Cats and square foot gardening

[cheops]

Personally I'm sick to death of cats coming into my garden and doing their business. Time and time AGAIN. This morning as usual had to check the garden before my young grandchildren can go out to enjoy the garden and there sure enough - the spinach seedlings have been disturbed/destroyed and the presence of bluebottles tells me whats lies cms below the soil. Then another deposit -this time amongst the bark chips between beds. Why should anyone have to put up with this? Guess who in uniform would come calling to my door if I had a dog that trespassed into other gardens. If you have a cat please be responsible with it and respect other peoples' property.

[eospete]

I bought a power water pistol. Our feline visitor no longer calls!


Growing wiser, growing stronger

[bearded bloke]

Can we please refrain from making suggestions/comments that may offend the cat lovers amongst our number.

[Richard Eldritch]

Endless problems with our neighbour's 3 cats, the French just let all animals roam wild, dogs included. Their little terrier is also constantly squeezing himself under our gates and running around our garden, although he scarpers as soon as he sees us. The cats are the worst though, pooing everywhere and leaving an assortment of dead and injured animals around our property, sometimes it can be quite distressing when we have to dispatch the poor things because the cats have grown tired of playing with them. As for the poo, I got the idea from Joy Larkcom to lay hawthorn twigs over newly dug ground, and this works better than any of the multitude of other remedies I've tried (citrus peel, coffee grounds, Lion's Roar a complete waste of money....). I just shuffle them around as the seedlings come up and remove them once the plants are big enough to stop the cats.

It's true Lions Roar is deeply useless. Curry powder seems to work quite well when sprinkled on the bare ground and along the cats access route to the garden.

[Kaiya]

yea, I,m a dog person ....

if my dog walks down the road and poo's and I don't pick it up, I risk the fine of £1000

yet .... if you ride your horse down the road and it drops a load every second step, it's fine .... and you don't have to pick it up (even though it's on my pavement and driveway, and you still have the cheek to smile and wave????)

and if your cat enters my garden, digs up my plants and vegetables and destroys them to have a poo, it's fine???

Horses are herbivores and do not carry internal parasites that are harmful to humans, thus horse riders do not need to clean up their droppings. Plus it would be impractical and risky for them to do so. FYI for the same reason, people who have Guide Dogs also do not have to clean up after them - it is too impractical, however they do their best to get the dog to 'go' in the gutter rather than the pavement. In contrast to horses, cats and dogs carry roundworms which can potentially cause blindness in children. Dogs are property which must be under control, and thus if they defoul things, get hit by a car, bite a child, the owner is responsible for not having control of their 'property'. Likewise if you hit a dog with your car you are liable for the damage done to that 'property'. Cats as free ranging animals do not fall into the same category, and are not considered under control (since it is a nigh impossible ask to control where a free ranging animal goes, and is the cultural norm to allow cats to free range in our country), so the owner is not responsible for their actions, but likewise car drivers are not responsible if they hit them. It's a two way street; cats owners may not be responsible for their actions because they roam but likewise are not protected for actions against them. You can insure your dog and horse for 3rd party damage, but not your cat - it's all about whether you control it's actions or not.

I am a cat person. My cats are indoor cats with supervised access to my garden only as I think free ranging cats are a danger to themselves and wildlife. I see too many that get hit by cars, and too many injured birds etc. In some states in the US it's considered irresponsible to allow your cat to roam. Here (and in other US states) for some reason it's often considered unfair *not* to let them roam. Very weird.

EDIT - also, ironically the only problem I have had with owned animals (i.e. not foxes or badgers) defouling things is dog poo on my allotment. For some reason some dog walkers in our area think it acceptable to let their dog poo on beds used to grow food. Sadly their dog also has a bit of a digestive issue...!

[Noosner]

Horses are herbivores and do not carry internal parasites that are harmful to humans, thus horse riders do not need to clean up their droppings. Plus it would be impractical and risky for them to do so. FYI for the same reason, people who have Guide Dogs also do not have to clean up after them - it is too impractical, however they do their best to get the dog to 'go' in the gutter rather than the pavement. In contrast to horses, cats and dogs carry roundworms which can potentially cause blindness in children. Dogs are property which must be under control, and thus if they defoul things, get hit by a car, bite a child, the owner is responsible for not having control of their 'property'. Likewise if you hit a dog with your car you are liable for the damage done to that 'property'. Cats as free ranging animals do not fall into the same category, and are not considered under control (since it is a nigh impossible ask to control where a free ranging animal goes, and is the cultural norm to allow cats to free range in our country), so the owner is not responsible for their actions, but likewise car drivers are not responsible if they hit them. It's a two way street; cats owners may not be responsible for their actions because they roam but likewise are not protected for actions against them. You can insure your dog and horse for 3rd party damage, but not your cat - it's all about whether you control it's actions or not.

I am a cat person. My cats are indoor cats with supervised access to my garden only as I think free ranging cats are a danger to themselves and wildlife. I see too many that get hit by cars, and too many injured birds etc. In some states in the US it's considered irresponsible to allow your cat to roam. Here (and in other US states) for some reason it's often considered unfair *not* to let them roam. Very weird.

EDIT - also, ironically the only problem I have had with owned animals (i.e. not foxes or badgers) defouling things is dog poo on my allotment. For some reason some dog walkers in our area think it acceptable to let their dog poo on beds used to grow food. Sadly their dog also has a bit of a digestive issue...!

That's really interesting, Kaiya. A neighbour's cat has started pooping amid my seedlings. I was a bit naive at first and wondered why they'd been disturbed... dug my fingers down into the soil... something sticky... eww. Was surprised at how annoyed I was, as if the cat or the neighbour had done it on purpose... but of course it is just an animal doing what comes naturally.

I haven't taken any action yet and have been hoping that when they get bigger, this will stop. But some good tips here, thanks one and all.

[Bal]

I too have cats, and they are just as likely to poo in my freshly dug and planted beds as anyone else's. They even thought the seed trays left on the floor in the hall were litter trays. I lost two trays of seedling to them, but you can't blame them for doing what comes naturally.

[pigletwillie]

I have four kittehs. Tea tree oil is great for keeping them off soil but as I have a pottager garden with lots of nice areas for cats to poop I found putting a seed tray of sand in an out of the way corner is more attractive to them than soil. Being pragmatic is sometimes the way to go.

[cazp]

Hello. I had same problem year before last with cats. So much cat poo in there that I emptied and refilled the beds with fresh soil.

Since I had frames with plastic waterpipe hoops on my raised beds, I decided to cover with good quality bird netting which I attached with cable ties (got the netting from ropeseller co uk). Totally cat proof now, but then I only have two 4ft square beds to deal with. Will post a pic.

Biggest problem so far this year are the slugs!

[lmayhow]

Thank you for thread ladies and gents.... have learnt quite a bit reading through and also gained a little 'perspective'. First true year with garden and veg patch oh my goodness local cats love my herb area..... brought a sensor water sprayer (husband) except they have just found somewhere else to 'spread there love'....

[Lumpy]

A mix of strong curry powder and chilli plus black pepper seems to keep the furry little critters at bay.

I sprinkle it onto ant bare areas............maybe they don't like the smell?

[Ryez]

My cat literally took a wee in my spring onions bed... so I've covered it with bird netting and it has been fine since then. It seems to work for small beds though, as I did the same for my much bigger flower bed and he would just wreck it... didn't work.

[ecudc]

I have three neighbourhood cats roaming round my garden but no poo problems even on bare earth. I think they may be put off by my pet rabbits watching them...

[1Bee]

We have cats who can go out when we're home. We keep a sheltered corner dug over which one uses if the time's right, otherwise she uses the two large litter trays (we use the sort of retail boxes your supermarket delivery comes in, deep filled).

Cats on the plot are a bit of a problem: there's a crazy cat lady who leads them on to the allotments for walkies and are least one loves our plot best. I keep an eye out for his activities, with a thought to the 2yo and 5yo. Thorny twigs, up-turned hanging baskets and netting help.

I don't like to complain. I always wanted to be a crazy cat lady when I grew up....

[cheops]

How can anyone complain about what the local cats leave amongst your vegetable and flower beds. As any cat owner will tell you - It's what cats do!
That's why I've ordered a Bengal tiger from Amazon and when it disembowells my neighbour I'll explain to him it's what tigers do.