Cat poo

sabrewolfe

So my wife's darling flea bag cats have despite my best efforts managed to use a freshly dug garden bed as their own personal toilet.

Only a week ago I planted a veg bed with peas having dug out three inches of soil they previously fouled last year. I replaced this with a mix of topsoil and compost and planted out some peas. I covered the bed with a fine pea net tied into some bamboo stakes and posts and stapled to the bed frame along the bottom edge, unfortunately thanks to storm Hanna a small tear formed at the base letting the cats in.

Does anyone know will it be safe to eat peas from this bed? I hoping as they are not root vegetables that there will be no risk of toxoplasmosis? Anybody?

Ps. Anyone got any good recipes for kung po cat, the little sh#t's have to be useful for something.

magicbastarder

if you have cats, i suspect you've already been subjected to toxoplasmosis.

Flipperdipper

Dig planting hole about three feet deep, whack cat on back of head and plant cat in hole. Back fill hole to about half dept and tamp well down, back fill rest of hole and carry on as normal.:D

NickNickleby

Flipperdipper wrote: »

Dig planting hole about three feet deep, whack cat on back of head and plant cat in hole. Back fill hole to about half dept and tamp well down, back fill rest of hole and carry on as normal.:D

hahahha, while I understand the consternation that leads to such a sentiment, I imagine you're heading for some flack :pac:

I paved my front garden after my neighbours FOUR cats turned it into a latrine.

Out the back, I laid a new flower bed, and decided that 'tomorrow' I'd get some of that cloth stuff. That night, the cats came in and did their business, so I have now laid the cloth and a couple of hundredweight of stones. Nothing else has ever worked for me.

Cant answer the disease question, sorry.

blackbox

They have to poop somewhere. They seem to like places where it is very easy to dig. Try providing them a dedicated area with sand that they'll use in preference.

You can try chasing them, but next you'll have neighbours complaining about their gardens.

PS I never heard of disease being passed from manure. Possibly a risk if you eat root vegetables raw.

GuestGuset

I've found that laying down some plastic mesh/chicken wire over the soil seems to discourage them from digging (holes can be large enough to allow stuff to grow through it)

Lumen

blackbox wrote: »

PS I never heard of disease being passed from manure. Possibly a risk if you eat root vegetables raw.

All veg should be well washed, regardless of cats. Soil contains all sorts of pathogens.

The bigger risk is contracting something whilst manually working the soil.

Pregnant women should be particularly careful.

daheff

you can put down orange peels (they dont like the smell) or look for some odour of lions spray (dont like bigger cat).


also things like pepper are off putting for them.

or get a dog. that'll keep the cats away

Flipperdipper

daheff wrote: »

you can put down orange peels (they dont like the smell) or look for some odour of lions spray (dont like bigger cat).


also things like pepper are off putting for them.

or get a dog. that'll keep the cats away

I found orange peel to be usless, I worked in an hotel and brought home bucket loads of them all to no avail. As for the dog...... the only time he ran after the cat was when he saw me looking at him. :D

MacDanger

daheff wrote: »

you can put down orange peels (they dont like the smell) or look for some odour of lions spray (dont like bigger cat).


also things like pepper are off putting for them.

or get a dog. that'll keep the cats away

Apparently Lavendar is supposed to be good to keep away cats, no idea if that's true or not

sabrewolfe

magicbastarder wrote: »

if you have cats, i suspect you've already been subjected to toxoplasmosis.

They are mostly feral barn cats that would only tolerate being touched when food is left out for them, so they are not being held, rubbed or cuddled everyday.

Rubberchikken

ours poop in our ditch out the back usually. then imagine their surprise and delight when the neighbour dug out an old hedge and replaced it with new laurel hedge.
theyre having a field day alternatively pooing and rolling around in the fresh earth.

sorry op im no help. it doesnt bother us but i can see how awkward it would be with veg.
maybe netting is the answer.

Fr_Dougal

Have that issue too, vermin from next door are using my front lawn as a toilet. Can’t understand why anyone would want to have cats.

Seth Brundle

I keep thinking that I must get one of these...

juneg

sabrewolfe wrote: »

They are mostly feral barn cats that would only tolerate being touched when food is left out for them, so they are not being held, rubbed or cuddled everyday.

You see there is your problem. You have through no fault of your own inherited feral cats.

Lazy mean cheapskate pet owners of their past have not paid to have their cats neutered. These cats cannot help becoming pregnant twice a year. Within a year or two there is a problem as they are left go feral. All newborn kittens are full of worms which destroy untreated small kittens, if cat flu does not get them first. Cat flu blocks up their respiratory system so they cannot breathe or feed. Kitten probably will lose one eye or two to catflu. They are mostly born to die. Unneutered Tom cats spray a foul scent around the place. They can't spray if they have been neutered.

Contact an animal welfare charity who can help with TNR. This is trap neuter and release. The animal is trapped , sedated, neutered and finally released back to the same area it came from.

You cant stop the problem but you can go some way towards controlling it. That's what I had to do when I moved to my area. Older neighbours "had cats for years". I significantly reduced the cats around the place from a mangy tribe to a healthy cared for few.

Stoner

Fr_Dougal wrote:

Have that issue too, vermin from next door are using my front lawn as a toilet. Can’t understand why anyone would want to have cats.

Because they are easy to keep, somebody else has to take care of the poo from 90 percent of them

Lumen

Stoner wrote: »

Because they are easy to keep, somebody else has to take care of the poo from 90 percent of them

Everywhere you go outside your house (and probably inside it too) is covered with the excrement of other creatures.

Cats are only unusual in that they spend some of their time indoors, under the sufferance of some humans.

TheChizler

MacDanger wrote: »

Apparently Lavendar is supposed to be good to keep away cats, no idea if that's true or not

Recently looked outside to find the neighbour's cat eating my lavender plant.

Roen

Ah half the planet is carrying toxo.
Give me a cat or two over the shed destroying rats I brained any day. Bastards.

Fr_Dougal

Seth Brundle wrote: »

I keep thinking that I must get one of these...

I have a pellet gun, but I’d rather not use it...

magicbastarder

Lumen wrote: »

Everywhere you go outside your house (and probably inside it too) is covered with the excrement of other creatures.

i've been known to regularly put animal excrement on my plants, deliberately.

Graces7

GuestGuset wrote: »

I've found that laying down some plastic mesh/chicken wire over the soil seems to discourage them from digging (holes can be large enough to allow stuff to grow through it)

That has always worked for me. They hate walking on chicken wire. easy and cheap and very effective . and once the plants grow though it is invisible.

Living Off The Splash

Neighbours cat destroying my raised beds. The owner is a right tool as well. Spent Good Friday (4 hours) power hosing his decking and a similar amount of time on May Bank holiday weekend having it sanded. Non stop noise.