How to teach neighborhood cat that my garden is not its personal litter box?

[Anonymous]

Same problem here. Got some bottled wolf pee and am also trying coffee grounds. My question—for a household with no pregnant people, would you still eat the veg after careful rinsing? In this particular case, lettuce and radishes. I wouldn’t think twice about something where the edible part isn’t touching the soil like peas or tomatoes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Motion activated sprinklers!

Also keep a spray gun of lavender water on your deck in case you see the cat. They hate that scent. They also hate citrous so that’s a good alternative if you don’t like lavender.

This a simple and humane solution. I believe in coexistence on this issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same problem here. Got some bottled wolf pee and am also trying coffee grounds. My question—for a household with no pregnant people, would you still eat the veg after careful rinsing? In this particular case, lettuce and radishes. I wouldn’t think twice about something where the edible part isn’t touching the soil like peas or tomatoes.

I would. Just wash well.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure if this would work with your setup, but I know for baby cribs people put down aluminum foil. Once the cat feels it underfoot, it gets freaked out and leaves. Could you try putting aluminum foil in your garden for a few days until the cat gets a bad association with the area?

I tried a number of the above suggestions (cayenne, ammonia) trying to get my dog to leave our plants alone. It didn't work... good luck, OP.

[Anonymous]

The easiest solution is to trap the cat and drop it off at the animal shelter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same problem here. Got some bottled wolf pee and am also trying coffee grounds. My question—for a household with no pregnant people, would you still eat the veg after careful rinsing? In this particular case, lettuce and radishes. I wouldn’t think twice about something where the edible part isn’t touching the soil like peas or tomatoes.

Do you imagine that vegetables from the store are grown in some sort of magic field with no animals?

[Anonymous]

Why don't you put a deer fence up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure if this would work with your setup, but I know for baby cribs people put down aluminum foil. Once the cat feels it underfoot, it gets freaked out and leaves. Could you try putting aluminum foil in your garden for a few days until the cat gets a bad association with the area?

I tried a number of the above suggestions (cayenne, ammonia) trying to get my dog to leave our plants alone. It didn't work... good luck, OP.

OP here. I might try this until my cat scat mats and motion detector sprayer arrive in the mail. When I posted this question, I had no idea I would get so many responses or that this was such a common problem. I think it shows that there are no simple solutions to this problem and there are a lot of cat haters out there. I won't do anything to harm the cat and plan on trying my best to humanely teach it to leave my yard alone.

To all the cat owners out there:

1. I think you probably don't realize what a problem you are creating by letting your cat outside. I believe you love your cat and want it to have a good life outside and I'm sure your cat is much happier being outside. But just realize that it is causing problems and once you know this, you are being selfish to continue letting it outside. I'm sure you enjoy not having to empty the indoor litter box, but realize that the cat is going somewhere, and in my case, the cat is going A LOT in one place: my gardens. It's disgusting and destructive. Your cat is tearing up anything that I try to plant in the garden when it scrapes around and does its business. It is unfair that I have to spend $ and time trying to get your cat out of my yard. (I'm not even getting into the problem with your cat killing birds but know that the little bell around its neck does not help).

2. If you read through this thread, there are lots of mean cat haters out there who would think nothing of harming your cat. If you love your cat and don't want it to get hurt, keep it inside because not everyone is as nice as me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same problem here. Got some bottled wolf pee and am also trying coffee grounds. My question—for a household with no pregnant people, would you still eat the veg after careful rinsing? In this particular case, lettuce and radishes. I wouldn’t think twice about something where the edible part isn’t touching the soil like peas or tomatoes.

Do you imagine that vegetables from the store are grown in some sort of magic field with no animals?

Cats are unique in that they’re a common carrier of a parasite that causes miscarriages. If a pregnant woman touches your cats poop by accident because you think her vegetable garden is a fine place for your cat to poop, she has a good chance of losing her baby, and she may not ever even know why.

I think there’s a special place in hell for cat owners who let their cat go off their own property.

[Anonymous]

Put a trap in there