Neighbours cat fouling my garden.

James Jones

Anyone know the best way of keeping my neighbors cat out of my garden? Its just a small lawn with walls on three sides and paving between the house and lawn. I've tried cat repellent which works but was costing me €10 a week. I got an electronic ultrasonic device for €40 which worked for about 2½ weeks (it still works but no longer scares the cats).

I don't want to put a litter tray in my garden so any suggestions?

mathepac

Get a bag of lion doodoo from the zoo. Spread it liberally along the boundary; no more kitty poo on the lawn.

tahina

mathepac wrote: »

Get a bag of lion doodoo from the zoo. Spread it liberally along the boundary; no more kitty poo on the lawn.

Ingenius
=D

TehDagsBass

Do as we did: get your own cat to poo in their garden

Cherry Blossom

tahina wrote: »

Poision =P joke joke

'Jokes' about suggesting acts of cruelty to animals don't go down to well around here. I suggest you fully familiarise yourself with the forum rules in the stickies at the top of the main page

tahina

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

tahina wrote: »

Poision =P joke joke

'Jokes' about suggesting acts of cruelty to animals don't go down to well around here. I suggest you fully familiarise yourself with the forum rules in the stickies at the top of the main page

Im really sorry guys for offending ye and have removed the comment. I will read the stickies now =]

Graces7

James Jones wrote: »

Anyone know the best way of keeping my neighbors cat out of my garden? Its just a small lawn with walls on three sides and paving between the house and lawn. I've tried cat repellent which works but was costing me €10 a week. I got an electronic ultrasonic device for €40 which worked for about 2½ weeks (it still works but no longer scares the cats).

I don't want to put a litter tray in my garden so any suggestions?

Litter tray is cheap and easy.. cats are cats.

Graces7

TehDagsBass wrote: »

Do as we did: get your own cat to poo in their garden

Ah great.. so their cat uses your garden and your cat uses theirs.. no one is happy.

mikemac1

Teyla Emmagan

Seriously OP, 1 cat? How bad can it be? And they bury it, it's not like a dog coming in an doing his dos all over the lawn.

kwalshe

I have this problem with 1 fat cat. the poos it leaves sitting on the grass are bigger than my own, they are really quite impressive for such a small animal

Baralis1

mathepac wrote: »

Get a bag of lion doodoo from the zoo. Spread it liberally along the boundary; no more kitty poo on the lawn.

Brilliant!

Baralis1

kwalshe wrote: »

I have this problem with 1 fat cat. the poos it leaves sitting on the grass are bigger than my own, they are really quite impressive for such a small animal

Brilliant +1

This may be quite immature of me but these two comments have kept me laughing for the last ten minutes. It's just one of those nights.

christmas2012

get some air fresheners and put them oustide...(near to where the pooing commences) anytime you see the little fecker yourself give him/her a spray with a squirt gun or plant spray he wont come back again after that

Ayla

OP, I would suggest knocking on the cat owner's door each & every time you catch the cat in your garden - no matter what time of day/night it is. As the owner of the pet, it is their responsibility (much like it is for a dog), and they are personally responsible for any damage it causes.

As someone who is trying (ceaslessly & hopelessly) to train our cat not to jump on the counters or the dining room table, I know you will never be able to keep the cat off your property if that is where it wants to go. Holding the owners responsible and insisting they clean it up is the only hope you have of the cat not getting out & fouling your garden again. Imagine - if it was a dog doing it the warden would be called - why should it be any different for a cat?

Graces7

Baralis1 wrote: »

Brilliant +1

This may be quite immature of me but these two comments have kept me laughing for the last ten minutes. It's just one of those nights.

Not at all immature! Some situations have to be laughed at, or wept at. Used to be a book called " Don't sweat the small stuff.." opps, no comment meant on the size here!

Graces7

Ayla wrote: »

OP, I would suggest knocking on the cat owner's door each & every time you catch the cat in your garden - no matter what time of day/night it is. As the owner of the pet, it is their responsibility (much like it is for a dog), and they are personally responsible for any damage it causes.

As someone who is trying (ceaslessly & hopelessly) to train our cat not to jump on the counters or the dining room table, I know you will never be able to keep the cat off your property if that is where it wants to go. Holding the owners responsible and insisting they clean it up is the only hope you have of the cat not getting out & fouling your garden again. Imagine - if it was a dog doing it the warden would be called - why should it be any different for a cat?

Poor cats...

Wonder what you do re bird droppings? Used to live where we were "ordered" not to feed the birds for that very reason.

My landlord;s cattle got into my garden last year.. Imagine!

It is only dirt.

Ayla

I was responding to the OP - clearly he thinks it important enough & is bothered enough about it to be seeking advice, so I thought that - if I were in his shoes (ie: also bothered about it) that is what I would do.

And, Graces7, you have no idea if it's just dirt - for all you know, the OP could have a full garden in there from which he takes his own fruit/veg, and having fresh cat urine and feces is actually harmful for the plants & harvest.

Don't be so quick to judge :rolleyes:

Fenian Army

I had this problem, I squirted the cat with water... I just got a two litre bottle and put a hole in the lid...

Guess a super soaker would do the job as another poster suggested.

If you have a nice garden you don't want cat **** all over the place OP is perfectly justified to be annoyed.

I'd complain to the owner too.

TooManyDogs

Graces7 wrote: »

Wonder what you do re bird droppings?

It is only dirt.

I really wish people would stop comparing pet cats to wildlife. They're not wildlife, they belong to someone, so the OP is perfectly within their rights to expect someone elses pet not to use their garden as a toilet. Personally I'd be flinging it back over their wall but then I've gone down the 'have a chat to the cat's owner' route and I've yet to meet a reasonable cat owner local to me.

darlett

TooManyDogs wrote: »

Personally I'd be flinging it back over their wall but then I've gone down the 'have a chat to the cat's owner' route and I've yet to meet a reasonable cat owner local to me.

I get the annoyance seeing some elses cat crap in your garden...I saw my neighbours cat do that on our property today(I tapped the window and he ran off mid-poop, dont tell ISPCA ). But I fail to see what the owner could do even if they try to respond positively to news that their cat has fertilized a pedantic neighbours flowerbed.

Its a cat. Just hope it doesnt start leaving dead birds and mice at your door as a thank you for supplying toilet facilites!

TooManyDogs

What they can do is keep THEIR pet in THEIR garden like every other pet species. There are loads of cat enclosure and cat fence products on the market

Chuck Stone

Ayla wrote: »

OP, I would suggest knocking on the cat owner's door each & every time you catch the cat in your garden - no matter what time of day/night it is.

Hmmm.. . .

gammygils

Ever wonder how A Catapult got it's name? Think about it. Works for me!

<Banned>

john4592

there doesnt seem to be a definitive answer despite all the replies and comments!

Shenshen

I've suggested this in another thread: I've no idea if it will work, but I have noticed that all of our cats are scared of the sound tinfoil makes, to the point of immediately abandoning their food and running out of the room to hide when they hear me just unrolling a little bit of it.
You could try to tie little strips of it on a tree or something in such a way that the wind can easily move it a bit.
Again, I'm not sure it will work, but it might be worth a try. If it doesn't work, at least you haven't wasted any time or effort on it.

James Jones

Graces7 wrote: »

Poor cats...
It is only dirt.

I suppose I should be more casual about dirt that gave me ringworm.

Fenian Army wrote: »

I had this problem, I squirted the cat with water... I just got a two litre bottle and put a hole in the lid...
Guess a super soaker would do the job as another poster suggested.
If you have a nice garden you don't want cat **** all over the place OP is perfectly justified to be annoyed.

I'd complain to the owner too.

I work nights so don't have a constant presence in the house but thanks for the idea.
I have complained to the owners who now provide a litter in their own garden but a stray has now taken to using the facility. It seems he now sees it as HIS territory as the others have left.
I tried putting down a wire mesh over where they have pooed but he still l does it on the mesh, even though he can't cover it. Another smaller cat now also poos where the first cats poos so I am going to try Jeyes Fluid. I'm told it stings their feet and they hate the smell so I'm gonna cover the walls and paths to see if it works. I've been told in takes six weeks for a cat to give up on territory so here's hoping.

darlett wrote: »

But I fail to see what the owner could do even if they try to respond positively to news that their cat has fertilized a pedantic neighbours flowerbed.

Its a cat. Just hope it doesnt start leaving dead birds and mice at your door as a thank you for supplying toilet facilites!

They need to look after their cats! Having a problem with a big lump of **** in my small garden is a bigger deal to me than disposing of their mice and shrews. By the way, these are large lumps and not just little sprays so I don't think I'm being pedantic. And its on the lawn, not buried in a flower bed. Even a cat lover would be disgusted.

SillyMangoX

Sorry but I'm almost certain you can't contract ringworm from faeces. It is a fungal infection that's usually caught from close contact, rubbing or sharing beddings. So if that cat had ringworm, you probably touched something it had touched off, or maybe contracted it somewhere else. But I can nearly guarantee you didn't get it from contact with faeces.

Pumpkinseeds

As a cat owner I can tell you that cats hate citrus smells. The best thing to do is put some orange or lemon halves in the area that the cat is using as a loo, or alternatively, squeeze a bit of lemon or orange juice around the area. Cheap and harmless solution and you won't be branded as a sociopath for harming animals.

James Jones

SillyMangoX wrote: »

But I can nearly guarantee you didn't get it from contact with faeces.

I got the ringworm from the cat coming into my garden so I now want to dissuade them for two reasons.

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

As a cat owner I can tell you that cats hate citrus smells. The best thing to do is put some orange or lemon halves in the area that the cat is using as a loo, or alternatively, squeeze a bit of lemon or orange juice around the area. Cheap and harmless solution and you won't be branded as a sociopath for harming animals.

Thanks but tried and failed already.

Pumpkinseeds

James Jones wrote: »

I got the ringworm from the cat coming into my garden so I now want to dissuade them for two reasons.



Thanks but tried and failed already.

I think it'll have to be the waterblaster then. I know its frustrating.

username123

You could try pee-ing around the territory yourself - the cats wont like the testosterone in your pee.

JustAThought

Or natead of covering your trees in tinfoil, rubbing oranges on your wall, putting grates in your garden and driving to the shop to buy jeays fluid & squirting it where they ****, along with borrowing a lion from the zoo you could knock knntheir door and demand that they start compensating you for your time for organising & doing these things or take responsibility for their pet.

Or better still, fence it in.

Are they renting?

sambuka41

I moved my cat indoors, as soon s I done this the neighbours cat started coming in, much to the annoyance of the dog, who only likes our cat!! To stop him coming in I put my cats used litter around the boundaries of the garden, he stopped coming in straight away.

In saying that my cat is an aggressive little s**t and the male cat coming into the garden was in one or two fights with him before, so smelling his marking was enough to stop him coming in. Not sure if you know anyone with an angry male cat and litter to dispose of??

mathepac

kwalshe wrote: »

I have this problem with 1 fat cat. the poos it leaves sitting on the grass are bigger than my own, they are really quite impressive for such a small animal

Hey Ted, maybe my lion escaped from the zoo and is living in kwalshes's garden! Isn't that gas Ted. Or maybe it's Father Jack, Ted, he's missing too.

Thunderbird2

You could try one of the ultra sonic animal deterrants in Argos . They are battery powered and let out a screech when motion is detected that the animals hate. Humans can't hear it .

iguana

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

Seriously OP, 1 cat? How bad can it be? And they bury it, it's not like a dog coming in an doing his dos all over the lawn.

This is complete nonsense. Cats do not bury their faeces. They kick a light layer of dirt over it making you even more likely to be stepped on, or handled by gardeners, as it's not as immediately obvious. It's so ignorant to just assume your animal can wonder off and defecate on someone else's property and that it's only one cat so they should get over it. It's disgusting and the OP should not have to tolerate it. Cat faeces is extremely dangerous as it can contain toxoplasmosis which can cause blindness, moderate to severe brain damage and death to unborn animals and humans.

OP how big is your garden? Maybe a sprinkler with a motion sensor would work. They aren't cheap, though sometimes they come up on ebay for less. http://www.deteracat.co.uk/scarecrow_water_jet_pack.htm

Sweenball

Large Clear plastic bottles filled with water placed around your garden will keep them away.Seriously it works.

RubyGirl

Sweenball wrote: »

Large Clear plastic bottles filled with water placed around your garden will keep them away.Seriously it works.

Yes this works or sow garlic, cat's hate garlic.

James Jones

Thunderbird2 wrote: »

You could try one of the ultra sonic animal deterrants in Argos . They are battery powered and let out a screech when motion is detected that the animals hate. Humans can't hear it .

I had one but it was extremely hard on batteries and when the battery got low, the sound became constant and audible to humans. The cat realised it was a fake and it stopped scaring him.

iguana wrote: »

This is complete nonsense. Cats do not bury their faeces. They kick a light layer of dirt over it making you even more likely to be stepped on, or handled by gardeners, as it's not as immediately obvious.

This cat doesn't even attempt to bury it. He just leaves a big turd in the middle of my lawn.

iguana wrote: »

OP how big is your garden? Maybe a sprinkler with a motion sensor would work. They aren't cheap, though sometimes they come up on ebay for less. http://www.deteracat.co.uk/scarecrow_water_jet_pack.htm

This might work but I've since been advised that they HATE Jeyes fluid so I've painted the top of my walls with full strength and watered all the paths, paving and walls with dilute. The garden smells like a swimming pool but I've been told that the full strength stings there little paws and the smell will put them off in the future, so I'll keep using the dilute every so often.
If THAT doesn't work, I'll try the sprinkler.

Sweenball wrote: »

Large Clear plastic bottles filled with water placed around your garden will keep them away.Seriously it works.

Afraid not! I tried it but I've since been told that it will only work for a cat that comes in occasionally and you need to leave your light on at night to create a scary reflection. If a cat sees them during the day he will know exactly what they are at night.

This cat might be a filthy disgusting excuse for a pet but he 's definitely not dumb!!!


Thanks for all the replies, everyone. I'll let you know if the Jeyes fluid works. I've been told it takes 42 days for a cat to accept that what he thought was his territory is no longer.

gbee

Graces7 wrote: »

It is only dirt.

On a farm maybe, in a residential housing estate it's a serious health problem with child blindness top of the list of dangers.

James Jones

JustAThought wrote: »

Or natead of covering your trees in tinfoil, rubbing oranges on your wall, putting grates in your garden and driving to the shop to buy jeays fluid & squirting it where they ****, along with borrowing a lion from the zoo you could knock knntheir door and demand that they start compensating you for your time for organising & doing these things or take responsibility for their pet.

Or better still, fence it in.

Are they renting?

It seems that they have a litter in their own back yard now but another stray started using my garden. They are the owners so no landlord to complain to. A fence won't stop cats.

Thunderbird2 wrote: »

You could try one of the ultra sonic animal deterrants in Argos . They are battery powered and let out a screech when motion is detected that the animals hate. Humans can't hear it .

I had one but it was extremely hard on batteries and when the battery got low, the sound became constant and audible to humans. The cat realised it was a fake and it stopped scaring him.

iguana wrote: »

This is complete nonsense. Cats do not bury their faeces. They kick a light layer of dirt over it making you even more likely to be stepped on, or handled by gardeners, as it's not as immediately obvious.

This cat doesn't even attempt to bury it. He just leaves a big turd in the middle of my lawn.

iguana wrote: »

OP how big is your garden? Maybe a sprinkler with a motion sensor would work. They aren't cheap, though sometimes they come up on ebay for less. http://www.deteracat.co.uk/scarecrow_water_jet_pack.htm

This might work but I've since been advised that they HATE Jeyes fluid so I've painted the top of my walls with full strength and watered all the paths, paving and walls with dilute. The garden smells like a swimming pool but I've been told that the full strength stings there little paws and the smell will put them off in the future, so I'll keep using the dilute every so often.
If THAT doesn't work, I'll try the sprinkler.

Sweenball wrote: »

Large Clear plastic bottles filled with water placed around your garden will keep them away.Seriously it works.

Afraid not! I tried it but I've since been told that it will only work for a cat that comes in occasionally and you need to leave your light on at night to create a scary reflection. If a cat sees them during the day he will know exactly what they are at night.

This cat might be a filthy disgusting excuse for a pet but he 's definitely not dumb!!!


Thanks for all the replies, everyone. I'll let you know if the Jeyes fluid works. I've been told it takes 42 days for a cat to accept that what he thought was his territory is no longer.

Iospir

RubyGirl wrote: »

Yes this works or sow garlic, cat's hate garlic.

We've the same problem and there's wild garlic growing all round our garden. Next door's cat seems to be actually attracted to it. Tried all the above solutions, none worked. Found the cat actually playing with the water bottle :-)
Looks like the watergun is the only solution but of course that only works when you're actually there and the neighbour might not be impressed. Might be the hint they need though.

iguana

James Jones wrote: »

This might work but I've since been advised that they HATE Jeyes fluid so I've painted the top of my walls with full strength and watered all the paths, paving and walls with dilute. The garden smells like a swimming pool but I've been told that the full strength stings there little paws and the smell will put them off in the future, so I'll keep using the dilute every so often.
If THAT doesn't work, I'll try the sprinkler.

If you find the Jeyes fluid works one thing to remember is that it will dilute every time it rains, so stay aware of how it smells after rainshowers and top it up regularly if you are having the type of weather that most of the country is currently experiencing.

Ayla

OP - I think you're doing every honourable thing possible, but all I can think is "why should you have to bother?"

That cat is not your responsibility, but you have spent an awful lot of time, effort & money trying to make up for the fact that the cat's owners are completely irresponsible.

This is the other side of the coin from the other "my cat is a bully" thread going on. Most posters there are suggesting that the cat should be contained inside by the owner - I wouldn't think it irrational that you should expect the same from your neighbor.

Drastic - yes, but if the neighbors weren't willing to take steps to keep their animal off your property then you are fully entitled to make some phone calls.

James Jones

iguana wrote: »

If you find the Jeyes fluid works one thing to remember is that it will dilute every time it rains, so stay aware of how it smells after rainshowers and top it up regularly if you are having the type of weather that most of the country is currently experiencing.

Yea, I'll have to do that for a few weeks, I'm told.

Ayla wrote: »

if the neighbors weren't willing to take steps to keep their animal off your property then you are fully entitled to make some phone calls.

The problem is that the neighbours cat seems to be staying in their own garden now that a litter tray was installed but a different(possibly stray) cat has started using my garden because of the smell of the original cats. I hope to Jeyes the fluid works:D

sambuka41

James Jones wrote: »

The problem is that the neighbours cat seems to be staying in their own garden now that a litter tray was installed but a different(possibly stray) cat has started using my garden because of the smell of the original cats. I hope to Jeyes the fluid works:D

The stray was probably staying out of your garden while the neighbours cat was there (they may have fought before), ask your neighbour if you can have his used litter and put it around the edge of the garden. The stray will think your neighbours cat still goes in, might stop him coming in.

James Jones

sambuka41 wrote: »

The stray was probably staying out of your garden while the neighbours cat was there (they may have fought before), ask your neighbour if you can have his used litter and put it around the edge of the garden. The stray will think your neighbours cat still goes in, might stop him coming in.

It seems they've fought before and the neighbours cat came off the worst so the stray seems to have taken over my garden. Also, I want to get rid of cat poo, not have more!

sambuka41

James Jones wrote: »

It seems they've fought before and the neighbours cat came off the worst so the stray seems to have taken over my garden. Also, I want to get rid of cat poo, not have more!

Sorry I should have been specific, the litter that he has pissed on!! It worked wonders to keep the neighbours cats out of my garden,just put a small amount long the boundary. Its unusual that the stray is only coming in now. He may have won a fight before but was reluctant to get into it again, but now its a free space.

James Jones

Well, the Jeyes fluid didn't work:(

The wire mesh over the grass didn't work.

Came home yesterday to a garden smelling like a chemical factory to find a big dump right in the middle of the wire mesh!!! Its like he's saying to me "I'll crap wherever I want, mate,:p".

daltonmd

James Jones wrote: »

Well, the Jeyes fluid didn't work:(

The wire mesh over the grass didn't work.

Came home yesterday to a garden smelling like a chemical factory to find a big dump right in the middle of the wire mesh!!! Its like he's saying to me "I'll crap wherever I want, mate,:p".

Sorry if this has been advised alreay - but ground coffee beans (after you have had your coffee obviously lol) spread around and/or orange and lemon peel. Works for me.