How do I stop a cat coming into my garden...

Does garlic definitely work for squirrels and cats?

Hi! My next door neighbour's cats have used my garden for the last 11 years, ever since I've lived at this address. I have tried EVERYTHING plus his brother to keep them out. Presently, with wall to wall trellis attached to fencing, I have wedged chicken wire behind every trellis, sticking out about a foot from the fence. Where possible I have attached the wire to a tree or bush to keep it taut(ish). The last time I saw a cat it had tried to jump down from the top of the fence as usual but found it's way obstructed by the wire and was having a helluva job getting back to it's own territory! Hurrah! I haven't seen one since. 2nd best was putting tea bags soaked in Jeyes Fluid around the places they visit, without touching the plants, and dousing the said fence in Jeyes Fluid too, which also kept them out., The problem was having to continually resoaking the teabags or replacing them completely as they burst open with the weather and spilled their contents everywhere and redousing the fence. The wire is the best of the lot and doesn't hurt them. It only took me 11 years to find out!

I have no pets but cats live either side of me and use my garden as their toilet. I am told this is what cats do as they will not soil their own territory. Every time i clear weeds and dig a piece of earth it is despoiled the next day and the smell is gross. Planting close together does not stop them so now I have weeded, smoothed, laid liner and covered each section with various shades of slate chips with the plants either in the earth but surrounded by chips or displayed in pots on top. It looks attractive and is far less work to maintain.
However, if this is not for you the only other two remedies not yet mentioned is to get your own cat or cover the area with pepper, I am assured both work but of course the first one means you will be responsible for inflicting on others what this cat is doing to you ?

These are brilliant no cats in my garden since installing these front and back

www.amazon.co.uk/PestBye-Battery-Operated-Waterproof-Repellent/dp/B004SGC75S?tag=gransnetforum-21

I have two dogs and a cat, my cat would be like this one ?. I have to admit to being embarrassed ? as I know he toilets elsewhere, he never uses his litter tray! I suggested my neighbours to let their dogs out and chase him. My neighbours all have beautiful gardens and we do all get on. One neighbour who has an elderly dog, let him out when my cat was in her tree..... cheeky cat now taunts her dog. I have always told them to knock and I would be more than happy to clean any mess. I really don’t know what to advise, cats do tend to be a law unto themselves.

Greyduster. How very cruel.

Yes we had a problem, but sharp plastic edging along the to
Of the fences. Can’t remeber what it’s called. Also put bits of green netting by the one small tree. Seem to do the trick.

Wow! So much advice - thank you all for taking the time to answer... To be fair, I reckon once I have planted up and covered the soil with pebbles/gravel, that'll put it off. Then in the meantime, I'll dry citrus peel and save my coffee grounds. At any rate, I think our tiny garden will smell very inviting to humans and hopefully not that darned cat!

NB: Not sure I'd go the ultrasound route as one of my dogs has super-sensitive hearing and it might upset him. Last thing I want is him barking his head off at 3.30am!!

The water pistol idea is so appealing - at least we would have heaps of fun with DGS!!

I had a cat that started going to the toilet in the house. Yuk! Our vet told me to place a tiny amount of cat food in the places she was using as a cat will never wee or poo where their food is. It worked straight away, never had a problem again. Perhaps it would solve the problem.

Stick a few sprigs of holly in the planter or sprinkle white pepper on the compost.

Doesn't work

Sorry comment was meant for nanmacgeek. My DH has tried everything. He's thinking of buying one of those sonic things

We have a sensor spray which attaches to the hose pipe. When the cat breaks the beam it gets a sharp spray of water. Being on the hose it can be moved around so the cat doesn’t get used to it. It seems to work quite well, but you need to remember where you put it! The DGC love it!

www.amazon.co.uk/PestBye-Battery-Operated-Activated-Repellent/dp/B004YCUT4W?tag=gransnetforum-21

Dog owners are prosecuted if their dogs make a mess. It is not enough for cat owners to say " It's in their nature", Perhaps in future cat owners will have to ensure that their cats are litter trained.
I'm sorry if I seem bitter but I'm cheesed off trying to clean up my lawn so that my grand-daughters can play. I have recently bought two cat electronic cat scarers, so far so good.

Are you sure that it's cats, maytime2? Most cats choose soft compost / recently dug soil because they are compelled to bury their business - mine goes back and sniffs about 4 times to make sure there is no trace of odour. (He goes in our garden as it is quite large and wild). Any lumps of poop on our lawn unfortunately is from the neighbourhood fox (and duckling killer ☹️️)

I'm cross to hear cats are allowed out at night. There are far too many stray cats and they can be a real nuisance to birds. Our cat, who lived till she was 21 and always used a litter tray, chased birds and mice but at least we kept her in at night. Now she's gone to cat heaven we do get neighbour's cats but not too bothersome. Not like the pigeons and crows which attack the seedlings.
Sorry you are so poorly
It's when you are down that these things are really upsetting. You have certainly had loads of good advice. Do let us know if you try any of the solutions and they work.

A good squirt with a hosepipe, entertaining as well as a deterrent.

We bought one of these and have not been plagued by cats. It's a great device and emits a noise which the cats dislike. They use to lie in wait for the birds that come in our garden, they would kill the birds and also dirty in our garden. This is the item we purchased


PEST XT SOLAR ULTRA-SONIC PEST REPELLER

I have 2 cats that I love very much. All my life I’ve had cats and could not imagine life without one. They are locked in at night (under the bed right now) and they have 2 litter trays in the house which they use. They also have a litter tray in the garden. But they are cats and they do wander their territory during the day and undoubtedly they will have to go when they are on their travels. But I don’t think I can do anymore to prevent them pooing outside. They do come in and use their litter trays.

I know it’s truly horrible finding cat mess in your garden, and it’s totally disgusting to suddenly dig some up when you are gardening. My last 2 cats used to leave their mess in my garden when they got old, so I actually had to deal with it from my own moggies and it was truly gross. But it wasn’t their fault they had to go.

I regularly find fox poo on the lawn in the morning, and pigeons are just disgusting on the fence but there is nothing I can do about it, so I’ll just put up with it. They have to go.

My cats are a lot cleaner than some of the human beings that use our public toilets.

Well, I get annoyed by cat visitors too. But not so much because of the toilet thing ( a preparation called 'Scent Off' seems to have worked for me with that issue, but I only use it in some places, not everywhere in the garden, just the areas I find it particularly unpleasant to have used as a cat toilet. It also keeps foxes off places you don't want them. But of course it isn't cheap.

My real issue with visiting cats is their bird killing habit. I think people should actually keep cats indoors and have a catio for exercise and fresh air, so their pets can't wander away from home turf or catch birds or get stolen, run over or otherwise hurt on our streets. Basically, there are too many cats and our bird life is already suffering from habitat loss and other pressures. It doesn't need pet cats, who aren't hunting for survival, to add another.

I’ve tried just about everything Dianic and can’t honestly say that anything really works well . I really hate cats ( or maybe it’s the owners to blame ) who sh*t all over other people’s gardens. My neighbours have paved their gardens and so all the local cats use mine as their toilet . One big hairy ugly thing in particular .
I’ve tried half filled glass bottles, pepper, orange peel , lion dung, high pitched devices ( they do work but only cover a small area ...... I would need 10 or more to do the job plus more for the front of the house) . Plastic spikes on the fence work but they use my shed roof instead .
I can’t understand why cat owners don’t train them on cat litter . Why should I have to clean up my garden before my grandchildren can play, because someone else’s cat sh*ts all over ?

And as MaudLillian said above what’s with the bird killing ? Can’t cat owners put collars with bells on their cats to at least give the poor birds a tiny chance of escape?
I’m frightened attract birds to my bird table as next doors horrible cat sits and watches it ready to pounce .

We have two beautiful long haired cats nearby! And a black moggy. I don't know if it is them that use our garden, but before we went away, I was intermittantly using a Gel, Repellent called Get Off. This seemed to be working. When we got back home, the garden was clear of cat poo, but I decided to clear up the fallen tree leaves, and a patch of paeony petals. Guess what, next morning, cat poo was back, where the paeony petals had been. Perhaps the dead leaves had kept the cats away, but for now, I have put down more Gel crystals, and keeping my fingers crossed.

If I catch the one that obviously leapt off my garden wall and landed smack bang in the middle of my lovely hemerocallis ?, it will say goodbye to its nine lives all in one go!