Guide for Deterring Cats from Frequenting Your Garden for Bathroom Purposes
In many gardens across the country, cat owners and garden enthusiasts alike are on a mission to keep felines from using their outdoor spaces as a litter box. Here's a vet-approved, compassionate strategy to repel cats without causing harm.
Firstly, utilise natural scents that cats dislike. Scatter orange and lemon peels in garden beds, spray vinegar (straight or diluted) around garden edges, on plants, fences, and posts, and sprinkle coffee grounds in garden beds, with caution as caffeine can be harmful if ingested. Planting cat-repellent plants such as lavender, rosemary, rue, marigold, lemon thyme, or curry plant can also deter cats from entering.
Secondly, consider installing a motion-activated sprinkler. Cats generally dislike water, so a sprinkler that activates when cats enter the garden can startle them harmlessly and discourage them from returning. This method is humane and effective without harming the animals.
Thirdly, build physical barriers. Cat-proof fencing with angled tops can prevent cats from jumping in, and using mulch deterrents or keeping mulch wet by watering regularly can make the soil less attractive for cats to dig in.
Additional tips include placing baby food jars with holes to create noise or disturbance when cats approach, maintaining garden hygiene by promptly removing any cat feces to reduce attraction, and creating a cat-friendly spot in a far corner of the yard with catnip to attract cats away from the garden.
It's important to note that inhumane methods such as throwing stones, shooting, or using harmful substances like chili powder, black pepper, cinnamon, or mothballs should not be used to deter cats. Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is a method for managing feral cat populations, which includes trapping them and getting them fixed to stop their proliferation.
Ultrasonic Pest Repellers can be an option, but they can be costly for large gardens. Filling baby food jars with ammonia and burying them in the garden can repel cats with the scent of another cat's marking, and sprinkling critter ridder in the garden can repel cats due to their dislike of its smell. However, placing duct tape sticky side up or adding a cat scat mat to the garden is not an effective or humane solution.
Lastly, it's crucial to ensure that the motion-activated sprinklers do not accidentally soak the gardener when they are nearby. Author Adriana Copaceanu, a nature lover who grows vegetables, lavender, and wildflowers, and raises chickens, has written books on gardening and raising chickens. Revenge tactics like picking up cat poop and leaving it on a neighbor's doorstep are not helpful.
Implementing a combination of these approaches should provide an effective, humane strategy to keep cats from treating your garden as a litter box.
- To further discourage cats, consider using scents they dislike, such as lavender, rosemary, rue, marigold, lemon thyme, or curry plant when planting.
- For a humane and effective deterrent, install a motion-activated sprinkler that will startle cats upon entry and discourage repeated visits.
- Building physical barriers, like angled cat-proof fencing or using mulch deterrents, can make the soil less attractive to cats and prevent them from digging.
- In addition, maintaining garden hygiene by promptly cleaning up cat feces, and creating a cat-friendly spot with catnip in a distant corner can attract cats away from the garden.
- Avoid inhumane methods like throwing stones, shooting, or using harmful substances, and opt for pet-friendly solutions like scattering orange and lemon peels, vinegar, coffee grounds, or ammonia in the garden instead.
