We put our seeds in a few weeks ago and now we're being plagued by cats doing their business. Has anyone else got this problem and have you any ideas on how to get rid of the pests? I wish they would do their mess in their own gardens. The neighbours would have something to say if I let my dogs foul in their gardens I'm sure.

We have had problems with a large pot outside the front door.  The blighter responsible was not even bothering to bury it :( A fine sight to meet you as you leave the house every morning :rolleyes:
Anyhoo I raked through the cupboards for inspiration and my eyes settled on the extra hot chillie powder.  Strikes me cats, like dogs, will sniff the area before they drop so I thought get a sniff of that mate :) and being vegetable matter it can't hurt my plants.  So that is what I put down and it has done the trick, touch wood.  Of course it needs replacing after rain or after a short period of time anyway but it's pretty cheap stuff to buy.  Not sure how practical for a large area though.  The cats leave my back garden alone because of the dogs I'd always assumed.

Chilli powder, as Isabel says, is well worth trying. Pushing short sticks into the ground and tying sewing-thread to them, making a sort of net a couple of inches above the ground can also deter them as they can't get to the soil easily without getting their feet tangled. And of course a super-soaker's effective, but you do need to be on watch!

We use large rocks around the plants seems to make it difficult and put them off.

Apparently cats do not like citrus smells so try rubbing orange/lemon peelings or orange juice squirted around the top of the fences they use to get into your garden. :)

The cats where we used to live would **** on the concrete outside our kitchen window - disgusting creatures!

Yes but at least it's easily cleaned..........

Mine is much worse.......
(I am a cat owner by the way)
I have a black cat that keeps spraying on the front end of my car.
Which means everytime you have the air-con or fans on you get blasted
with the smell of cat spray - pretty unpleasant
My problem is that I have metallic paintwork so I'm unsure what I can put on
to a) get rid of the smell b) deter the black cat spraying on the car in the first place
without damaging my paintwork..:rolleyes:

Any ideas??

There are scatter cystals that are sold by PAH that do work.  Also comes in a spray and is safe for use inside and out.

Oooh, this is a pet peeve of mine. In fact our neighbors cat marks outside our front door which makes the hall stink and another one pee'd in the garage this weekend. Most successful things I've found have been Silent Roar and a bucket of water. The Silent Roar is lion poo and really works. I had around 6 cats at my last house that used to dump on the lawn and they all just disappeared. Of course we didn't have the dog then - not sure if he's think of them as raisinettes :-D. The bucket of water is a psychological treat if you can manage to give kitty a bath but requires patience.

Cheers for those ideas. I'm on the warpath now after seeing what was left next to my onions last night. I thought they'd be safe after all the rain as I thought they liked dry soil, how wrong I was.

Where I lived before we had blackberries growing wild. I would cut the prickly stems and lay them where the cats would 'go'.  I had 4 cats next door one side of us, 1 the other and 3 back onto our garden and this certainly stopped them going on the new grass seed.  Cats are messing in my front garden at this house and I haven't got blackberries so am laying down the Pyracantha (sp?) cuttings.

We have 4 cats. We also live  in 250 acres of perment grassland, 30 acres of plough and 150 acres of woodland. Where do you think the cats do their buisness? You guessed it, in the garden and in the gravel where we park the car! :rolleyes:

The labradors think it's great and are quite happy to clean it up if you take your eyes off them

They also use the furniture and the car tyres to scratch on, apparently all those post and rail fences aren't enough:rolleyes: why do we have pets? The dogs kill all the plants at the back and the cats all the trees and shrubs at the front.

Thought that I would update on the cat situation. I sliced up a lemon and laid slivers along the rows of seeds as I don't have chilli until I go shopping and touch wood no fouling last night. So fingers crossed.