Our new neighbour has 4 cats and they have decided that they prefer to use our front garden rather than use their cat litter tray!   What can I use as a deterrent in my flower beds?  Someone told me that cats didn't like lemon peel (grated), but they didn't tell my neighbours cats that, it only worked for a day or two then they were back :(

Thanks.
Jax :)

In my old house we had blackberry bushes that grew like wildfire.  I used to cut and lay those across the mostly badly affected areas.  My garden was 80' long and our garden bordered 6 others who between them owned 8 cats so was never free from cat faeces but the prickly stuff was effective. 

Sorry to kitty lovers who think that was cruel but my kids walked cat poo all too often.

The only real deterrant is to have your own cat - they rarely poo in their own gardens and will always chase every other cat away!

I had heard about orange peel as a natural deterrant in the flower beds - no need to grate - but it never worked for us.

Our neighbour told us to spray her cat with water if it came into our garden - we did, and it slowly got bored and went somewhere else. 

My sister used to use some chemical designed for the job (pardon the pun) as she had a stray that would always mark her front door and poo in a flower pot by the door!!  She didn't have dogs tho so I don't know if that ok with other pets...

We have chicken wire laying on our flower bed- not much of a flower bed since there is no flowers just a snow in the mountain plant lol The person we bought the house off of put it there and its been there ever since. Mind you the cat kept climbing our tree out front where I have bird feeders, I squirted it so many time with a spray bottle, hubby finally put some greasy stuff on the tree to deter the cat which worked cause it couldn't climb it anymore :) Don't get me wrong I love cats just wish people would keep them in their own yard/house and cat poo is the worst, I don't let my dogs poo anywhere besides the back yard. Cats caught running at large here the owners get fined- never see it put into action though like they do with dogs :(

Our neighbour across the street always lets their dog out to do its business anywhere, one time on my front lawn We scooped it up in a baggy put it on the front step. I said next time it'll be scooped and dumped in the mail box without a bag and the bag on the front step- funny thing is too they keep their house key in their mail box lol I know I shouldn't but that will teach them- if not then it will be a picture taken and sent to the city and they will recieve a nice fine!

air rifle? :)

Illegal, Sam.

A Super-soaker is recommended by Cats Protection.

Hey try this stuff...

http://www.tempsl.com/uk/automobile-garden/animals/skunk-shot-repellent/9501.html[url=][/url]

But under no circumstances get it on your skin or clothes, it's horrific, gloves are a must.  You probably don't want it near your door or anywhere you sit outside either.  Haven't tried it myself but people who have said it was effective.

ive heard of people using lion poo? dont ask me if it works or not, just remember reading about it somewhere, some garden centres sell it i think.
also, an old neighbour of ours would put 2 litre bottles of water in his flowerbeds as apparently cats do not like them, again, no personal experience.
my cat waits until hes back indoors before toileting, hes never taken to doing it outside.

have to say, a few sprays of water from a water pistol or a well aimed cup of water would probably work, and as a cat owner it would not bother me if someone done it to my cat if he was pooing in their garden.

Isn't there cat alarms you can get that deter cats from coming near?

> air rifle? :-)

   This was in jest?

> The only real deterrant is to have your own cat - they rarely poo in their own gardens and will always chase every other cat away!

Could someone tell my cat this please :-) He is the worst offender in my garden. I've sat and watched him ;-) Though I haven't seen any other cat going to the loo in my garden. Maybe he is keeping the others away....

> ive heard of people using lion poo?

i thought it was stuff soaked in lion wee?? (mmm, lovely!)

sounds cruel, but "release the hounds!!" might work

or yeah, get a cat, usually works

does anyone know if you can get some kind of infra red sprinkler system? if not it should be invented, would terrify most cats!

btw, i did not mean that the dogs should catch the cat, give it fair warning to leg it by holding them at the door or something- so it realises its not a cat frendly zone.

i let the dogs chase the neighbours cat mind you they are only cavs and i've throw water on it from an upstairs bedroom not been in the garden since, i don't mind cats but i objected to them coming in MY garden and pooing everwhere and sitting staring at my rabbits! i'm sure the neighbour would complain if my dog went and did its buisness in his garden! double standards

> and sitting staring at my rabbits!

depending on your rabbits maybe let them have a go... my neighbours had wha they claimed was a dwarf bunny, now i know nothing about rabbit breeds but either this was not a dwarf or the breed name is ment to be ironic, it was MASSIVE! i would barely lift it when it was not trying to knaw my arm off. anyone seen the Monty Pythons holy grail? it had an attitude like the rabbit in that! anyway, it defeated my psychotic and mostly feral cat who managed to beat up my mastiff once :EEK

my bf also had a bunny who beat a cat. apparently bunnies have game, who knew.

Please don't let your dogs chase cats. I have just had my cat at the vets because my neighbours dog chased him. IN MY GARDEN!!!!!!!! He has what looks like bite marks where I think she had his head in her mouth. I heard the screaming and rushed out. Thankfully he is ok, and apart from being a bit sore is purring his head off. It could have been so different though. One life gone........ 8 to go (no, maybe 7 to go after he jumped out of a 3rd storey window in his youth )

eek, i really did mean it in jest!. i hope your cats ok, poor wee thing. they really do have 9 lives though don't they?

It's ok, my dogs chase him when they see him, but it's all inplay :-D He actually stands waiting for them and then runs - just enough to get them started, then he jumps out of the way.  2 minutes later he's back, teasing them again. :-) He has never been caught by them, but th ey don't actually try. They push him with their noses and give him a lick ;-) That's probably why he was caught by the neighbours dog. He probably expected her to give him a kiss :-D

He's just finished his supper, so I think he's recovering well :-D

glad he's alright.

my old cat used to play with the dogs, they'd try to boff her with their noses and she'd smak them across the face- kind of like the animal version of slaps lol, she always one, i don;t think they once made contact with her.

> Could someone tell my cat this please :-) He is the worst offender in my garden. I've sat and watched him <IMG alt=eek src="/images/eek.gif"> <IMG class=sml alt=;-) src="/images/default/sml_wnk.png"> Though I haven't seen any other cat going to the loo in my garden. Maybe he is keeping the others away....

lol, my cat poops in my garden too,  nobody elses garden, just mine, but no other cat gets the chance as she sees them of :)

> does anyone know if you can get some kind of infra red sprinkler system? if not it should be invented, would terrify most cats!

There is something we have thought about getting to stop cats catching the fish in our pond, it's a motion activated water-squirter, I'm sure it would keep cats out of the garden too, I would imagine that if you don't have a pond the squirter would need it's own reservoir though.

I got a cat scarer from a flower show that sends out a sonic noise _ I have to switch it off when my son visits(I kid you not!!!) it gives him a headache - its on a roof (potting shed) that the cats use to get into the garden - doggies dont climb up that far.

My dogs would love that I have to lock them in whenever I get a hose out.

My dog goes to a dog minder and is in the house, he went missing - and he was up in kelsey's bedroom, he would not come out. Their cat was by the door and had him penned in for about an hour!! He was rescued and escaped -- cats can be fiesty critters. Whistler walks a looong way around cats.