Garden owners probably know this all too well: you have just dug up your bed and planted one or two new plants and suddenly the neighbour’s cat comes, happy about the beautiful loose soil, and does its business there of all places. Of course, in doing so, she not only damages the new plants, but also leaves behind your pile, which you then have to dispose of again. This gets on the nerves of even the biggest cat lovers. Any cat gardening tips to prevent this without harming the cat?
Neighbor’s cat is messing with my garden – what can I do about it?
It doesn’t matter whether it’s a stranger’s cat in the garden or even your own. The smells from cat urine and feces can be really unbearable. How can you keep the cat away from the garden or at least certain areas like the seating area, the flower and vegetable patches and the children’s sandpit?
Tips against cats in the garden – water, but in the right way
Everyone knows: cats absolutely do not like water (at least most of them do). Accordingly, you’ve probably tried this trick before. You’ve splashed the cat with water over and over again, but it persists and takes advantage of the moments when you can’t react. Then make use of the possibility of automatic devices! In fact, you can add motion sensors to your sprinklers so that they start whenever the cat triggers them. We’re sure she’ll give it up at some point.
It is important that you place the sensors in such a way that they are not constantly activated by other movements, such as branches and twigs moving in the wind. To do this, you can align them more downwards and level with the floor.
Essential oils, fruit peels and other odors
Like most animals, cats have a fairly sensitive olfactory organ, which is why they react with aversion to some smells that are normal for us. Accordingly, they are perfect for a relatively permanent deterrent (at least until the next rain or watering). For this purpose, not only simple banana peels are suitable, which you crush and spread on the selected places. Also suitable are the peels of citrus fruits, which, as you know, emit a rather strong odor. This is especially true for lemon peels.
Essential oils such as peppermint oil, lavender oil or cinnamon oil, which you should definitely dilute with water, are also perfect. Simply spray the agents on and around the desired areas. Since citrus scents are quite effective, as already mentioned, you can also apply them in the form of essential oils.
The cat poops in the garden? Egg shells can help
If the cat has a favorite spot in the yard, you can purposefully keep it away by distributing broken eggshells. This is more of a good idea for beds, so think of something else for the lawn or sandpit. Otherwise, this trick works quite simply: Collect egg shells and break them up roughly. Then scatter these fragments on the ground.
The great advantage of this method is that you supply your plants with calcium at the same time.
Cover the cat’s litter box
You can also temporarily place trellis or netting over previously preferred beds to stop the cat digging in the soil. Even so, she will quickly lose interest and look for another place. Such protection also does not bother the plants as long as it is temporary, since sufficient light and moisture can still reach them. If the plants are already larger and cannot be covered with the grid or net, they can also be cut to size and simply placed between or around the plants.
However, this is only a temporary solution, as once that coverage is gone, your neighbor’s cat (or your own) could quickly find their way back in there. For this reason, you should look for more permanent solutions and one of them would also be our last tip:
Tips against cats in the garden: If all else fails, offer the cat a toilet
Nothing seems to help? Don’t despair, we have another idea that might help you. If you can’t manage to drive the animal away and prevent it from doing its business there like you don’t want it to, then just try to offer a more interesting toilet. It can be a classic litter box with cat litter (this also neutralizes the odors) or you can try it with simple sand, which cats also like to dig in.
Of course, you should also make the animal aware of this special place for them. For this you can use scents among others again, but this time preferred. Catnip, for example, is very popular with fluffy friends and valerian even more so.
You can find more tips against cats in the garden or how to drive them away here.