What suggestions do you have for keeping those cats and dogs out of your garden? They poop all over, dig up the soil, and generally make a nuisance of themselves. :cry:

I read some good stuff at tipsandthings. These are some of the tips to keep cats out of your garden. Be warned - some are pretty radical!


We recently put a large garden wind chime in a tree, in a corner which was used constantly by scores of cats. Amazingly, we have not seen a single cat in our garden since. The chimes are tuned to the notes of a Gregorian chant!

You need either lion or tiger droppings!
I did not believe this at first but rang London Zoo to find that there is a waiting list. (About 4 months ten years ago) They eventually called to say that my (Lion) droppings were ready. I collected a black plastic bag full of frozen produce and was asked to pay £5 (for the bag). The Zoo suggested dissolving a lump in a watering can and sprinkling it around the garden. My wife refused to keep the rest in the freezer so I distributed what I had in a once-only operation; a smelly but effective choice. I never saw another cat in our garden.

The more common remedies are citrus fruit peel, chilli pepper powder or eucalyptus oil.

Spread alum around the area (this is also said to work for rabbits and horses).

Provide an area for them to use by turning over some dirt in a garden bed, get some cat pheromone spray from a vet or pet shop and spray that around the new area to encourage them to go there.

Ask your garden centre to suggest cat deterrent plants you can scatter around.

Spray them with a hose or keep a spray bottle of water handy.

Save urine and spray onto area - this was really meant for drives etc. and would probably not only kill the grass but I hate to think of the smell on a hot day - it may not only be the cats that stay away!

Place a small length of hosepipe in amongst your plants, cats and birds don't like snakes!

I came across these-

# Plants that have a fragrant foliage. Cats hate pungent smells on themselves so spreading these plants around your borders would help to deter cats in that part of the garden.
# Bottles of water scattered about the garden also discourages them, something to do with the electro-magnetic field that water gives off, perhaps it makes their whiskers tickle.
# I shovel up their mess and place it where i find the cats entering the garden they, like me cannot stand the stink of their own mess.
# Placing cat statues amongst the shrubs can also deter some timid cats.
# You can buy lion dung, that is a succesful pussy deterrent. Then there are a long list of chemical cat deterrents which you can purchase although it can get expensive if like me, you are surrounded by cats.
# There are some electronic ultra sonic cat deterents available which seem to work with some cats.

I`ve tried the bottle one for both cats and dogs which did seem to have some success, not got into the lion dung yet though. :lol:

I bought a toy snake and put it on the path where the cats came in. It worked really well for about 6 months, but then they worked out it was fake. I suppose if I'd bought a new different looking one it might of worked again, but I didn't.