How To Stop Cats From Pooping In The Garden

8 Tips to Stop Cats Pooping In Your Garden 1

For many gardeners, the most treasured part of gardening is getting down and dirty, ready to pull up weeds.

If you are someone who loves to garden and get busy working with your hands, it is likely that your garden is your happy space.

What happens when your sacred space is infested with faeces from a cat that is not yours?

Or, what you can't control your own cat from using your garden as their personal litter box?

You need to stay tuned for we have some tips and tricks for you so that this unpleasant encounter is one that you do not have to experience again and again.

How to Stop Cats Pooping In Garden

1. Getting Started

Before you begin to protect your garden from unwanted intruders, you must consider a few things.

You must think about how big your garden is, where the cat is coming from, and what your budget is for investing in this issue.

First and foremost, make sure you are taking the health and safety of the cats into concern.

Never directly attack or intentionally harm the cat that is intruding into your garden, as it may belong to a neighbour.

Even if the cat in question is causing you stress, they are animals that deserve respect and no harm should come to them.

2. Fencing

One common way to protect your garden is to surround it with a fence or chicken wire.

You can choose to do this in the spaces where you are sure the cat will approach from.

If you are looking to go in this direction, consider constructing the fence in a slanted way, for cats are unable to climb over a slanted fence.

Another alternative would be to use plastic roll-up fencing.

This is something you can choose to place over already existent fencing so that cats are unable to climb over your wooden fence.

Some gardeners have also used taut wire or string. They have fixed these options about 10-15 cm above the top of the fence.

This option makes it difficult for cats to reach the top of the fence and will make it nearly impossible for them to latch on.

3. Light Reflection

Cats are sensitive to light. There are a few ways you can use this to your advantage.

Again, we do not suggest creating lasting damage to any cats, but these ways will deter cats from entering your garden, but won't damage them in the long-term.

This option is both eco friendly and also will allow you to reach your desired goal.

Find some used plastic water bottles. You can use ones that are already half full or fill them halfway with water.

You can choose to place them along the border of your garden or fence, or along the perimeter where they will reflect light.

Another idea would be to use unwanted CDs. You can thread twine through the holes of the CDs and tie a knot to space them apart along the string in this way.

You can then place these CDs on strings across your flowerbeds, hang them from trees, or from fencing near your garden.

Make sure to place these CDs in a place where they will reflect light and surprise and deter cats.

4. Garden Plants

Let's say that you hope to deter cats but you do not want to change the appearance of your garden very much.

You can keep the integrity of your garden by introducing Coleus Canina into your flowerbed.

This plant is marketed under the name Pee-off.

It is an attractive plant and has excellent foliage, attractive spikes, and blue flowers.

It has a pungent smell that repels cats, dogs, and foxes from your garden.

Be aware that you need to establish this plant before the scent is released. They can be planted in drier soil and should be in a frost-free place during the winter.

You can also keep cats away by careful gardening and landscaping.

One idea could be making a boundary hedge from holly or berberis.

You could make this hedge surrounding your garden and make it impossible for cats to sneak through! This idea could also protect your garden from trespassers as well.

5. Scent Deterrents

There are other scent deterrents that you can scatter throughout your green space.

Some scent deterrents aim to repel. A popular example is the repellant Citronella oil.

Citronella is made from the leaves of the lemongrass plant and has a citrus-like aroma.

You can combine Citronella and water in a spray bottle and either spray this combination on surfaces or on plants in your garden.

Another natural repellant is Eucalyptus. The leaves of the eucalyptus tree produce eucalyptus oil, which has a menthol-like scent.

You could decide to soak a cloth in eucalyptus oil and place this cloth near spaces you want cats to stay away from.

With all of this in mind, be aware that you should never spray an essential oil directly on any cats.

Cats are lacking in the enzyme glucuronidase and these oils can be poisonous if ingested or absorbed through their skin.

Another deterrent is used to mark territories, such as Silent Roar and cats will not want to enter the said territory.

Silent Roar is soaked in the essence of lion dung and is said to be environmentally friendly.

Another commercial option to repel cats, as well as dogs, is the C&G Urine Stop Spray.

This spray also has citrus and lemon smelling blend and is non-toxic.

If you are not keen on any of the aforementioned options, you could try orange and lemon peels throughout your garden.

Cats detest citrus scents.

Better yet, you could even make the decision to plant a lemon and orange tree.

As Love The Garden explains in their video, cats also hate the smell of lavender and rosemary.

In the video, they also recommend a solution that you can make for yourself at home.

Simply grind up the pepper and add hot water to a spray bottle. Go to your garden and spray this combination around.

Cats hate the smell of pepper and this is a sure way of keeping them away!

6. Motion-Activated Sprinkler

If you are willing to spend a little more money, you could invest in a motion-activated sprinkler.

The device is similar to a water sprinkler, but instead of continuously running, it fires in a burst of water to ward off cats.

This option is fairly harmless and is quick and effective.

It is generally easy to install and can run 24 hours a day.

This feature of it working all day would ward off nocturnal cats that sneak into your garden in the middle of the night.

These sprinkles have an infrared sensor, which can sense movement up to 35 feet from where it is set up.

The benefit of this approach is that the cat will become conditioned to experience the spray in the garden and will choose to stray from this area.

7. Ultrasonic Cat Deterrent

If you are able to, you may purchase an electronic deterrent that would repel cats.

In a study done for Applied Animal Behaviour Science, they found that devices that use ultrasound deterrents reduced cat intrusions by 32%.

When these electronic cat repellent systems detect motion, they release a high-pitched electronic sound that is inaudible to humans and dogs.

This sound will frighten cats away and is completely safe for humans and other domestic animals!

8. Invest in your own Cat or Dog

If you are thinking about getting a new pet, and you are having problems with cats in your garden, this may be the time to make this investment!

If you decide you want your own cat, you could pick a male cat. He can make your garden his territory and ward off any other animals by the smell of his own urine.

The difficulty with this is that you need to make sure that your cat is litter trained and knows that they cannot leave their feces in your garden either.

Let's say you aren't much of a cat person. You could also consider getting a dog to ward off unwanted cats in your backyard garden.

While not all dogs would be quick to scare off an unwanted cat visitor, the mere presence of a dog will irritate cats and make them less likely to trespass.

Happy Gardening!

If you are reading this because you keep finding unwanted cat poop in your garden, it is likely that this situation has caused you some deal of stress.

Hopefully, you are able to use one or more of these strategies in your garden to ward off unwanted visitors.

It may not be enough to just have a dog or to just leave up a CD string.

You may want to try a combination of these strategies together to see what works.

We hope that you are able to find some measure of success and that this problem begins to subside.

Leave a comment as to what strategies worked in your garden.

We hope you are able to enjoy your green space in peace without faeces!

8 Tips to Stop Cats Pooping In Your Garden 2