humane way to deter cats

Hi Pedandkaz, I suffer the same fate and have only found one way of detering my nieghbours cats and that is constantly shoo-ing them out of the garden. This seems to be working for me as I just can not afford to pay for 'fale safe' methods that only work for a short time.
Good luck,
Ian

I adore cats (and dogs!) and have my own and agree with you Ian.
Shoo-ing them away or letting them see you with a hosepipe means they get the message - mostly.

They will always be drawn to areas of bare earth though, so, if you can cover this with something (e.g.chicken wire) it'll keep them off it and .... just keep scaring them away.

They'll not go to an area that frightens them .... unless you've been 'very' mean and then they'll be gettin' their own back !!!!!
Tsk !

It is a real problem for many of us, I find it worse in Spring when there is bare soil about. I have one of those high frequency thingies but I find that close planting or covering areas of bare soil with twigs/netting works well.

Louise is spot on. I have a cat so have never tried other methods but from previous discussions on here they don't seem to be efffective. Dense planting helps in the same way too. Good luck, I know they can be a nuisance

I grew up with moggies (miss em terribly) when they used to do things like scratch the bottom stair we got them a scratch post. eat grass and throw up in the house run like the clappers and stick em outside. Attack your garden spray them with a water spray gun, just on light mist so as not to hurt their eyes but have noticed it works touch wood I havent seen much if any cat poop in my garden since I started this!!

x x x

I agree with the loose soil thing, but the cats hear have not heard of it , when I cut the larwn I step in their little presents at least a couple of times, I think it is becase the ground hear is so hard that for their genarations they have had to adapted,which leads me to belive that if you denige them somthing to scratch in they will use your larwn. xxx for mookins

Cliffo, you're right.
If they 'have to go' they 'have to go', and, if your ground there is 'that' hard they'll go where it's slightly softer - which the grass would be :-/

A hose pipe seems like a good idea but it's difficult to hold it and a torch, the cats around here only come at night.

Even though I am a cat owner I know they can be a pest. Using water is the best, but try a water pistol or even a super soaker.They give you a better aim and you can raaah at them as well.

Mavis, that's perfect :-)
I used to do the very same thing in my last garden !
Those water pistols are great and are very easy to aim !
A good "raaaahr" with it works too ;-)

I chase the neighbouring cats with water and if I am lucky a little bit catches them and I make the same reaaaahr noise as above. They do not like it and stay away a while. Where at the moment I have bare soil, I've put some chicken manure pellets on, watered the patch and so far have not had any mess left, mind you it's early days yet, but apparently they dont like the smell. One other thing that works is I've cut some twigs of Firethorn plants those that don't carry berries and put them amongst bare patches, cats dont like prickely stuff either. Good luck

I don't know how much bare earth you ahve, but I have a couple of areas of bare soil where I have stuck in a load of twigs and sticks into the ground. They are sort of cat height, and if you keep the space between them quite tight, they cannot get in between and dig and crouch comfortably - so they just stop trying. It looks quite arty as well in an odd way! I have cats and think that this is the best way to get the message over that they cannot use the beds as a toilet. With other cats, its a supersized water pistol and a lot of hissing I'm afraid, as mine are a bit pathetic and don't defend their territory - so I have to do it for them! I am always rushing out like Rambo with a water pistol, and now I've stopped being embarassed about it too! ;-)

its worth investing in a high power water gun that kids normaly play with.youd be amazed at how powerfull they are .there the ones you pump up.you could laso buy and i know it sounds cruel but it isnt a bb gun that fires only plastic bb`s .granted it stings a little but it does stop them without any long term problems.the only trouble with this is you must aim at there bum so as not to blind them.another way is to go to a zoo and get some big cat ie lion,tiger poo and put that in your garden .i hope i helped bye for now

Two things make cats use your garden as a toilet, well no, three, actually
1. The presence of previous "leavings"
2. Recently dug, loose soil
3. Long grass (tom cats like this particularly)

Holly branches laid on open soil deter them, too painful to walk on, and the sticks in the soil idea works too, specially if you wind string between them. Otherwise its expensive investment in a PIR system that's connected to a sprinkler - whenever the cat walks across the garden, the sprinkler comes on. Works, but the only person I know who's done it is an electrical engineer and set it up himself.

My neighbour bought the lion poo pellets to stop our cats in his garden, and they both just push them aside to go in that area - I've seen them both playing with the little balls too, pushing them around and then chasing them! They are about £6 a packet - so not sure I would bother!

Sounds about as effective as mothballs then - I tried those, worked for about 2 days.

If you take a large empty bottle of pop and take the label off so its clear fill the bottle to the top with water and lay where the cat s are messing this does work. Or chilli powder which I know yous lot would nt want to do. When clearing up the mess, wash with washing powder not bleach as this will attract them back cause of the amonia in the bleach, got this bit from a vet.

Noseypotter A bb gun sounds a bit extreme hence the water idea as that is harmless.

Yep, rubber bullets would be an offence, as would an airgun and also mouse traps and broken glass - the RSPCA will sue for those if they're used.

Not to mention the reaction of the cat's owners if they found out!

I had problems this year with cats and new beds. Then I read that cats dont use the newly dug area for long. Since then I have noticed that they play havoc with a new dug patch then after a week or so leave it alone and go else where.

Muddywellies, i use that method ..... sticking lots of small canes and/or twigs in that area of soil.
It works well.

no i dont mean powerfull bb`s that can break the skin i love animals and like cats.im as much against cruelty as you are.these just sting a little and bounce of. i think you need the real lion poo for it to work realy.that sprinkler with the pir is an apserlootly brilliant idea that i would definatly use if i had any cats in my garden.it would be well worth even paying someone to set that up in the long run.apserlutly brilliant.they are very clean animals thats why they bury there poo .they dont want to put there paws back into what they did earlier so they do move on

We have a huge conifer hedge 45' long and 10' wide which our cat uses as her own personal toilet. Loads of dry pine needles to dig in and a roof overhead, what more could a cat ask for in this wet weather, just purrfect!!
Keeps her off the rest of the garden but a bit of an extreme measure!

Noseypotter.Its still a gun.

Lily, you have the perfect set-up there for her :-)

Mmmmm ....Louise, we're not all such fans! There's a severe and expensive haircut booked for the end of next March but it won't affect Daisy's toilet arrangements. LOL

The canes/sticks method is good, as you can grow stuff around them, and where there is no room for plants - there's often no room for cats' bums! Noseypotter may be right about using real lion/tiger poo - but so far as I know, they are only selling pellets, and unless you live near a Safari park - I'm not sure where you would get the real thing! Good luck Penandkaz - hope one of the methods (except the bb gun :-0) works for you.

I still say the only guaranteed method that I know of that doesn't involve harming, injuring or causing any kind of suffering even wetting or getting wet yourself (water pistols of any kind need filling up and leaving them filled will inevitably lead to leakage) is to GENTLY but sternly shoo them away. I have done this myself when I first started gardening and after just a short time they stopped coming into my garden. There is no need for expensive, complicated gadgets or leaky huge water cannons that need the strength of ten men to 'pump up'. There is no need to have hosepipes and sprinklers laid all over the garden with PIR sensors going off every time a hedgehog wanders through your yard to look for slugs and snails. Make sure your garden is difficult for cats to get into and that every time you see one you chase it away then, end of problem. :~))

Well you're right Ian, but that only works if someone's home all the time - for families where both people work all day, not possible, I wouldn't have thought.

I've found that bark mulch, applied on top of bare soil and around plants helps to deter cats. Also, olbas oil sprinkled on old wet tea bags, and scattered around, puts them off...they hate the smell :))

I used bark once and it seemed to attract the attention of our (then) cat.....and the blackbirds who enjoyed scattering it all over the place! lol

I can see the olbas oil would work, good call, but I'm surprised by the bark chips - I'd have thought they'd treat that like cat litter, as they do with gravel.

mavisc so are water pistols

our cats are cheshire cats Ian, they just grin at you.

I agree Bamboo, It's easy for me to think that everyone stays at home or can't work for one reason or another, point taken but this also stops the use of water pistols etc. and that (as far as I can see) leaves the expensive PIR/water sprinkler option or relying on leaving things on the ground to either upset their senses or physically stop them from getting at the area. Bark mulch would work (again) for a short period of time until it had got wet a few times and then it would have little or no effect and I am dead set against wires and things being laid across the area as I would hate the thought of any animal getting trapped in it and possibly hurting themselves trying to get out again. I have seen, first hand, the damage wire traps can do to an animal that has struggled to free itself and I wouldn't wish that sort of pain/injury on my worst enamy.

Please remember that I am only discussing the subject and I am NOT a troll, this coming so close on our previous debate on cat deterants brought about by a now defunct member. :~))

If you use the thick, chunky type of bark, I find that the cats don't like it....but yes Lily, the blackbirds do enjoy scattering it around!

Olbas oil, or garlic paste on the tea bags does work. Sadly, my dear departed Suky had no sense of smell (she had a skin cancer removed from her nose), so it didn't deter her. But the neighbourhood cats hate it, lol

Oh lord, I'd forgotten that, sorry Ian, obviously still sensitive, and I'm well aware that, whatever else you might be called (! joke), you most certainly are NOT a troll. I agree wholeheartedly about anything that causes harm to any animal (and cats are one of my favourite creatures). Fact is, unless you leave something down that's uncomfortable, or difficult like sticks and string, you can't keep them off - they always get in when you're not looking. Best deterrent I found was having cats of my own - they preferred to do their business elsewhere and wouldn't allow any other cat to leave 'packages' in the garden.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there Bamboo.

I'm sure it would work for a while Di, until it had rained a few times and then surely it would wash away, and I don't think I would enjoy going into a garden that had a distinct aroma of garlic, I would feel hungry all the time! :~))

Lol, you're right Ian...and obviously you have to replenish the scent on the tea bags every so often. But it does work...

I bow to your knowledge on this one. I just havent tried it. For me personally I still vote for the shoo-ing method. I have the time available and the view of my small gardens from just about anywhere in our tiny bungalow.

Which ever mothod or combination of methods we try as long as we don't harm any animals then it has to be the right one for us.

I bet Pedandcaz regrets ever asking the question now but it is a subject that will go on being discussed as long as people tend their little patch.

What about growing garlic cloves in pots would that derter I wonder

Well I grew onions in my veg this year Morgana and that didn't do the trick, they just walked straight over them! :~((

I will try it out, I have some cloves see how it goes. Onions smell different than garlic, I my self don't mind the onion smell but I cannot stand garlice taste or smell. so I will try it, as I am leo the lion of the cat family lmao. no I dont mess on peoples gardens before any one asks

LMSO ;~))

I've been reading this with interest, would someone like to come and tell the many many cats that visit my garden that they shouldn't reappear :((( I've tried just about everything on here, and they still visit in their tens. They dig bark and even slate, to leave their 'message', the other day I opened my leaf bin, and one was straight in there, I had plants in a tray and caught one in there too, I'm at my wits end with them, I would definately not do anything to harm them in any way, but I really need a solution of some sort. Has anyone tried citronella oil? I was told to try that

http://www.garden4less.co.uk/cat-repellent.asp?partner=GoPest&gclid=CMvcyM6trZ0CFaAA4wodDhXUiQ
I personally would go with the sonic sound one as they use these on teenagers to stop them gathering around shops and areas, I have read the citrus doesnt work.

how come every one missed the pun about the cheshire cat's,

I did nt I laughed at it I always say I m the chesire cat out of Alice in Wonderland mad he he ha ha smile grin

I hadn't realised you lived in Cheshire Cliffo! Sometimes comments do get overlooked on a busy blog.

Doh, another Homar moment from me! ;~))))))

You can be the mad hatter then Ian as you are having a doh moment lol

I was looking at my watch to see if I was late or not! ! !

lol you smashed it on the table at tea time remember so how could you check it