Posted 20 October 2023

How to humanely prevent neighbours cats from pooping in garden

Getting a little fed up with neighbour's cat littering on my garden and then I have to clean it up! So, looking for tips on how to humanely manage this. In previous house we used to have one of those sound frequency cat scarers but didn't appear to work, so not really sold on them, plus we have a dog that likes to play in the garden so didn't really want it to affect him. I have read that spraying citrus scent over the garden can help.

Started off by pooping on the soil borders so we paid for and laid a stone bedding but now they have moved onto the grass, and I find this really irritating.

I don’t like cats, in fact I can’t stand them, but don’t want them any harm so any sensible tips that are humane would be entirely appreciated.
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  1. Mark_Hickman's avatar
    Cats are an absolute nuisance, i have 2 cats that keep coming to our back garden every night without fail and constantly trigger the flood lights on my eufy camera over and over waking us up and i have to keep turning my camera off as eufys dumb AI thinks cats are humans.
    My mom used to have a device approx 15 years back, you attached a hose pipe to and if the PIR sensed movement it sprayed water over a large area, might work for you ?
    No good for me as they're climbing on a concrete ledge above door (edited)
    Masonic111's avatar
    I had the same problem with my next door neighbour's cat littering my garden..I received this advice..


    He said "Get a spade and throw it over their fence"

    Didn't work though.. Because I still had cat poo in my garden and the neighbours had my spade?
  2. sidhoooooo's avatar
    Have a loaded super soaker at the ready, a quick blast, should put the cat off
    crevitz215's avatar
    im a cat owner, and even id do this.
    Some of the neighbours cats are bullies, and ours is a tiny thing - so ill glad spray them to stay away from the garden.
  3. suejb2's avatar
    Water pistol, every single time you see it. It will ‘learn’
  4. one_eight_seven's avatar
    Tried to assert your dominance by retaliating in the same manner?!

    There was a thread on r/casualuk about this recently so check that out for more ideas.
  5. Uridium's avatar
    Water pistol or garden hose, won't hurt the cat but it will soon learn
  6. Laurel-Hardy's avatar
    I had this problem when we moved in a few years ago. A young cat visited our garden and left deposits. I tried everything to no avail. The only thing that has works is my scaring the life out of it whenever I see it walking along the fence. It hates me now and scarpers whenever when it sees me. There’s no sign that of it coming into the garden now. I am a cat person, but I don’t want poop in the soil or grass.
    18nine04's avatar
    Author
    I would defo do this but it only seems to visit, that i see anyway during the small hours.
  7. JimboParrot's avatar
    Are you sure it is cats and not foxes?
    18nine04's avatar
    Author
    Defo cats as they trigger the camera a fair bit.
  8. AndyRoyd's avatar
    Previous similar thread that included the word "humane" attracted 30+ comments 3 weeks ago.
    hotukdeals.com/dis…339
  9. deleted2862047's avatar
    The other option that I employed was to welcome said cat with open arms, when it came into garden to defecate I would go over and smooth the cat and play with it with a bit of string. Now after doing this for about two months over the summer there is no longer any poo and the cat just comes in to sit on my lawn and sleep. I get the benefit of a cat without the mess/food and vet costs and it goes home when it requires something. It seems they literally don’t poo where they sleep.
    RoosterNo1's avatar
    They see it as their domain.... And will wander further to ablute !

    Potions won't work, pir water sprayers may deter them.

    Option "C" get your own cat...
  10. tardytortoise's avatar
    mixture of spent coffee grounds and cumin powder sprinkled in the regular visited areas does the trick
  11. joyf4536's avatar
    Lion poo works I have read. I think I'd settle for cat poo myself, it seems safer.
  12. aLV426's avatar
    Sadly there's not much you can do - we did have some success with bottles of water - it sounds weird but it seemed to work. Just fill an empty clear plastic bottle with water and it seems to scare the cats. Sadly our garden is a tad too large to completely encircle in plastic bottles. What's worse than the cats is finding your neighbour pulling his leg out of the roof of your garden shed as he climbed up there to try and coax his cat out of your tree. Still annoyed about that as he claimed the roof was rotten anyway. I discovered this morning that the shed has been flooded now due to the heavy rainfall last night.
    Also worth mentioning that cats like to bury their "leavings", so either leave a plastic bottle or two in strategic places or cover/remove areas that they can easily dig.
    Roger_Irrelevant's avatar
    Side story but he's definitely liable, he's trespassed on your land and caused a loss (you having to pay for a new shed/roof).

    I'd approach him and ask to go halves initially, acknowledging it did need replacing but he hastened that replacement by putting his foot through.
  13. Whoohoo's avatar
    I tried orange peel and seemed to work for a while. Reminds me I need to do some more
    18nine04's avatar
    Author
    Will give this a go as I think the citrus thing is suppsoed to work. Do you just spread them over grass? soil?
  14. Muig1972's avatar
    A moat.
  15. tcf's avatar
    Have you tried solar-powered ultrasonic cat deterrents? (edited)
  16. catsan's avatar
    I laid twigs and small branches over the soil seems to stop most cats but one still tries to move them and succeeds on occasions.
  17. Azwipe's avatar
    Only 2 things that will work. 1 get your own cat (not an option for you) 2 Motion activated sprinkler.
  18. Pricklerickle's avatar
    Wilko had some garlic cat powder, seem to do the trick, reapply every few months
  19. qbs's avatar
    Try pushing sticks into the ground deep enough so that the cat can't easily dig them out and long enough above ground to block access. Also, a liberal covering of spiky leaves - berberis, holly, mahonia etc. Block their access routes where possible. Not the nicest look in your borders, but better than cat mess left by my "neighbour's" 3 or 4 cats. She told me it was alright for me to chase them. Typical thick cat owner!
    I've never been able to understand why cat mess is treated differently from dog mess.
  20. 999's avatar
    There are rollers you can attach to the top of the fence so the cat can't walk along the top
  21. marboy's avatar
    I try and scare the ones that go in our garden everytime I see them.

    Cats are usually a real nuisance to everything except the owner
  22. vultura's avatar
    Interesting thread, something is leaving "deposits" on my lawn too. Never had this before the last few months.

    I do wonder if this will become more of an issue as more householders opt for hard surfaces for parking cars, decking for entertaining and less loose soil as borders.
  23. Onlydongles's avatar
    Get a dog that has a loud bark ! EVentually Cats will give up coming anywhere near .
  24. Yolofknell's avatar
    I had the same issue when I moved into my house, there would be cat mess everyday. The sonic scares did not work at all. Tried, chilli, tried citrus peels tried water in bottles, the only thing that worked and still works 10 years later is a hose connected motion detection water sprinkler. I do not even have to have it switched on now, the cats know the shape and stay out.

    Cat has now started to sit on my shed now so will have to do something about that soon.
  25. iCrazyCarrots's avatar
    I don’t see why we have to be humane about it. I hate the things next door has 6 of the vermin.

    No I haven’t tried this but my neighbour on the other side who also hats cats has put rubber snakes in his garden and says the cats don’t go anywhere near.
  26. Meathotukdeals's avatar
    I used to have one of those sprinklers with a PIR detector and it did work. Problem is that's broke and the cats are now doing it in the front where I can't really put one anyway.

    I think I did have some success years ago with sponges soaked in Jeyes Fluid. But now that has changed formula and hasn't got that smell.
  27. fattyflumpalump's avatar
    I grated the citrus toilet blocks a few years ago and sprinkled them about, seemed to work.
    Re. Fox poo, you would know if it's that because it's the foulest smelling ever!
  28. Uridium's avatar
    Question has been asked and answered many times on here, usually best suggestion is a water pistol of some description
    BettyBoo1012's avatar
    It’s night time gifts he leaves, hoping for a one off solution! Cheers
  29. Mendoza's avatar
    use your mouth, or phone app, and make a gun cocking & firing. I look forward to you telling me it worked
  30. Yolofknell's avatar
    I use a motion detection water jet sprayer. You can get from Amazon or Lidl etc from about £15+, my original one from Comtech cost £50 that was 8 years ago and still going strong, Lidl one broke after 2 years but lost receipt to return. No more deposits in my garden. I do not even have to have it switched on anymore, it just needs to be in the garden and the cats stay away.

    The sonic repellers did not work at all. the cats would just stroll past it. (edited)
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