either buy a dog and walk it so as not to have the same problem . turf the whole garden so there is know wear to dig or get a super soaker water pistol and put them off coming in .

Sonic cat scarers are a bit pricey, but from one who has used one, they are effective.

Nothing works. They prowl day and night. Have a talk with your neighbors and discuss this problem with them. If after a reasonable amount of time they don't find a solution you will tell them the action you will take. That action ( a humane one) is the following ... You will place a live trap (..the cage type used for feral cats, cost is about 45 dollars USA) on your property and if a cat gets trapped in one you will take that cat immediately to the local animal shelter. If the cat is collared and tagged properly they will have no problem getting it back. If the cat is not collared and tagged.... Well....that's your neighbors problem. This is the most effective solution from a USA perspective. Filing police reports, civil complaints, are ineffective. Getting a dog for this purpose is no reason to have one. You get a dog because you would LOVE to have one and would love, as Noseypotter says, to take it out for walks day and night in all types of weather for it to do its business and would love to pick up its doo in a bag to keep your neighborhood clean, and love to take it to the vet for proper health care at your expense. If you would not LOVE to do these things for your dog, then don't get one. As far as a water pistol, a nasty neighbor can file a charge of animal cruelty against you... And oh yes they can, even for hitting one with a squirt gun. Sonic repellents in my case, have never worked, the live trap method did. Should you decide to go this way make sure the trap is properly sheltered from sun and rain.

well I basicly agree with you ls but spraying with water is humane and id rather deal with the fall out from a wet cat than catching it and taking it to the pound . that dog wont hunt here even though it would work on the cats . I fear the fall out from the neighbers would be worse . the fact is that cats are maybe the top pest for killing wildlife that humans have spread . you wont stop them unless you can stop them getting to your soil . its there nature to run free and hide there poo in clean soil hence cat litter trays . I do like cate bye the way but it doesn't change facts . I guess if you get biggish shrubs around your lawn and leave know gaps then the cat poo and child may not meet or grass right up to the edge till your children grow up .

Having had two cats, they tend to use the same places, so you could try putting clippings from thorny shrubs on the soil where the cats tend to poo.

Citrus peel is also said to help.

An old gamekeepers trick is to create some flickering random light reflections as a deterrent. For example you could place some plastic bottles half filled with water in your borders. The cat sees the distorted reflections, gets spooked, and hopefully slinks away.

I haven't tried any of these, so if you try these I'd be interested to know the result.

The most effective method I know about was created by an engineer friend of mine - he set up his sprinkler in the garden (small garden) and wired the whole thing to a passive infra red movement detector, which meant that when anything entered the garden, movement was detected and the sprinkler turned on - then off again as soon as movement ceased. Cats hated it and never bothered him again - but unless you've got the same sort of knowledge, I wouldn't have a clue about how to set this up.

You can buy something like this Bamboo, I've seen them advertised. Don't know how much they are though or who sells them.

look on amazon perhaps ?

May be controversial here but approaching 60 and I have never, in my life, picked up cat poo in a garden And we had cats and dogs as when we were kids). Stop worrying about it, get your daughter used to digging in soil, making mud pies and troll moss houses and stop trying to create a sterile environment. The younger she is, the more germs she us exposed to the less likely she is to succumb to modern "allergies" as she grows up.
Get a (tom) cat of your own - even better than a dog at keeping other cats away - and they don't need taking for long walks.

Then why do we flush ours down the toilet? Just go out the back and let er rip. There are SEVEN cats taking dumps in this poor member's yard. It's impossible to keep up with that many day and night. This is no where near a healthy situation. Her neighbor has the "poor kitty" syndrome and there might be more cats to contend with in the future and I'll bet that these cats are not in tip top shape so to speak.

I had dogs but I partly agree with urbanite really but we never had 7 cats next door and my mum and dad taught the dogs to chase any out . we shouldn't be so clean . the sprinkler idea sounds just perfect to me all things considered .

I might mention that the "Hygiene Hypothesis" which is a complex and inclusive supposition eluded to by urbanite was not meant to have children exposed to heavily concentrated and large amounts of material containing infectious pathogens.. Eg cat or dog poo. It may be beneficial in not being too clean but when it comes to direct contact with animal excrement HYGIENE must come into play. I for one would not want a waitress or waiter laying down a plate of food in front of my grandchild after coming out of the restroom without washing hands.

your right for sure ls with dog and cat poo etc .

Certainly controversial, Urbanite, and I don't agree either - for one thing, I don't subscribe to the theory that modern living is 'too clean' and that's why allergies abound. In fact, our homes are less clean than in my grandmother's day, when housework was the major component of a stay at home wife's day. Even the wardrobes were cleared, washed and restored twice a year then - I never have done that, along with most people I know. The proliferation in allergies is likely much more to do with the amount of pollutants we breath in and swallow from various sources than anything else. And I certainly wouldn't want my garden to be the only toilet around for 7 cats for myself, never mind my kids.

true bamboo but theres a lot more solutions and anti bacteria products on the market . reality is native people living in the desert don't get to even wash there hands and don't have toilet paper but they get bye just fine and you don't see a fat one . in the olden days many things were dangerous if not poison like make up , paint etc . there is relevance to not washing every jerm off your body . its a losing battle anyway if you've seen the tv program life on us . seen fishermen eating sandwiches after hooking up pupa that live on rotting corpses . your averadge dish cloth . as for pets that you cherish what about wear they walk and what they lick, kill touch . add to that they don't wash as such . then they get onto your lap or lick your face . us ourselves what we do unbenone to us with our hands hundreds of times a day not to mention sex , bed mites , flies on meat vomiting on it and drinking it back up . putting what comes out of a cows bowl on our veg for the plant to feed on . what the thousands of hands before us leave on shopping trollies , public railings etc . I agree that the cat poo from 7 cats all in a small garden is not a great mix but its all down to common sense really . everyone eats a good peck of dirt before they die as my nan sais . on top of this buying bacteriar with knows whats in it on purpous . its a crazy world . well im fairly healthy and definatly maticulessly clean . I cant be I got 4 dogs I stroke and cuddle up to and im not washing my hands every time I touch one of them .

There's a whole lot of difference between cleanliness (next to Godliness), hygiene and the obsessive antiseptic life that so many people seem to think is good for them.

I couldn't agree more urbanite . take your average bank note 98% of them has cocaine residue on it plus everything that goes the drug dealing and ofcourse all the other things money goes threw and that's just one tiny aspect .

Well, thank goodness for the human body's largest organ without which we would all die.

yes we would leek without it lol

Well, I dunno Urbanite - I was born in 1950, had eczema as a baby/small child ( don't remember it), my mother was an appalling housewife, rarely cleaned, I spent most of my childhood mucking about outside and on my father's allotment playing in soil, and we were only given a proper bath once a week. I then developed asthma and allergic rhinitis in my thirties (apparently along with thousands of other people), along with various intolerances and allergies to certain medications in the following years. Too hygienic a childhood? I think not... because mine is not an uncommon story.

Either way, the commonest cause of toxoplasmosis is exposure to cat faeces, or from food grown in soil where cat faeces are present, and this infection is often not recognised in the UK, although oddly, its a notifiable infection in Scotland. The other risk, of course, is toxicara, or roundworm infection if pet owners don't keep their animals wormed.

Over in the USA the high incidence of asthma children who live in urban areas is partly blamed on airborne roach feces, saliva and body parts. This whole thing is a very complex subject although fascinating one when gone into in any great depth and one can name volumes of pathogens and allergens (those allergens that exist naturally or those manufactured or to be manufactured in the chemistry lab) associated with environmental insults to the human body to the point where one can get bogged down into the mud... So to speak. Haagston103 has some very good suggestions from the members and in the future I am interested to hear from H to see which ones proved to work in the cat incursion.

Actually Bamboo, I think you will find that it is a notifiable organism if found by a diagnostic laboratory. In other words there has to be enough suspicion of t.gondii to warrant samples being sent for analysis. In the majority of cases t.gondii gives no symptoms of infection and where there are symptoms they are mild flu-like symptoms (sore throat, aching limbs etc).
Yes, there are a very small number of babies affected during pregnancy where toxo is transmitted from the mother - I believe the UK figure is about 3 babies per million live births. The main risk of infection is transmission of t.gondii from food, because t.gondii is present in farm animals, particularly sheep. Incidentally there is a toxo vaccination for sheep - but not for humans, probably because it's not needed for humans.

well I had a great childhood including having asthma and loved bug hunting , playing in the dirt with lorries , playing it or hide and seek . always had cut knees . went fishing with worms, maggots etc . peed on my hands in the really cold weather and ate food and had know soap . I don't think being in close contact with cat poo is great but you generally survive it by realising what it is . the flip side is with cats and dogs you don't get rodents like rats and mice under your bird feeders . they are incontenant so dribble urine and drop poo wear ever . the pee carries wells desease and theres know cure but farmers seam to be healthy .

It's a wonder we all survive at all, really!

no not really because of anti bodies and as you say that amazing membrane and biggest organ . the skin .