To stop cats pooping in the garden, you can use mechanical barriers, chemical or natural deterrents or sound repellents. Along with these three methods, employ diversionary or preventive tactics to stop cats pooping in the garden.
Cats can turn areas of soft soil and newly planted seedlings in the garden into an outdoor litter box. In addition to the unpleasant odor, cat waste and urine may damage plants. Because cats are meat eaters, their feces can harbor harmful pathogens passed on from birds, mice and other rodents.
Mechanical Barriers to Stop Cat Pooping
Because cats look for soft, loose soil to dig in, put wire mesh poultry netting over the soil. Plant your seedlings through the holes in the mesh. Cats don’t like to walk over the wire and they find the wire impossible to dig through.
Additional barrier methods include placing large, flat stones around the plants or using pebble mulch around the plants. Cats don’t like to dig in small stones, and the large flat rocks will minimize the amount of exposed soil. To stop cats from pooping in the garden, try to make the area as uninviting as possible by covering bare soil with materials such as sticky pinecones or thorny rosebush prunings, or insert upright sticks or plastic forks into the open spaces of the garden. Use wire tomato cages around newly planted shrubs and trees to minimize cats’ access to the soil around the plant.
As most cat owners know, felines dislike water and digging in wet soil. Keep the top layer of soil in the garden slightly damp to stop cats from pooping in the garden. If you catch them digging, squirt them with a burst from a nearby garden hose or spray bottle filled with water to reinforce the lesson that they are unwelcome guests. Motion-activated sprinklers can keep 24-hour vigilance and deter cats, along with other animals, from the garden.
Chemical Repellents
Commercial cat repellents, which contain the scent of predator urine from coyotes or foxes, are available to stop cats pooping in the garden. You can also try homemade repellents by using natural ingredients in scents that cats avoid. Cut up citrus peels and sprinkle them through the area, or crushed lavender, rosemary and pennyroyal and spread it over the soil.
Try spraying a solution of rosemary and water around the perimeter of the garden. Cats seem to avoid the scent of both anise oil and eucalyptus oil, so you can soak cotton balls in these oils and place them throughout the garden. Reapply these repellents weekly or after a rainfall.
Sound Repellents
Gardeners with cat problems can try out an array of sound deterrents, from hanging up several sets of wind chimes in the garden to purchasing mechanical sound appliances. The sound of wind chimes in the garden may be enough to frighten cats from the area. If the cat becomes habituated to the wind chimes, you can try an ultrasonic repellent.
Motion activated, these devices emit a high-pitched sound at a frequency humans cannot hear when the cat comes within range. The noise frightens the cat, making it avoid the area in the future. Most ultrasonic repellents are battery operated for use away from electrical outlets, while others come with adapters for installation in locations closer to the home.
You can also employ diversionary tactics to stop cats pooping in the garden. Some cat owners suggest planting catnip in a bed or border far away from the garden. Other pet owners suggest setting up an outdoor litter box that you can clean at regular intervals. Take preventative measures by sowing a green cover crop on bare soil over the winter. Cover newly tilled gardens and flowerbeds with heavy cardboard or newspaper weighed down with boards or rocks until you are ready to plant.
Motion Repellents
Another option, and one that has proved to work well, is to instal a motion-activated sprinkler. Amazon sell this great motion-activated sprinkler
