Cats

[vegnovice10]

have covered seed beds with netting to keep cats off but need better, effective solution. Has anyone tried the metal cats which just get stuck in soil or the sonic cat scarers? Would have to use batteries for the latter and wonder how effective they would be and expensive. thanks

[mark3]

I have been a gardener for 40 years starting originally as an estate gardener and I can tell you how to keep cats off. You should keep them off as their droppings spread a nasty disease to those who work the soil.... but i have had a quick search online and noone seems to have put this solution down. This should be rectified as it has worked well for me for decades without problem. A correct solution to most things starts with studying the problem. Cats are not only looking for a toilet but they are marking their territory....and they have an acute sense of smell by which they are deterred by the urine of other cats. So what can we make of these facts? Well actually they are deterred by YOUR urine too. This would seem to be swapping one smelly problem for another except that their nose is much more sensitive than yours. They are deterred by small amounts of 3-1 urine solutions which is less than you could smell yourself on healthy soil and for about a fortnight per watering. So mark YOUR territory, the cats will keep away , and you and yours are then are not at risk from their droppings?
This is literally 'a solution' which will do the garden no harm (technically I suppose it would be a high-nitrogen liquid feed...but this only needs such light and quick applications with a fine rose it will not affect a well-maintained vegetable soil with a heathy pH ) and its free!

[airconednightmare]

interesting, but cats can also be trained to use the toilet...which must smell at least a bit of human ****, no matter how many times it gets cleaned.

and male cats will go out of their way to find other territories if they aren't nutered, as someone else said in another thread, they are intelligent animals that can adapt to more or less any situation. and if they need to take a dump badly enough they will regardless of where they are.

[mark3]

ACN, you may have some cat theory there. I dont know but I have at least a couple of decades of using this gardening technique and no cats on my garden unless I go on holiday ( Ive used it for decades and I wouldnt bother mentioning it otherwise!) Ive even had the neighbouring cat owners come to me annoyed that 'a' cat (read 'their' cats!) is performing on their own garden beds. And considering they had actually told me "cats are wonderful...they always go in nextdoors garden" that is what you can call a result .
So what Im saying here is 'test and see' is easier than theorising.
Myself I live on the edge of cereal and beet fields and we need cats for the rats and mice. There are at least six within a stones throw, three or four of whom walk through my wider garden...across my lawn etc... and yet none go on my vegetable patch...despite all the tempting dry earth....or indeed anywhere ive watered the solution around. Previously I remember once calculating there would be a thousand dumps a year on the beds. And of course I watched the cats frommy shed in the early days of treating my garden this way. Whats obvious is they do not want to get the smell on their paws. And i presume that is why it works even after rain (and its rain of course that seemed the weak link once...theoretically !) The reason it carries on working even after rain would seem to be that the more muddy its paws are the more a cat is going to have to groom off with its mouth...compensating for the diluted scent perhaps. Or perhaps it is just that rain refreshes the scent?

But there again theory doesnt matter...this works and the how doesnt matter.
There is something I thought about adding to my first post though. Theres an obvious shortcut to the fuss of taking out the watering can and making a solution and Ive been there (in my youth we used to try all sorts...no holds barred... to grow show onions!) I really wouldnt recommend that though as that does stink by saturating the healthy soil microbes temporarily. What Im offering here relies entirely on the natural delicacies of cats (which Ive owned and have no other objection to) and it is something where less is certainly more!
You should find the lightest of sprinklings of 3-1 solution will do the trick.

PS and 'less is more' is true of talking about it too! But actually Ive remembered I did start off with about 2-1 and increased the dilution only later...perhaps thats important re. cat psychology I dont know! However to me its a simple bit of gardening wherewithall that just needed to be online....amongst the plethora of cat scarers etc. Overall my gardening interests are really more plant-centered

[Ever Green]

Facinating. I love the idea that it feeds the plants as well. I wonder if my cat would give her approval. I used a non drying non toxic glue on the fence top. Cats hate anything sticky on their paws and the Toms haven't come back yet. Not as cheap as your idea though.

[mark3]

Hello EG, I have also noticed that sticky paws will deter cats and at least yours sounds nicer than some subtances people use. Ive had to clean up a friends cat with solvents and razor after a so-called 'gardener' sticky trapped it with chemicals whilst it was going through a hedge hole. The cat was traumatised to its wits end (I mean just not rational enough to kill itself you know) because...sense of smell is such a big thing to them? Theres no excuse for evil delinquent behaviour to an animal just to grow a few plants is there...or what do we have brains for?

[Hammer]

Ever Green,
can you tell me the name of the glue.
Regards Hammer

[Ever Green]

Hello, I used fruit tree glue or tree grease. It’s the organic insect barrier you put around the base of trees. You can get it in a tube or tub. It doesn't last long though, maybe a few weeks on wood. Cats learn fast and just go somewhere else. It doesn't hurt or traumatize them. Be sensible, you only need to use a small amount rubbed in and dotted along a fence.

Am I missing something here. I find I have to go through all my posts to see if there are any replies. Is there a quicker way?

[GMB27]

Dont forget that the disease cat mess can spread (toxoplasmosis) can be very dangerous to expectant women, its really best to keep the cats away full stop (easier said than done i know). somebody else posted asking this question a while back and I have a strange suggestion you may wish to try. Dependant on the size of the area you wish to protect. Chop lemons in half and squeeze them, then scatter the around the area the cat uses as a toilet. Felines hate citrus and Ive seen this method used around the local allotments. Worth a shot!

[mark3]

Well lemons is on the right track at least...scents . So the cat will go away without anything unpleasant having happened to it.