Hi i have turned my soil and planted my seeds in my back yard. And there are three cats that come to my back yard all the time. They seem to like the newly turned soil and are using it as there litter box. Well actually i think only one of the cats is doing this and i think it its the stray one. But it dug up some of the soil where my seeds were! and i think it did you know what! So i have heard if you put coffee grounds, orange peels, or plant some type of plant, it will keep them away. Has any one tried this? and did you have any solutions that were affective? Thank you! :)
Cayenne (red pepper) has been metioned as a deterant. I don't know if you are of child baring yrs. but if you are this can be a HUGE problem. My daughter lost a child when she contracted a disease from cat feces in her flower beds. Maybe some other members have delt with this problem and have better idea's. Bl
Oh wow thats scary... How sad im so sorry! Thank you very much for letting me know... i think i have heard of the caynne pepper also. well much love to you and thanks again! <3 oh also happy gardening! :)
Toxoplasmosis. Barbara, I am so sorry about your daughter. What a heartbreak. Dunno if the anti-squirrel techniques work on cats, but I'm gonna try the tip I got from a coworker: spread chips of strongly-scented soap (like Irish Spring) in the beds.
There are plants that are supposedly rabbit, dog and cat deterrents, but I've been told that if you use pecan hull mulch, that dogs don't like the way it feels on their pads, and I'd assume that since cats are more snooty, this would apply for them as well.
I've been gardening for a long time in a neighborhood which usually contains about a half-dozen cats (including 2 of our own) that love to use freshly dug beds as litter boxes. Cats are lazy and are easily deterred by anything that makes life more difficult for them. I usually protect newly seeded or planted beds with twiggy bamboo branches or whole tops left over from trimming bamboo stalks to make poles. I just toss the bamboo branches loosely on top of the beds, making sure that no large areas are left uncovered. It doesn't take much to discourage the cats; they prefer to do their digging where nothing is in the way. Old chicken wire scraps or any kind of brushy material is just as effective. If you don't have anything suitable handy, new chicken wire is pretty cheap. No chemicals are required.
Thanks vitog!! very helpful information! ;) aww i didn't know cats are lazy lol i want one now, i just seen a siamese cat today that i wanted to kidnap he he...
stucco wire is an excellent deterrent and it's cheap....just lay it over the garden bed you want to protect....the spaces are big enough that the birds can still peck at the ground beneath it and plants (even giant sunflowers) can grow unencumbered right through it without any damage...the nice thing is, cats don't like it :-)...i've never yet had a cat poke around in one of my wire-covered beds...and i agree with vitog - no chemicals are required
I know it's still early spring, but the only thing that works for me (I deal with neighbors cats) is laying down mulch; I use straw. I don't like laying it down this early as I want my soil to warm up, but I will put down a light layer of straw over the seeded area and non-seeded areas. If it's light enough seeds usually still come up just fine. I can layer it thicker as the season progresses. My main goal is just hiding the fresh turned soil just enough to prevent unwelcome surprises :O Vera
I've cats that have dug thru mulch, news papers, ROCKS.........but? Not thru cayenne pepper! It makes them sneeze like mad..burns their eyes.......and it's CHEAP! I've mixed it in a water bottle and sprayed it lightly and have never had issues since. Cat waste in u'r soil attracts so many issues...worms, dogs, OTHER cats, viruses.....I highly suggest the pepper!
If you're looking for a more perminant solution to your cat dilemma I have only one suggestion: coon trap. Bait them with cat food then haul the far away from your garden (I usually take them to the local pound, but a mile or so down the road is just as well) If you do this, -make sure- it's a stray and not a neighbor's cat. . . anyway I thought I better suggest this because pepper makes people sneeze too :-\
thank you blynb! lol I know two of them are the next door neighbours but they don't mess with the garden, its a black cat and i don't know if it is a stray or not. I think i will try to find out. Thanks for the suggestion! :)
It is illegal and dangerous to use a .22 or anything larger, and anything smaller is useless. Rat poison is acceptable to kill rats but not to kill cats (wiser heads than mine will have to explain this distinction). I looked into an electrified fence once, but everything that I read seemed to require a 19m deep grounding pole. Happily my neighbours, whose cats used to dig up my garden every few weeks from April to June, switched to dogs - a (relatively) intelligent animal - some years ago.
Dog's are great (not to mention their disdain for cats (-:) I am thoroughly convinced that black cats just like gardens. . .I have had more black cats than any other color combined! Soccordad - believe it or not the rat poison does work BUT it takes a whooooole lot of it. . .and it doesn't work fast (as much as I can't stand cats I also can't watch something/one suffer either) Anyway - sorry to keep dragging up this thread (I'm sure you've got the reply you need by now) but I always have an opinion when it comes to cats! Heheh -b.lyn
I garden vegetables and have cats too. While my outdoor cats use areas in the yard that I have set aside for their use other neighbor cats occasionally will use my garden especially if it is freshly dug. I see it as no problem, Just scoop it up with a shovel and dump it in a flower bed. However, it are birds that really cause the most problems and so in planting very young transplants or seed I set up a framework over which I hang netting for birds. This not only deters the birds but the cats as well. Bird netting is available at garden shops.
I agree that cat excrement takes up a very small space, but in my experience a cat will destroy almost a square metre of garden each time while digging to cover its excrement.
The netting for birds sounds interesting. How high above the seedlings do you hang it? And when do you remove it? I made a simple frame with green plastic netting (the kind that is used for pea trellis). I have seedlings that are about 1 1/2 inches tall and wondered if the birds would leave them alone if I removed the netting now.
I hate to tell you but cats are not the most common source of toxoplasma infection in humans. The cat is the only definitive host - i.e. it sheds toxoplasma oocysts in it's feces. But you can also contract the disease by eating animals that serve as an intermediate host - e.g. cattle. I don't know about your acquaintenances but most of mine are far more likely to eat medium rare beef that cat poo. As long as you wash your hands thoroughly after gardening or cleaning a litter box, you aren't in any danger.
In using bird netting I built a framework out of some limbs of a pussywillow tree that I wrapped with duct tape and tied together with plastic coated wire in the form of 3 Xs with a horizontal bar runing across the top notch of the three Xs. These stood about 10 to 12 inches tall. I used transplants of lettuce. I did not remove the cover until the plants were grown up to the netting. Depending on the type of seeds you are growing I would keep the netting on until the plants are around 5 inches tall but keep an eye on as if birds are partial to your seedlings you may have to recover. I think the best solution is to build a box frame onto which the netting can be secured making the protective cover easy to remove and place.
T-Man, that sounds great. Thanks for the tip. I will leave the netting on for a few more weeks. I tried spreading some used coffee grounds on a freshly tilled area to discourage the next door cat.
Richters 2009 seed catalogue [maybe also on www.richters.com] has what looks like an annual, called Piss-Off Plant, or Plectranthus 'Sumcol 01' page 40 of the printed catalogue, which it says cats and dogs won't go near. I have also heard of just making some little sharp stakes out of wood or the long narrow barbecuing prongs or sticks for meat pieces, and placing them in the area concerned upright, to stick up about 5 to 6 inches or less, fairly close together. I don't like to see humans, largely indulging in a kind of online or conversational vicious playfulness, sometimes seriously indicative of their actions, going on about trapping and removing cats from gardens... mind you all cat owners should be aware of this situation and keep their pet inside, except that some cats acquired later in their feline lifespan are used to going outside and hard to keep inside. Never the twain shall meet between cat-lovers and haters, however, and I only hope any of the latter don't do harm to some animal just doing what comes naturally. The world is full of animal and insect droppings, viruses and bacteria, etc... raccoons leave huge ones everywhere around Saanich, and I do believe some people are leaving them in the treeline along my street -- latenight weekend revelers, probably they turn into the kind of people we are talking about here when they grow up. Make an effort to find and warn the owner.