it in the end. ?

We have three cats and the current crop do not venture further than our garden. This may change when the kitten finds his paws so to speak. One of the girls is so well litter trained she won't use the garden, the other only "goes" outside and the kitten does both. I go round and poo clear frequently, the same as I did when we had a dog too. If neighbouring cats come in to use the loo I shoo them away, they have their own gardens to go in. We live in a semi in a residential area, tolerance is a great thing, yes, we may have cats but others may have screaming kids, barking dogs, smelly bbqs or leaf blowers!

We have 2 cats, and do have a litter tray for them.

BUT... We don't have a cat flap (if we did then every cat in the street would be in) so if the cat's are outside when we are out and therefore not able to fulfil our role of cat concierges, then they will do whatever outside.

They are kept indoors at night, mainly to reduce their bird hunting, and other than making them into indoor cats, there is not much more we can do.

We find our energetic little dog does the trick! We say 'cats' and he's off like a bat out of hell . We hardly see one nowadays.

I object to them pooing in my garden because we have little ones visiting who love to garden and I like them to experience digging without gloves ( too much worry about dirt and kids these days in my opinion)!

My mum swore by throwing mothballs randomly round the flower beds ( not to be tried if you own a dog though ). Or water filled old Coke bottles , she said the light glinting off the water scared the cats, I'm not convinced .

OK so it depends on the size of the garden but when we lived in London we had this problem in our basement garden. We put up very very cheap bamboo canes and strung runner bean netting loosely from cane to cane. The cats could not get a purchase on the netting so could not get over it. It did work, but with a large garden I think a Jack Russell terrier is the solution.

I love my cat. In many ways I am my cat. I let my cat eat whatever it wants. It is a lovely beast. I allow my cat to go anywhere within the house.

One year when bulbs in a big trough were being disturbed, I blamed my cats until one day I happened to spot a squirrel digging them up.

Cats seem to dig a hole in your favourite pot or freshly dug soil where you are going to plant, then cover it up so you don't notice it!
Hedgehogs just seem to stop and poo on their journey through the garden, usually on the lawn. We do welcome the hedgehog poo but not the cat poo.

I tap on the window, open it and shout, but the cats sit and smile at me charjoy then

The other thing is, some of this could well be hedgehog poo and not a cat.they do a surprisingly big poo for a small animal, and go all over the place.We had a hedgehog the size of a football on the front lawn a few days ago.

We always just shoo them away. They seem to know we don't like them and rarely visit. Just a tap on the window and they are gone in a flash.

Forgot to say the children don't appear to hear any sound. The only person who has said he could hear it was a delivery man. Our neighbour walks his dog past our garden twice a day and the dog appears to trot along happily.

We had the most horrendous problems with next doors two cats. Poo everywhere stinking to high heaven. I used to love cats having had two of our own in the past but I would never have one again. There was poo all over our gravel paths so we replaced them with slabs. So they went on there instead. They covered our front lawn and back lawn. Went under our garden seat. The crowning glory was when they decided to start using our front door mat. We replaced two and then decided to try battery powered alarms which emit a high power sound. We've now got three. One covers our front garden and two cover the back. We have had them about 3 years now and only one mess in thst time. Apart from the nuisance of mess and smell we were desperate to do something as we care for our toddler grandchildren two days a week.

Have a small flower bed under my front window dressed with pebbles. Cat/cats have taken to pooing in it; have to watch where I step when cleaning window. I thought cats buried their mess??

short of buying a lion, smile, give up, pat those cats on the head.

My neighbour's cat ignored my three sonic devices. I installed metal cat silhouettes with green eyes but the cat used them as supports to lean on while he did his business. I tried large, shiny and colourful windmills but, although they look quite pretty, they do nothing to deter the cat. I planted the scaredy cat plant and he pooed on it. Spreading the prickly bits from pruned roses over the veg patch gave him something to think about but I couldn't leave them around for ever. I seem to have found my position in life: cat's toilet attendant. ??

The trouble where I live is simply that there are so many cats. Young couples at work or older people who can't manage to walk a dog have cats as an easy pet. Fifty or sixty years ago there were fewer around, gardens were a lot bigger and they weren't a problem. Not here anyway.

A cat/cats like a particular corner of my front lawn (why can't they use the soil like any sensible cat!!). Recently I was cutting back quite a lot of lavender, and strewed the stalks over the 'toilet area' and further along. For quite a few days there was no poo, but then it/they found a small gap in between and used that. So added some more stalks in that area and so far so good.
Downside is that lawn looks messy; wind will eventually blow it away; will run out of stalks etc...
Not really helpful other than confirmation of what I'd read in that they don't like the smell of lavender!

As a cat lover & owner I really do sympathise. I want my cats in my own garden for my pleasure & am prepared to put up with the poo- although apart from my 'special needs' cat they all cover up nicely. I do have one of these electronic things in front garden as my neighbour's 3 cats uses it for their loo & also digs up my pots & leaves the plants on the lawn. It works very well until I forget to replace the battery. My own cats never go out the front door.
I have heard it said that if you are nice to a cat it will not foul your garden as it will think of it as home & I must admit only my SN cat poos in our garden ( that I have noticed anyway). Maybe there is something in it.
My neighbour- who is very into his electronic gadgets- has some sort of arrangement where there are several radio beams criss-crossing his garden which really DO stop animals in their tracks. He got them because of foxes digging up his garden & I have seen a fox jump a foot in the air & run off when entering his garden. My cats never go in there either. It is not cruel at all- just a deterrent. You can't hear them at all unlike the one I have which drives the GC potty as their young ears pick up the signal.
My neighbour's teenage daughter has to walk down the middle of the road as so many houses have these things in their front gardens now due to the cats opposite - who roam around a lot- that she is in real pain by the time she gets out of the road. I think they are a bit like those things they put on corners where teenagers meet & cause a nuisance.
I am sorry you are having this problem - I wouldn't want my cats upsetting anyone- my other neighbour complains my cats are not friendly enough & will not go to her for a fuss ( they're not daft!! Neither would I!)

I find it difficult to plant properly wearing gloves although it plays havoc with your finger nails.

My problem is that I am one of the very few people where I live who actually has a garden. My neighbours have all paved theirs and they virtually all have cats who all use my garden as their toilet. I am also mvery wary about leaving my back door open as they tend to wander in.

For the first 3 years of her life, my cat shared a first floor apartment with me so did all her business in a litter tray indoors.
Then 2 years ago we moved to a house, and I gradually moved the litter tray outdoors since there isn't really a place for it to live indoors. Up until about a month ago she was still using it, but now seems to have stopped. I'm guessing the neighbourhood cats have taught her to go in gardens.
They don't usually go where there's plenty of stuff growing - they tend to like a bare patch of earth to dig up and bury it in.
Having just dug over my veg patch at the weekend and planted some winter beans, I needed to discourage both my cat and the neighbourhood cats from going there. So I've laid some of those trellis things you can get from the 99p shop down on top. In fact I've used the diamond pattern as a guide to where to plant each bean! And so far no sign of cat poo...

I agree with rosesarered. There isn't much you can do about cats pooing in your garden (although I suppose you could permanently station yourself in the garden with a water pistol and that might work).

My son, his partner and my husband are always moaning about cats in the garden. It seems like a waste of energy to me to get so uptight about something that is irresolvable.

Why does everyone get so miffed about everything these days? I always pick up after my dog, but I even had someone shouting at me when my dog wee'd on the corner of a front garden wall. It seems petty to me - the rain will wash it off. I don't remember people going on like this years ago.

Well, rot down or not ( and it must do at some point, it's not a plastic bag!)
if you sling some compost or soil over it nothing will be harmed.Always do the garden wearing gloves, because there is really no way to keep cats out of gardens.

The law in this case is, I think, being sensible. A cat is a law unto itself and most are pretty much impossible to control.

I have nothing against cats... we've shared our house with two in the past and enjoyed their company. But when we had our last cat he defended our garden (his territory) against all comers. Without him our garden became shared territory for seven or eight local cats. We had hoped our new neighbours cat would include our garden in her territory and defend it, but she's too small and timid to be any use - which is probably why she apparently goes home to use her litter tray!

So I continue with my wire netting fence around the veggie plot and careful undergrowth clearing around the bird feeders.

Not that I agree