Cat Deterrent.

[quinie]

Any advice on how to discourage cats from messing up our garden would be appreciated.Thank you.

[douglas9401]

No advice on really effective deterrents allowed on here, quinie. Maybe get a dog?

[wolf63]

Cats are a pain in the neck at the best of times and I understand the frustration of anyone trying to keep someone else's cat out of their garden.

http://www.yourcat.co.uk/Neighbourhood-Cat-Campaign/

The following three links are parts 1, 2 and three of an article.

http://www.yourcat.co.uk/Neighbourhood-Cat-Campaign/cats-in-the-neighbourhood.html
http://www.yourcat.co.uk/Neighbourhood-Cat-Campaign/bullies-intruders-and-wanderers.html
http://www.yourcat.co.uk/Neighbourhood-Cat-Campaign/cats-about-town.html

You 'could' get a dog but it is always a possibility that the cat will sit on a high wall (out of the dogs reach) winding it up and the resulting barking will drive you nuts.

[roslyn251254]

We have had a Pestbye Garden Ultra Sonic Cat Fox Pest Repeller Scarer Deterrent Repellent in the front garden since Nov - so far so good - the 2 main cats who used to foul our garden don't come near any more.
Ebay or Amazon for these or something similar.
We tried all the usuals before theses including lemon rind, citrus powder from Wilko, etc but none worked.

[Buenchico]

The best way to stop cats messing in your garden isn't to get a dog - it's to get a cat! Then other cats won't come near but your own moggie will find someone else's garden to use as a litter tray. I've got 4 cats and there's never any poo in my garden - but, of course, there's usually plenty in those of my neighbours ;-)

Here's what the RHS suggests though:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=486

[campbellking]

Chris, my cats happily poop in their own garden, and Robbie has his own particular poop spot which he will rarely deviate from (especially if I've tried digging it up to put new plants in)...

[ummmm]

Who in their right mind would get a dog to deter cats. A dog is like having a child...

[woofgang]

water pistol. I have got dogs and I wouldn’t get a dog to deter cats...they are hard work, its not guaranteed to work and their poo is bigger than cat poo.

[Dogsbody2]

Borrowing the kids' Super-Soaker always worked for me.

It takes the average cat 5.72 soakings before it gets the message, but well-worth the effort.

[Old_Geezer]

Having to stick there with a waterpistol hoping to catch them in the act is going to be tedious and unsuccessful. Life's too short. Electronic methods go wrong. Stuff you put down needs continual replacing. There's no real solution to bad pet owners who refuse to train their pet to go in their own garden. Have had some success with camphor tablets. But barring a bazooka or land mines, one has to live with the unsocial elements of society.

[SlackAlice]

I'm afraid I've got to agree with Buenchico about another cat. I used to have a rather large neutered 'rescue' Tom cat with an absolutely evil temperament. Nothing was allowed in the garden without his express permission, which was rarely given.

Strangely enough he loved children, but only just about tolerated human adults.

Since his demise some years ago I have been using the same items as roslyn251254 and much to my surprise they do appear to work. I have 2, one for each side of the garden.

[quinie]

Sorry my computer keeps"" freezing"Thank you all.Very interesting articles,wolf63