[fluffstermum]

The next door neighbours' cat(s) keeps, erm, depositing gifts in my pair of lovely wooden planters filled with strawberry plants. Further gifts have also been found in the pot of little sunflower plants by the front door, and on the flowers in the front garden. To put it blunty, my front garden is starting to regularly smell of cat sh*t gifts.

How can I deter the cat(s) from my garden without causing them any harm? (as much as I want to throw it back at them, I doubt it'd have much effect).
Apart from the stench, and the fact it's totally gross, I'm worried about not being able to eat any strawberries from these plants if it continues. Plus we have a young child so his health is a priority - I certainly don't want him walking past these gifts on a daily basis.

We have small animals as pets (a dog and guinea pigs) so those ultrasonic devices are a no-go. Any other ideas please?

[Christo]

Hi fluff,

I had this problem for a while and we got some cat repellant from the garden centre.
It was a bottle of granules/powder that we sprinkled around the place. It worked really well.

I'll have a look in the shed and see what make it is.

You also need to show the cats that you own the garden. They can become quite blase about their' patch

Get a good water pistol and introduce them to your little friend whenever you see them. Harmless but they hate it.

C

[allotmentann]

Hi Fluffstermum, I had that problem with a patch of wild garlic and also in a planter in my garden. I get lots of twigs and stick them in the ground as close together as I can (without damaging the plants). This stops the cats from fitting in the space, plus it is all rather prickly and uncomfortable! It has worked successfully in both places. I have since removed the twigs from the garlic and the cats have not come back yet (a number of months now), so I guess they have found another favourite spot!

[fatcat1955]

Lion poo is said to deter cat's whilst fertilizing at the same time.

[Mrs Bee]

We put prikka strips on top of our 6 foot fence which seems to have detered them as they could get in but it was uncomfortable for them to get out again when I ramaged after them shouting rude words and turning the hosepipe on them.

After I prepared a patch of the garden for seedlings I got a packet of wooden BBQ skewers and stuck them fairly close together with the pointy bits sticking up.

With our strawberry patch we net it against all comers

Never had any luck with the cat repellent. Tried chilli powder but that works for a while and if you forget to replace the beggars are back. Prikka strips work quite nicely.

[gavinjconway]

Some unrolled chicken wire or netting covering them is what I had to use on my rooftop garden tubs or all the cats in the street would use my tubs of precious soil!!

[fluffstermum]

Thanks all for the tips.
Christo if you can remember the brand of repellent that worked for you I'll give that a try. 
I realised after some thinking that we had a curry plant in the front garden last year. No sign of any cat gifts last year, but that might be because we had cat-less next door neighbours at the time and the other cats around here didn't seem to bother us. Still, I'm willing to get another curry plant to see if that helps.
Unfortunately we don't have any lions but I might see if my little boy's wee has the same effect (thankfully he uses a potty so collection would be a doddle!).

[Charityuk]

My cats are completely indifferent to curry plants, but they do seriously object to citrus. Orange and lemon peels works a treat.

[digalotty]

Lion poo is said to deter cat's whilst fertilizing at the same time.

will you go in and get some for me

[PembsPanther]

ooooooo I hate cats! They are dirty, selfish horrible animals.

I will rent you my dog for a few days, he hates cats as well...............

[Lawrence]

Lion poo is said to deter cat's whilst fertilizing at the same time.

will you go in and get some for me

I am going to the zoo today, I will ask them about it. I don't think they will let me get it myself though.
The only things that ever worked for me was the ultrasonic deterrent device, which also kept the Foxes away. But you had to keep checking the batteries or they came back with a vengence! And sticking twigs in the soil like Allotmentann said, the current sticks are actually now taking root!
Anyone want a willow tree?

[Lawrence]

I've just got back from the Zoo, they say that they can't sell it due to "Health & Safety"
But even if they were, it doesn't work anyway.

[Elaine G]

I keep all bramble prunings and spread them over my beds if there is any exposed soil.
They don't like being scratched 


Elaine

[Mrs Bee]

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Quote from: digalotty on Yesterday at 10:59 PM
Quote from: fatcat1955 on Yesterday at 09:11 AM
Lion poo is said to deter cat's whilst fertilizing at the same time.

will you go in and get some for me

I am sure that you can buy something called lion's roar which is lion poo.
But not sure weather it works or not.

[Lawrence]

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Quote from: digalotty on Yesterday at 10:59 PM
Quote from: fatcat1955 on Yesterday at 09:11 AM
Lion poo is said to deter cat's whilst fertilizing at the same time.

will you go in and get some for me

I am sure that you can buy something called lion's roar which is lion poo.
But not sure whether it works or not.

Apparently it doesn't, as I asked at the Zoo today.