How do I keep cats off my garden?

[Holiday Planner]

It was definitely a cat. Because the turf was newly laid, it didn't need to actually dig it up, but just pulled back the corner to settle on the nice soft soil underneath, which was warm (relatively) under the turf. My landscaper has sorted it out for me, confirming that it was a cat, and that it is quite common before the turf is properly bedded in.
I've watched three different cats patrolling the fences around my garden this afternoon ... any one of them could be the culprit! Can I paw-print them?!

[qbman1]

You need to post mug shots on the garden shed door to name and shame them !! Cats are very sensitive about their reputation you know !!

[Holiday Planner]

You need to post mug shots on the garden shed door to name and shame them !! Cats are very sensitive about their reputation you know !!

Can't do that - our new shed doesn't arrive until next Tuesday

[Stephen]

Our two Moggie bouncers are available for hire......for a minimal fee and meals while on duty of course.

[Onelife]

You need to post mug shots on the garden shed door to name and shame them !! Cats are very sensitive about their reputation you know !!

Better still....put some cat food in the garden shed... then while they're tucking into dinner shut the door and go on holiday for a month... and it might be wise to put some air fresheners in for your return

Must dash...I’ve got to renew my RSPCA membership.

Regards

Keith

[Silver_Shiney]

The Cypriots imported cats to deal with the snake population. I therefore cannot see that putting rubber snakes down would work.

[Stephen]

The Cypriots imported cats to deal with the snake population. I therefore cannot see that putting rubber snakes down would work.

Just put Onelife in your garden and get the same result.

[Kendhni]

What is wrong with a shotgun .. a good hit not only keeps them off the lawn but it also stops them from coming back and automatically spreads a lot of fertilizer over the lawn, follow up with a quick watering to remove the red colour .. the bigger bits that don't mulch down can be scraped up later


Says the chap who has 2 dogs and neighbourhood cats that insist on coming up to the front door and wiggling their butts in my dogs faces with the safety of glass in between them ... but boy do they run if I open the door ... unfortunately one of our dogs was quicker than the cat once ... I had to let a yell out of me and fluff the cat up a bit ... it was our neighbours cat.

[Stephen]

If I caught anyone being cruel to our two cats they would wish they hadn't been born. So if you're tired of life......come on round.

[ChrisB]

Hi Angela, I use one of the sonic cat devices to scare them away and they do work. You can buy them for around £25.00 in the garden centre. Hope you, Andrew and the children are keeping well. X

[Kendhni]

£25.00 Shock horror ... a base ball bat costs less than £5

[Holiday Planner]

No sign of any cats for the past few days in all this rain ... one good thing about the current weather!

We're all very well, thank you Chris ... although at 23 and nearly 20 Jonathan & Stephanie can hardly be classed as children any more
(where did those years go?!)

[oldbluefox]

I had one which slept in my garden and flattened all my bedding plants down. I used to creep outside with a bowl of water to douse the damn thing. It must have slept with one eye open though since between water leaving the bowl and reaching said sleeping cat it had got up and run off!!

I hated it when I found its deposits on the lawn - what an awful stench. However I found that clearing it up and putting down water with disinfectant in it stopped it returning again. It seems once they find a decent loo they tend to use it over and over again. The disinfectant certainly seemed to work.

[Manoverboard]

Didn't the disinfectant, of unknown brand, kill the grass ?

[oldbluefox]

Not at all. It was diluted of course. We had the sweetest smelling lawn on the row.

[kaymar]

Freshly dug soil seems to be their favourite and there is little worse than working in the garden, maybe planting bulbs or bedding plants, and getting your fingers covered in foul-smelling muck from someone else's cat.

We've tried most of these devices and remedies, holidayplanner, and none of them work. The only thing to do is to keep an eye out for them and chase them as noisily as possibly, maybe accompanied by a hand full of gravel or something, if you have some handy. With luck they will get the message and find somewhere a little safer.