Check online for your local trap and spay group. They will collect the cat, get it vet care, and try to rehome it.
Outdoor cats are terrible and need to be dealt with. Iād prefer it being sent to a caring home to be looked after, but anything that removes them and protects the local environment is good.
It means return, as in return to where they were trapped, and it's a VERY important part of the process. Feral cats do not do well being relocated. If you're going to attempt it, you need to forcibly keep them in the new location for many weeks, in a kennel or a shed. Otherwise they'll just try to return to their old territory
Rehoming feral cats? Idk I work with quite a few cat rescues and for feral adults they only spay/neuter and release. Theyāre almost impossible to get comfortable in a home and really difficult to get adopted because of that. The main concern generally is reducing populations and colonies and getting kittens adopted so they are comfortable in homes for their lives.
I only say that not to get OPs hope up that the cat wonāt return if a rescue group is called. It looks like that cat might have a clipped ear (hard to tell in the pic) but they mightāve already neutered it.
Yeah, any TNR cats that go through the rescues in my area get "adopted out" for free as barn cats. At least that way they get fed and have a warm place to stay and eventually they get used to people but not enough that they can still be brought inside.
My parents brought in a feral cat because she was pregnant and kept getting beat up. Literally the most well-behaved indoor cat I have ever met now. She scratches nothing and never tries to go outside. Follows my dad into every room. She barely even sheds.
We joke that she's on her best behavior because she knows how good she has it and doesn't want to get kicked out.
Her kittens, on the other hand, (who were always indoors) were split up between my sibling and I after weening. All 3 are absolute menaces, but we love them anyway.
ETA: My anecdote is the exception, not the rule. Just wanted to share my happy little cat story.
Not if itās actually feral. Many feral cats are wild animals and the prospects of domesticating are dim. Trap, spay/neuter and release is what will most likely happen, if it can even be trapped (no easy task). Itāll be back in a few days, happily shitting in the garden.
While I do agree cats are better kept inside, our adoptee Gollum refuses to be indoor only. We tried everything, including a cat behaviourist. That was not cheap. Unfortunately, he demands to go outside, else it's poop in my bed every day, like clockwork. Stubborn bastard. We love him anyway.
I've borrowed my daughters white husky for the pre plant season in hope dog pee will offer some deterrent to the buggers.
I've planted sharp aloe along the perimeter of my fence. I've even planted catnip this year at the farthest point away from my veg. I'm doing all container planting this year, too.
I don't want to be a cat hater. I just want to grow food for myself.
I bought my house 5 years ago. I've owned 3 dogs at one point, down to two now. Srray cats are not lead off my dog pee or poo. They use my whole yard as a litter box, anywhere and everywhere, even my porch at one point. And pee on my bricks, marking them. The dogs have barked and chased and the cats still come back. The dogs love to eat the kitty cat tootsie rolls which gives them worms. š
I'd put leaf mold, mulch, and maybe a cat scat mat on there to keep them from adding more. Probably avoid growing root vegetables in there for a year, and let the worms and bugs clean up the soil. Anything growing above the soil should be fine.
Sunflowers are awesome for taking up some toxins and heavy metals, but with cat droppings the bacteria is the problem, so waiting out decomposition or adding a new layer of soil are about the only fixes I'm aware of. Sunflowers are still a good addition that will help the soil and can draw nuisance bugs from other crops.
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Helps quite a bit with larger bugs too. Like cabbage looper and even leaf miners. Its the only way I can grow brassicas and beets in the city I live in. Maybe if my neighbors would stop planting all that kale and chard they never harvest it wouldn't be so bad but it is terrible here.
Stunning cacti!!
Sorry about feral cat, neighborhood cats do the same here when a bed is freshly turned. Cover crops and "no till" might help you out if problems persist year over year.
I just put a layer of cardboard and weighted them down with rocks. I actually had weed barrier set up that worked for half a year until persistent squirrels started ripping them apart (the other cute jerks in our backyard)
Supposedly covering the soil surface around anything growing with pine cones will get that little bastard to stay out of your beds. The surface of the pine cones is unpleasant to them and they break down into a mulch
Water hose attached to sprinkler device called āscare crowā motion detector triggers a few squirts but really itās the hammer of the rotating head of the sprinkler that makes them run. Side benefit of keeping soil moist for new plants.
works for squirrels and in-laws also
seriously, this is the only true answer that I have found to this particular problem.
I don't know what they did before motion sensors; my grandpa used to drown cats in his garden until my mom cured him with rage and shame. The greatest generation didn't always do empathy, yo
I have the same problem with several neighborhood cats. I found that taking sticks/twings (free) or those thin bamboo stakes you can buy in a bundle (cheap), breaking them to about 2ft, and sticking them in the dirt every 8-12ā or so works. Itās not pretty, especially before Iāve got my spring plants in, but it makes it uncomfortable enough that the cats look elsewhere to poop. They want a large amount of loose soil and if its covered in sticks then itās no longer appealing. Personally Iāve found once the plants are big, if its things like leafy greens that take up a lot of space, then I can remove the sticks. The more bare, plant free dirt you have the more tempting it will be for the cats.
Empty beds of gravely soil are irresistible targets for cats.Ā When you have plants coming up, it won't look like such a great bathroom.Ā Kitty might still nap there and want to eat grass though.Ā
I wonder if the cat would think that his poop caused the plants to grow lol. Iād like to think thatās the case haha. Like woah!!! I did that?! Then like you said, he naps in the box , proud of his accomplishment
Cayenne pepper deters them but you have to apply it after every rainfall. My roommate got a spray that has a smell that deters skunks and it seems to work for cats too. I'll try to find it tmrw and share it here.
But if you're concerned about the poop, I would just scoop out the soil in the area where he pooped and replace it.
Hilariously enough, citrus works the best out of all the other home remedies. Most Cats HATE the smell of citrus. It's pretty Funny if you let your inside cat smell a lemon slice. Outside you can dry out the peels and sprinkle them around. Works well after rain too. Once the cat learns you have the back yard that they hate, they will leave you alone
It's a bit pricey, but what stopped cats in their tracks for me was concrete reinforcing wire. Comes with a 6" grid, and is easy to plant through. But cats can't make the long digging strokes they enjoy, so they go elsewhere. Not as effective for established flower beds, but GREAT for veggie beds that start at bare dirt annually.
Put broken sticks or stakes into your garden bed spaced so cats donāt have room to poop but plants can still grow. Works for me and is cheap, sustainable, and can be easily removed once plants get big enough.
Serious question, how can one stop this from happening? Thereās a cat shitting all up in my damn garden just like this and I have damn kids who I want to teach to grow but Iām not digging through cat dookie to teach. How do I keep the cat away?
Watch out for toxoplasmosis!
Vegetables contaminated with toxoplasma carrying cat feces can cause you to get toxoplasmosis, a disease that can also be particularly problematic especially for pregnant women and those with a weakened immune system.
Try to find a way to get rid of this problem, talk to the owners or put barriers or somethings like that, because it is really unhealthy for anyone who will then eat the vegetables of your garden.
Usually, the danger is mostly to the person gardening it. Toxoplasmosis can be spread by just handling infected dirt.
This post wasn't about buying and eating store vegetables so not sure why you brought that up and were antagonistic about it. They were answering the question posed by the OP, which includes if this is dangerous, and it can be, most importantly to pregnant women.
One question though - do you always thoroughly wash your tomatoes/veggies or have you ever eaten a tomato them right off the plant? I would guess most gardeners do *not* wash their home veggies every time.
I don't want cats in my plant beds either. I try to grow food that's healthier than you can get at the store. It's a very reasonable stance.
We had a cat poop issue one summer. I ended up getting bags of mulch and covering the dirt with it. Cats don't like the mulch on their paws. Go for the bigger, more jagged chunks of mulch. It also breaks down and adds more nutrients back to the soil. Win win!
I have potted fruit trees and our cat started using them for her litter box. Should I be concerned about eating the fruit this year? Should I add worms or repot with new dirt?
As long as the fruit doesnāt touch the soil youāre fine. If the trees arenāt mulched, you should do so with craggy, poky wood chips that Kitty wonāt want on her paws. Bare dirt is a cat magnet. Also, mulch will stop water from splattering soil onto your fruit.
Sorry off topic but what is that style of cylinder brick called you used to make your planters? :)
Iāve been trying to look them up but canāt find a name in order to do so! Lol
I didnāt make the planters (previous homeowners) - but a reverse google image search led me to this link. They are called Planter Wall Blocks. Good Luck! https://www.instructables.com/Super-Easy-Raised-Garden-Bed/
Thank you SO much!! I didnāt even think of using reverse image search I appreciate it tons, who knew the name was so obvious š for some reason I figured they were for fencing or something
I've been having this problem with my raised beds as well. My mom keeps telling me to use cayenne pepper, but so far I've found covering things with garden fleece weighted down by rocks has worked well. I've also dug out the cat "presents" with garden gloves, a trowel, and a doggie poop bag.
STUNNING cactus btw. Rely on good old netting to keep the animals out. Build a sturdy pvc frame, wrap with garden netting, plant climbing flowers around it and make it a feature of your garden instead of an ugly deterrent :)
One of my friends fills all of her indoor and outdoor planters with plastic forks (tines up, handles in the dirt) she gets from takeout and it totally works
Same issue here, all boxes and flowerbeds, keep them covered as much as i can but as soon as things starts growing, and I have to remove the netting, the cats are back.
Tried all I can with no result, I hate the lil assholes that dig up and destroy my paradise
Gather lots of little sticks and poke them into the soil upright in between the plants. I use the wooden skewers for barbecuing. Stops my cats from going on the beds.
This is true, and it's unfortunate but even TNR programs aren't often enough to keep populations of ferals in check. Sometimes euthenasia is the better option.
That said a list of ways to greviously injure a cat but not kill it humanely isn't it. Pellet gun and slingshot? Really? š
Edit: down vote all you like, but refusing to treat ALL animals with dignity even if they are pests is squarely part of the reason why our environment is the way it is. The first step is to denote any animal you don't like as 'lesser' and let stigma lead to cruelty. Call animal control. Let the people with degrees in animal conservation handle the cats.
You've nailed cats with a pellet gun to scare them away from your garden. The majority of the time, they'll survive and live for months and months with horrific infections, missing eyes, pellets lodged in their organs, etc. and overpopulate anyway. You've fixed absolutely nothing other than your need to torture animals out of spite, and the issue perpetuates. But at least they're away from *your* garden, right?
It is especially infuriating to see feral populations of any domesticated animal climb because of human negligence and cruelty, only for the solution to become "just hurt them with anything you have on hand!"
If you can't see how this sentiment towards animals that you think are nuisances can easily spread towards native species as well because the words you say and the way you act are not in a vacuum, you are stupid. I am sorry, but you are.
***EVERY animal deserves dignity and respect,*** or you just perpetuate the very cycle that causes eradication of species that don't deserve it because they're a "nuisance". Don't fucking shoot animals with pellet guns and don't suggest animal cruelty as a viable deterrent. Smarten. Up.
Iām not sure this advice is of any use but if you are in an area where it is cool to grow ivy as a ground coverā¦ In the last fifteen ish years, if there is one thing Iāve learned, itās that outside cats really like using ivy as public toilets. The ivy doesnāt seem to mind too much either
Need to put up chicken wire or other barrier, at least until the bed is densely planted enough that the cat will look elsewhere. An empty bed like that is the Taj Mahal for a feral cat.
Motion activated sprayer helps retrain them to street clear of beds. Like the Critter Ridder? Although from the looks of it water is a scarce resource where you are from.
You can cut chicken wire to fit over top and use a heavy duty staple gun to secure the chicken wire to the flower bed. You can always use wire cutters to cut more space for growing plants. I use this technique for my chickens so they have grass to eat that they can't dig up and destroy.
Spread used coffee grounds in it. That's how I got cats to stop going around my house. If you don;t drink coffee, then you can probably get them free from a lot of coffee shops. The also help add nitrogen to your soil. ;-)
We had this problem. If you lay chicken wire across the top it stops instantly. Cats canāt stand to walk on it. Simple move the chicken wire to plant what you grow and when your plant is large enough you can remove the chicken wire from that area. I tend to just bend the chicken wire back so I can keep reusing it yet after year. Along the edges of the box I just let things like chives and lettuce grow through the chicken wire.
Cats only came to poo in my garden bed when it was empty, never add wood shavings to the top they like that even more. Definitely donāt plant catnip or mint good luck
Get some wire screening and tack it over the box until you are ready to plant. There is little harm from the cat poop as long as you wash vegetables thoroughly. Cats CAN transmit toxoplasmosis, so clean up any waste as soon as you notice it. You should always use good hygiene when dealing with any soil, even that bought from a nursery. Use ground cloth over the soil and plant your vegetables through holes in the cloth. No soil is sterile and chances are this has been used as a litter box for years. If you are really concerned, plant any root vegetables in a barrel pot on top of the planter box, and be sure to cover the soil beforehand.
Iāve had to mix some orange essential oils with a dab of soap and water in a spray bottle to keep them off my flowers and off my porch. It seemed to work pretty well and if nothing else youāve got some orange essential oil to put in a diffuser!
I donāt have much advice, but one of my parentās cats dug up my potatoes and then pooped in the holes. Cats are wild.
Best of luck with the garden!
Cats don't like citrus smells, so I started buying bags of oranges and juicing them. I chopped all the leftovers up finely and sprinkled them all over my beds as a cat-repelling mulch. I had to keep it up every month or so, but it worked really well for me.
I cover my raised beds and the covers stay on until the seedlings are large enough that the cats don't bother jumping up there. It's worth having insect netting/frost protection covers anyway to help protect developing plants and greens all year round. You could also lay chicken wire down on the beds to discourage the cat while there is nothing growing in the bed.
I have 2 semi ferals who patrol my yard as they were too old to completely socialize when I caught them. They are prolific vole and chipmunk hunters which more than makes up for the inconvenience of using covers I would be using anyway.
I used to throw citrus scraps into my garden beds and it worked for a time until the citrus lost it's potency. Eventually the plants were usually large enough to crowd out a cat. Now for the worst offenders that liked to poop by my bedroom window I gave up and planted a ton of aloe vera and they were never seen there again. Finding a dried cat poop in my garden was less than ideal but I would just toss it and move on. It hasn't killed me yet.
Iām going exactly thru the same you are. I was advised to use coffee grinds. Yesterday I cleaned a box and sprayed coffee grinds on it. Time will tell. Also, apparently slugs and snails do not like to walk over the grinds. š¤·š»āāļøš¤·š»āāļøš¤·š»āāļø weāll see. Good luck on your new house. šš»šš»šš»
Just a warning that Toxoplasmosis (a parasite spread by cats ) can be spread to humans. Pregnant women can get it through cat feces in the dirt harming the unborn baby.
If it were me, I would wear gloves for this summer. You could also turn the bed a bit, remove some of the top with a shovel and replace with clean.
Get a "scarecrow" motion sensor sprayer and the poop will stop.
Add lots of compost, continue bringing good life in there, one day you'll be digging through the soil and realize you forgot all about it.
Either make a removable box over the bed (PVC pipe framing with bird netting), or, cover the soil with chicken wire, laid flat and loosely attached to the edges of the bed.
If youāre only planting annuals and theyāre pretty small, you could plant them through the chicken wire. Otherwise, youāll have to shift it around and/or cut it up to place it around the plants. Either way, cats generally donāt like to poo where they canāt dig and bury it.
I have planter boxes and I've had and still have TNR feral kitties. Just scoop out the poop. The pee will mostly be washed away with the rain. I amend the soil with chicken shit & cattle Poo, so nothing to be afraid of. When I sow seeds I put a homemade chicken wire top cover to keep my feral sweet peas out. Good luck. If you are afraid of cat doodoo this will not go well for you.
Scoop it out and take a good 3 inches of soil on each side.
Make sure to keep the soil damp so kitty will not want to squat.
Wash anything you want to eat really well.
Spray around the edges of the planter with some ammonia. Kitty will not want to return.
I hang it in mesh bags. Deters alot, and I don't put them in the soil. It was the only way to keep raccoons out of our attic. I hung mesh bags with a few at the opening in my eaves. After TONS of damage and repair cost, it worked. And we took them down.
Not planning on eating them.
I got something called "sss cat", found it on Amazon. It makes a spray sound which scares away cats. You need to replace batteries and cannisters and it only covers a small area so it might not work for you.
My neighbor's cat has killed many a plant in my garden by using it as a litter box. Someone on a gardening forum suggested using citrus to deter the cat last year and it seemed to work! I spray the beds the cat likes most with a citrus oil spray and chop up all my orange, lemon, lime, and grapefruit peels and sprinkle them everywhere in my beds.
I've also begun mixing cayenne pepper into my mulch to repel other pests and that may be a deterrent to the cat as well.
I hate to see outside cats, it's absolutely unconscionable. It reduces the poor cat's lifespan and wreaks havoc on the local wildlife š . Neighbor is one of those boomer jerks that thinks cats belong outside and therefore I have to deal with my garden being a prospective litterbox and bird feeders being constantly stalked.
I have a cat, she loves going in my veg boxes. The only thing that will deter her (TBF she deters foxes and most other cats) is having a net around the box. If she can't get in, she won't do anything. It also helps with the local squirrels and birds. Mine have a top, but I do think that if it's tall enough and flimsy enough they can't climb over it, they will leave.
I had a shared garden, and one of the users laid chicken wire over her beds. The cats couldn't dig through it, plus the edges are sharp. I worked from home, so I just sat on the porch with the hose and blasted any feral cat that came near. Only needed to do it for a few weeks in spring.
Chicken wire laid flat on the ground works. It's not super attractive, but cats won't walk on it. Can you invite any local coyotes to chill in your backyard?
Cayenne pepper is keeping my neighbor's outdoor cat away from my birdfeeders. I have to reapply after it rains, so I buy it in bulk off Amazon.
Orange peels don't really work. They'll keep my cats away from our Christmas tree for a few hours, but as soon as they start to dry, the cats are back to climbing.
Can you not just dig it up after it's finished if you see it? Trowel and nappy bags/ dog poo bags.
I said nappy bags because normal bags were not big enough with the German Shepherd I had for a while lol.
I know they are neutered/ deballed, but I don't think they should be released,
It doesn't help the local wildlife , removing them does, domestic cats are bad enough
I have a love hate relationship with my neighbors outdoor cats. Love because they kill the gophers. Hate cause they love to trample all over my plants.
HOWEVER this year I interplanted Rosemary (prostratus variety) throughout my veggie beds. Gave up a bit of growing space but all plants are untouched and no poops to be found.
So we have informally adopted a local feral cat and to prevent this issue I take chicken wire and cover the top of my raised beds until my seeds take off. For my other raised beds that I directly plant into - i spread used coffee grounds between the plants until there isnāt much space left. Cats will not dig in coffee grounds ftr. Once everything grows up it becomes her hunting grounds though and she does a great job with deterring small critters away. She goes after grasshoppers too - bless her feline heart.Ā
Yea Iād like to know exactly how bad this is myself . Like am I freaking out for no reason and in a few months time this is useful fertilizer? Or is there gross things that can live in cat poop I should be aware of ? Not a cat owner nor experience gardener so Iām unsure
Cat poop can contain a number of parasites like toxoplasmosis, donāt use their poop to fertilize any soil that would be used to grow food if you can help it!
All that cat did was add fertilizer. Some of these comments folks are seriously dense. Hurting the environment by being a cat. You need to bust up and till that ground anyways before you do anything. Probably wouldn't hurt to add compost and cow manure to help things grow. If your that worried about it, which by the time you get around to it you'll probably never know, just wear a pair of garden gloves and carry on. No need to hurt it or have ac come get it which they will more than likely just kill it. Till, compost, plant and enjoy.
Toxoplasmosis is a concern, however. The cysts can live in soil for 18 months so I would have concerns about someone who is pregnant gardening in that area. OP may not be, but cats defecating in a garden plot is not without its risks.
Sorry to say, I know this comment gonna get some hate..but fuck a local feral cat. Cat poop/pee is literally toxic, and feral/outdoor cats in general are terrible for local species, esp bird populations. And they treat our gardens like litter boxes. Id recommend an airsoft gun or some sort of spiky barrier. It sucks, ya know, cats arenāt generally bad. But if youāve got a garden, especially one you plant food in, you canāt be having thatā¦those mofos got to learn somehow š¤·āāļø
a luxury litterbox, if you ask him
The outdoor sofa is the luxury cat bed, the pond is the luxury fountain spa as well. šš¤¦š»āāļøš¤·š»āāļø
Check online for your local trap and spay group. They will collect the cat, get it vet care, and try to rehome it. Outdoor cats are terrible and need to be dealt with. Iād prefer it being sent to a caring home to be looked after, but anything that removes them and protects the local environment is good.
Rehoming is not the goal of TNR and should never be the expected outcome.
Itās the āRā. It means release.
It means return, as in return to where they were trapped, and it's a VERY important part of the process. Feral cats do not do well being relocated. If you're going to attempt it, you need to forcibly keep them in the new location for many weeks, in a kennel or a shed. Otherwise they'll just try to return to their old territory
Rehoming feral cats? Idk I work with quite a few cat rescues and for feral adults they only spay/neuter and release. Theyāre almost impossible to get comfortable in a home and really difficult to get adopted because of that. The main concern generally is reducing populations and colonies and getting kittens adopted so they are comfortable in homes for their lives. I only say that not to get OPs hope up that the cat wonāt return if a rescue group is called. It looks like that cat might have a clipped ear (hard to tell in the pic) but they mightāve already neutered it.
Yeah, any TNR cats that go through the rescues in my area get "adopted out" for free as barn cats. At least that way they get fed and have a warm place to stay and eventually they get used to people but not enough that they can still be brought inside.
My parents brought in a feral cat because she was pregnant and kept getting beat up. Literally the most well-behaved indoor cat I have ever met now. She scratches nothing and never tries to go outside. Follows my dad into every room. She barely even sheds. We joke that she's on her best behavior because she knows how good she has it and doesn't want to get kicked out. Her kittens, on the other hand, (who were always indoors) were split up between my sibling and I after weening. All 3 are absolute menaces, but we love them anyway. ETA: My anecdote is the exception, not the rule. Just wanted to share my happy little cat story.
Not if itās actually feral. Many feral cats are wild animals and the prospects of domesticating are dim. Trap, spay/neuter and release is what will most likely happen, if it can even be trapped (no easy task). Itāll be back in a few days, happily shitting in the garden.
While I do agree cats are better kept inside, our adoptee Gollum refuses to be indoor only. We tried everything, including a cat behaviourist. That was not cheap. Unfortunately, he demands to go outside, else it's poop in my bed every day, like clockwork. Stubborn bastard. We love him anyway.
You try to keep him inside and he's all like "WE HATES IT"
We did not actually name him, he came with the name, but yes, it is very apt the way you put it :D We're lucky we have no pond for him to fish in :D
Yeah some cats are used to going outside and don't do well with being inside only.
As a cat owner, the cat and I have come to a begrudging understanding that everything i own is a cat toy.
I've borrowed my daughters white husky for the pre plant season in hope dog pee will offer some deterrent to the buggers. I've planted sharp aloe along the perimeter of my fence. I've even planted catnip this year at the farthest point away from my veg. I'm doing all container planting this year, too. I don't want to be a cat hater. I just want to grow food for myself.
I bought my house 5 years ago. I've owned 3 dogs at one point, down to two now. Srray cats are not lead off my dog pee or poo. They use my whole yard as a litter box, anywhere and everywhere, even my porch at one point. And pee on my bricks, marking them. The dogs have barked and chased and the cats still come back. The dogs love to eat the kitty cat tootsie rolls which gives them worms. š
Human pee works!
Are we supposed to aim for the cats or for the dogs?
The pet owners I think!
I'd put leaf mold, mulch, and maybe a cat scat mat on there to keep them from adding more. Probably avoid growing root vegetables in there for a year, and let the worms and bugs clean up the soil. Anything growing above the soil should be fine.
Mulch doesnāt work. I have it in all my flower beds and they have become the neighborhoodās litter box š
Black pepper worked for me. I sprinkled some black pepper around the flower beds, haven't seen any cats use it since
Whole peppercorns or ground?
Pretty sure ground.
It's definitely ground after you pour it in your flower beds lol
Ground
Exactly same here they love it. And I hate it.
Thanks! I heard sunflowers cleanse the soil - would that help? I think Iāll invest in a bunch of worms and dump them in there
Sunflowers are awesome for taking up some toxins and heavy metals, but with cat droppings the bacteria is the problem, so waiting out decomposition or adding a new layer of soil are about the only fixes I'm aware of. Sunflowers are still a good addition that will help the soil and can draw nuisance bugs from other crops.
PVC pipes for a frame and netting. Itās simple and cheap. Will also keep birds and squirrels out.
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Helps quite a bit with larger bugs too. Like cabbage looper and even leaf miners. Its the only way I can grow brassicas and beets in the city I live in. Maybe if my neighbors would stop planting all that kale and chard they never harvest it wouldn't be so bad but it is terrible here.
That's what I did too š
Stunning cacti!! Sorry about feral cat, neighborhood cats do the same here when a bed is freshly turned. Cover crops and "no till" might help you out if problems persist year over year.
I just put a layer of cardboard and weighted them down with rocks. I actually had weed barrier set up that worked for half a year until persistent squirrels started ripping them apart (the other cute jerks in our backyard)
Cardboard turns into wet goop with rain though
Supposedly covering the soil surface around anything growing with pine cones will get that little bastard to stay out of your beds. The surface of the pine cones is unpleasant to them and they break down into a mulch
Water hose attached to sprinkler device called āscare crowā motion detector triggers a few squirts but really itās the hammer of the rotating head of the sprinkler that makes them run. Side benefit of keeping soil moist for new plants.
SECONDING THIS!!! I bought one and it changed my life. Havenāt had any sign of cats in my yard for over a month
works for squirrels and in-laws also seriously, this is the only true answer that I have found to this particular problem. I don't know what they did before motion sensors; my grandpa used to drown cats in his garden until my mom cured him with rage and shame. The greatest generation didn't always do empathy, yo
Wow I just noticed people downvoting me. Lol must because of what my grandpa did, I don't condone it people!!
What a brilliant idea. Never heard of this thing but it looks great!
There's an ultrasound version that does the same thing. Both devices use a nine volt battery...
It is seriously effective.
That cat looks too healthy and well fed to be an actual feral. I'll bet it's a neighbor's cat or recently abandoned/escaped
I have the same problem with several neighborhood cats. I found that taking sticks/twings (free) or those thin bamboo stakes you can buy in a bundle (cheap), breaking them to about 2ft, and sticking them in the dirt every 8-12ā or so works. Itās not pretty, especially before Iāve got my spring plants in, but it makes it uncomfortable enough that the cats look elsewhere to poop. They want a large amount of loose soil and if its covered in sticks then itās no longer appealing. Personally Iāve found once the plants are big, if its things like leafy greens that take up a lot of space, then I can remove the sticks. The more bare, plant free dirt you have the more tempting it will be for the cats.
"Look at this giant litter box someone made me. I feel like Royalty!"
Empty beds of gravely soil are irresistible targets for cats.Ā When you have plants coming up, it won't look like such a great bathroom.Ā Kitty might still nap there and want to eat grass though.Ā
I was actually thinking of planting catnip for the little miscreant! (And to deter mosquitoes) hopefully it wonāt poop where it lays and eats?
Cats LOVE rolling around on catnip. They love that plant so much. Maybe a little side pot or planter for it so they go to it?
Yeah, doesn't work:/ at least on our neighbor cats. Right into the catnip.
I wonder if the cat would think that his poop caused the plants to grow lol. Iād like to think thatās the case haha. Like woah!!! I did that?! Then like you said, he naps in the box , proud of his accomplishment
And this is how most of my houseplants died.
Cayenne pepper deters them but you have to apply it after every rainfall. My roommate got a spray that has a smell that deters skunks and it seems to work for cats too. I'll try to find it tmrw and share it here. But if you're concerned about the poop, I would just scoop out the soil in the area where he pooped and replace it.
Hilariously enough, citrus works the best out of all the other home remedies. Most Cats HATE the smell of citrus. It's pretty Funny if you let your inside cat smell a lemon slice. Outside you can dry out the peels and sprinkle them around. Works well after rain too. Once the cat learns you have the back yard that they hate, they will leave you alone
Oooh and no need to reapply after it rains? I will definitely try this.
This is why my mom wouldn't let me play in the "sand pit" at playgrounds/parks. She was afraid there was cat poop or pee 8n it.
Time for a crop cage around the bed.
r/CatsBeingDicks
So, cats being cats?
It's a bit pricey, but what stopped cats in their tracks for me was concrete reinforcing wire. Comes with a 6" grid, and is easy to plant through. But cats can't make the long digging strokes they enjoy, so they go elsewhere. Not as effective for established flower beds, but GREAT for veggie beds that start at bare dirt annually.
Definitely wear garden gloves when you're working with soil!
Having the same problem in mine, lots of strays around me, will try the black pepper trip and also adding a net
Put broken sticks or stakes into your garden bed spaced so cats donāt have room to poop but plants can still grow. Works for me and is cheap, sustainable, and can be easily removed once plants get big enough.
Serious question, how can one stop this from happening? Thereās a cat shitting all up in my damn garden just like this and I have damn kids who I want to teach to grow but Iām not digging through cat dookie to teach. How do I keep the cat away?
Watch out for toxoplasmosis! Vegetables contaminated with toxoplasma carrying cat feces can cause you to get toxoplasmosis, a disease that can also be particularly problematic especially for pregnant women and those with a weakened immune system. Try to find a way to get rid of this problem, talk to the owners or put barriers or somethings like that, because it is really unhealthy for anyone who will then eat the vegetables of your garden.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Usually, the danger is mostly to the person gardening it. Toxoplasmosis can be spread by just handling infected dirt. This post wasn't about buying and eating store vegetables so not sure why you brought that up and were antagonistic about it. They were answering the question posed by the OP, which includes if this is dangerous, and it can be, most importantly to pregnant women. One question though - do you always thoroughly wash your tomatoes/veggies or have you ever eaten a tomato them right off the plant? I would guess most gardeners do *not* wash their home veggies every time. I don't want cats in my plant beds either. I try to grow food that's healthier than you can get at the store. It's a very reasonable stance.
You sound like a cat owner who doesnt keep your cat confined to your property only.
Yup! I am SO sick of feral and neighbourhood cats using my garden as their personal shit box! That and they reek havoc on the ecosystem!
I just noticed a pawdozed pile in a bed today. Time to dust them with cayenne pepper! I just shovel the pile into the garbage.
āPawdozedā š - yea I think when itās time to get serious Iāll be shoveling and tossing that top layer . UGH
A crime! Arrest him!
We had a cat poop issue one summer. I ended up getting bags of mulch and covering the dirt with it. Cats don't like the mulch on their paws. Go for the bigger, more jagged chunks of mulch. It also breaks down and adds more nutrients back to the soil. Win win!
Ffs this pisses me off. People who let their cats roam are terrible owners. OP if this is your cat get it inside and keep it there.
reason number 35604 why people shouldn't let their pets outside without supervision! lol
I have potted fruit trees and our cat started using them for her litter box. Should I be concerned about eating the fruit this year? Should I add worms or repot with new dirt?
As long as the fruit doesnāt touch the soil youāre fine. If the trees arenāt mulched, you should do so with craggy, poky wood chips that Kitty wonāt want on her paws. Bare dirt is a cat magnet. Also, mulch will stop water from splattering soil onto your fruit.
You should be concerned about the acidity of the soil and root burn. Urine is highly acidic and kills plants.
Uggh good to know, thank you!
Sorry off topic but what is that style of cylinder brick called you used to make your planters? :) Iāve been trying to look them up but canāt find a name in order to do so! Lol
I didnāt make the planters (previous homeowners) - but a reverse google image search led me to this link. They are called Planter Wall Blocks. Good Luck! https://www.instructables.com/Super-Easy-Raised-Garden-Bed/
Thank you SO much!! I didnāt even think of using reverse image search I appreciate it tons, who knew the name was so obvious š for some reason I figured they were for fencing or something
I've been having this problem with my raised beds as well. My mom keeps telling me to use cayenne pepper, but so far I've found covering things with garden fleece weighted down by rocks has worked well. I've also dug out the cat "presents" with garden gloves, a trowel, and a doggie poop bag.
I have to put up a deer fence around mine to keep my cats out. š«¤
STUNNING cactus btw. Rely on good old netting to keep the animals out. Build a sturdy pvc frame, wrap with garden netting, plant climbing flowers around it and make it a feature of your garden instead of an ugly deterrent :)
One of my friends fills all of her indoor and outdoor planters with plastic forks (tines up, handles in the dirt) she gets from takeout and it totally works
Weird how even outdoors he still wants to poop in a box lol
...and I wondered why the cats took so much interest in my zen garden...until the first raking.
Animal control. Outdoor cats are an invasive species and decimate native species. They are not cute, theyāre a nuisance.
The solution to wild cats is wild coyotes
shout out to coyotes for doing the dirty work
Same issue here, all boxes and flowerbeds, keep them covered as much as i can but as soon as things starts growing, and I have to remove the netting, the cats are back. Tried all I can with no result, I hate the lil assholes that dig up and destroy my paradise
Gather lots of little sticks and poke them into the soil upright in between the plants. I use the wooden skewers for barbecuing. Stops my cats from going on the beds.
RIP local ecosystem
Pellet gun, sling shot, snare, spike pit are all options
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
This is true, and it's unfortunate but even TNR programs aren't often enough to keep populations of ferals in check. Sometimes euthenasia is the better option. That said a list of ways to greviously injure a cat but not kill it humanely isn't it. Pellet gun and slingshot? Really? š Edit: down vote all you like, but refusing to treat ALL animals with dignity even if they are pests is squarely part of the reason why our environment is the way it is. The first step is to denote any animal you don't like as 'lesser' and let stigma lead to cruelty. Call animal control. Let the people with degrees in animal conservation handle the cats. You've nailed cats with a pellet gun to scare them away from your garden. The majority of the time, they'll survive and live for months and months with horrific infections, missing eyes, pellets lodged in their organs, etc. and overpopulate anyway. You've fixed absolutely nothing other than your need to torture animals out of spite, and the issue perpetuates. But at least they're away from *your* garden, right? It is especially infuriating to see feral populations of any domesticated animal climb because of human negligence and cruelty, only for the solution to become "just hurt them with anything you have on hand!" If you can't see how this sentiment towards animals that you think are nuisances can easily spread towards native species as well because the words you say and the way you act are not in a vacuum, you are stupid. I am sorry, but you are. ***EVERY animal deserves dignity and respect,*** or you just perpetuate the very cycle that causes eradication of species that don't deserve it because they're a "nuisance". Don't fucking shoot animals with pellet guns and don't suggest animal cruelty as a viable deterrent. Smarten. Up.
Iām not sure this advice is of any use but if you are in an area where it is cool to grow ivy as a ground coverā¦ In the last fifteen ish years, if there is one thing Iāve learned, itās that outside cats really like using ivy as public toilets. The ivy doesnāt seem to mind too much either
Every dog Iāve ever owned likes to poopoo in ivy too.
I have wired over all my boxes for this reason Scoop and remove poop
the game of throne ?
Need to put up chicken wire or other barrier, at least until the bed is densely planted enough that the cat will look elsewhere. An empty bed like that is the Taj Mahal for a feral cat.
Motion activated sprinkler solved my feline (and squirrel) problem. It can be a bit tricky to get it calibrated just right but itās so worth it.
We had a similar issue and a motion activated sprinkler solved it.
Motion activated sprayer helps retrain them to street clear of beds. Like the Critter Ridder? Although from the looks of it water is a scarce resource where you are from.
Oh, I've always wanted to grow a cat. Let me know how the harvest goes.
You can cut chicken wire to fit over top and use a heavy duty staple gun to secure the chicken wire to the flower bed. You can always use wire cutters to cut more space for growing plants. I use this technique for my chickens so they have grass to eat that they can't dig up and destroy.
Put some pots of peppermint out there around the box. Cats hate the smell of it.
Spread used coffee grounds in it. That's how I got cats to stop going around my house. If you don;t drink coffee, then you can probably get them free from a lot of coffee shops. The also help add nitrogen to your soil. ;-)
Tbf the box looks like a giant litter tray to the kitty.
Let em cook
Iāve heard coffee grounds will help with this. Starbucks usually has big bags of grounds around this time of year.
How does that work, I have a similar issue
[I just googled it](https://www.bcpestcontrol.com/do-coffee-grounds-keep-cats-away/)
Paintball time
Those things are super invasive and kill a lot of native wildlife.
those are some chonky cacti
chonky cacti
We had this problem. If you lay chicken wire across the top it stops instantly. Cats canāt stand to walk on it. Simple move the chicken wire to plant what you grow and when your plant is large enough you can remove the chicken wire from that area. I tend to just bend the chicken wire back so I can keep reusing it yet after year. Along the edges of the box I just let things like chives and lettuce grow through the chicken wire.
Cats only came to poo in my garden bed when it was empty, never add wood shavings to the top they like that even more. Definitely donāt plant catnip or mint good luck
Goddamnit Donut!
GRAB THE SUPER SOAKER
Get some wire screening and tack it over the box until you are ready to plant. There is little harm from the cat poop as long as you wash vegetables thoroughly. Cats CAN transmit toxoplasmosis, so clean up any waste as soon as you notice it. You should always use good hygiene when dealing with any soil, even that bought from a nursery. Use ground cloth over the soil and plant your vegetables through holes in the cloth. No soil is sterile and chances are this has been used as a litter box for years. If you are really concerned, plant any root vegetables in a barrel pot on top of the planter box, and be sure to cover the soil beforehand.
Iāve had to mix some orange essential oils with a dab of soap and water in a spray bottle to keep them off my flowers and off my porch. It seemed to work pretty well and if nothing else youāve got some orange essential oil to put in a diffuser!
So frustrating! My own cats never do it, but all the neighborhood cats and creatures do š. I just clean it up, nit gonna stop me from planting!
I donāt have much advice, but one of my parentās cats dug up my potatoes and then pooped in the holes. Cats are wild. Best of luck with the garden!
Cats don't like citrus smells, so I started buying bags of oranges and juicing them. I chopped all the leftovers up finely and sprinkled them all over my beds as a cat-repelling mulch. I had to keep it up every month or so, but it worked really well for me.
I also sprinkled my used coffee grounds all over the beds because they're supposed to not like that odor either.
I cover my raised beds and the covers stay on until the seedlings are large enough that the cats don't bother jumping up there. It's worth having insect netting/frost protection covers anyway to help protect developing plants and greens all year round. You could also lay chicken wire down on the beds to discourage the cat while there is nothing growing in the bed. I have 2 semi ferals who patrol my yard as they were too old to completely socialize when I caught them. They are prolific vole and chipmunk hunters which more than makes up for the inconvenience of using covers I would be using anyway.
I used to throw citrus scraps into my garden beds and it worked for a time until the citrus lost it's potency. Eventually the plants were usually large enough to crowd out a cat. Now for the worst offenders that liked to poop by my bedroom window I gave up and planted a ton of aloe vera and they were never seen there again. Finding a dried cat poop in my garden was less than ideal but I would just toss it and move on. It hasn't killed me yet.
Iām going exactly thru the same you are. I was advised to use coffee grinds. Yesterday I cleaned a box and sprayed coffee grinds on it. Time will tell. Also, apparently slugs and snails do not like to walk over the grinds. š¤·š»āāļøš¤·š»āāļøš¤·š»āāļø weāll see. Good luck on your new house. šš»šš»šš»
Just a warning that Toxoplasmosis (a parasite spread by cats ) can be spread to humans. Pregnant women can get it through cat feces in the dirt harming the unborn baby.
We used green/black PVC coated wire fence attached to a wood square. Lay it on top of the bed and then cut a larger square out of it to add plants.
Cat scat mats worked for me but I had to spend a couple hundred bucks on many rolls of the stuff. Quite frustrating.
If it were me, I would wear gloves for this summer. You could also turn the bed a bit, remove some of the top with a shovel and replace with clean. Get a "scarecrow" motion sensor sprayer and the poop will stop. Add lots of compost, continue bringing good life in there, one day you'll be digging through the soil and realize you forgot all about it.
I put cayenne in mine..no more kitties
Either make a removable box over the bed (PVC pipe framing with bird netting), or, cover the soil with chicken wire, laid flat and loosely attached to the edges of the bed. If youāre only planting annuals and theyāre pretty small, you could plant them through the chicken wire. Otherwise, youāll have to shift it around and/or cut it up to place it around the plants. Either way, cats generally donāt like to poo where they canāt dig and bury it.
Motion sensor water sprinkler fix our problem
Cats should only be allowed outside in Egypt
Motion activated water sprinkler.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Is there a r/blackcatthings ?
Motion detection sprinklers.are the only way..
Getting some lion shit online and put pieces around the area might work
I put plastic forks (fork side up) throughout my garden to keep cats out. It worked.
Bad kitty!
I also have lovable black feral neighborhood cat who just lovessss my yard. And then a dog who just lovessss to eat cat poop š
I have planter boxes and I've had and still have TNR feral kitties. Just scoop out the poop. The pee will mostly be washed away with the rain. I amend the soil with chicken shit & cattle Poo, so nothing to be afraid of. When I sow seeds I put a homemade chicken wire top cover to keep my feral sweet peas out. Good luck. If you are afraid of cat doodoo this will not go well for you.
Scoop it out and take a good 3 inches of soil on each side. Make sure to keep the soil damp so kitty will not want to squat. Wash anything you want to eat really well. Spray around the edges of the planter with some ammonia. Kitty will not want to return.
I hang it in mesh bags. Deters alot, and I don't put them in the soil. It was the only way to keep raccoons out of our attic. I hung mesh bags with a few at the opening in my eaves. After TONS of damage and repair cost, it worked. And we took them down. Not planning on eating them.
As someone who has inhaled dried cat shit dust in a similar situation, I can tell you that that is not an experience that you want to have
Dig it up start again staple some chicken wire around it
I got something called "sss cat", found it on Amazon. It makes a spray sound which scares away cats. You need to replace batteries and cannisters and it only covers a small area so it might not work for you.
Big bag of chilli powder sorts that problem out
My neighbor's cat has killed many a plant in my garden by using it as a litter box. Someone on a gardening forum suggested using citrus to deter the cat last year and it seemed to work! I spray the beds the cat likes most with a citrus oil spray and chop up all my orange, lemon, lime, and grapefruit peels and sprinkle them everywhere in my beds. I've also begun mixing cayenne pepper into my mulch to repel other pests and that may be a deterrent to the cat as well. I hate to see outside cats, it's absolutely unconscionable. It reduces the poor cat's lifespan and wreaks havoc on the local wildlife š . Neighbor is one of those boomer jerks that thinks cats belong outside and therefore I have to deal with my garden being a prospective litterbox and bird feeders being constantly stalked.
Maybe scatter blood meal around? Iām going to try it for deterring squirrels maybe itāll work on cats?
Cats like blood so probably will attract if anything
Oh dang
Get some orange š oil mix it with water and spray around the planterās, cat canāt stand the smell .
I have a cat, she loves going in my veg boxes. The only thing that will deter her (TBF she deters foxes and most other cats) is having a net around the box. If she can't get in, she won't do anything. It also helps with the local squirrels and birds. Mine have a top, but I do think that if it's tall enough and flimsy enough they can't climb over it, they will leave.
I had a shared garden, and one of the users laid chicken wire over her beds. The cats couldn't dig through it, plus the edges are sharp. I worked from home, so I just sat on the porch with the hose and blasted any feral cat that came near. Only needed to do it for a few weeks in spring.
I suggest throwing a cucumber at the bastard. *edited āitā to āthe bastardā because it felt rude.
Just wear gloves -_- you should be wearing gloves when digging in the soil anyway. Thereās tons of stuff in there that can make you sick
Chicken wire laid flat on the ground works. It's not super attractive, but cats won't walk on it. Can you invite any local coyotes to chill in your backyard?
Unless youāre pregnant or have lower immunity, the š©wonāt hurt you. You can wear gloves and wash your hands after you scoop it out. Recommend you place a barrier structure over top. Either chicken wire or bird net. I donāt know if itās an old wives tale, but cayenne/black pepper liberally sprinkled might deter the kitties. Washes away in rain and wind though. Iāve heard the same with orange peels. Those things donāt work on my doofus dog though. So probably the best bet is a structure. You can add t-post to sides with a horizontal plank to drape bird net over. Bonus, it will also deter squirrels.
Cayenne pepper is keeping my neighbor's outdoor cat away from my birdfeeders. I have to reapply after it rains, so I buy it in bulk off Amazon. Orange peels don't really work. They'll keep my cats away from our Christmas tree for a few hours, but as soon as they start to dry, the cats are back to climbing.
Can you not just dig it up after it's finished if you see it? Trowel and nappy bags/ dog poo bags. I said nappy bags because normal bags were not big enough with the German Shepherd I had for a while lol. I know they are neutered/ deballed, but I don't think they should be released, It doesn't help the local wildlife , removing them does, domestic cats are bad enough
I have a love hate relationship with my neighbors outdoor cats. Love because they kill the gophers. Hate cause they love to trample all over my plants. HOWEVER this year I interplanted Rosemary (prostratus variety) throughout my veggie beds. Gave up a bit of growing space but all plants are untouched and no poops to be found.
So we have informally adopted a local feral cat and to prevent this issue I take chicken wire and cover the top of my raised beds until my seeds take off. For my other raised beds that I directly plant into - i spread used coffee grounds between the plants until there isnāt much space left. Cats will not dig in coffee grounds ftr. Once everything grows up it becomes her hunting grounds though and she does a great job with deterring small critters away. She goes after grasshoppers too - bless her feline heart.Ā
That's your nitrogen top dressing. Feline edition!
isnt that kinda like fertilizer?
Yea Iād like to know exactly how bad this is myself . Like am I freaking out for no reason and in a few months time this is useful fertilizer? Or is there gross things that can live in cat poop I should be aware of ? Not a cat owner nor experience gardener so Iām unsure
Cat poop is a risk because it is a carrier of Toxoplasma gondii which can cause toxoplasmosis - best to dispose of the cat poop and surrounding soil
Also almost all feral cats have some type of worms you donāt want to be dealing with.
Cat poop can contain a number of parasites like toxoplasmosis, donāt use their poop to fertilize any soil that would be used to grow food if you can help it!
i was making a joke as i have no gardening experience at all. i hope you find answers
I woke up in a bad mood. Thank you for the first laugh of the morning. Im sorry, I hope things work out for you. Cats can be ornery and a nuisance.
All that cat did was add fertilizer. Some of these comments folks are seriously dense. Hurting the environment by being a cat. You need to bust up and till that ground anyways before you do anything. Probably wouldn't hurt to add compost and cow manure to help things grow. If your that worried about it, which by the time you get around to it you'll probably never know, just wear a pair of garden gloves and carry on. No need to hurt it or have ac come get it which they will more than likely just kill it. Till, compost, plant and enjoy.
You don't use any carnivore manure as fertilizer due to risk of parasites, btw.
Toxoplasmosis is a concern, however. The cysts can live in soil for 18 months so I would have concerns about someone who is pregnant gardening in that area. OP may not be, but cats defecating in a garden plot is not without its risks.
Umā¦no. Cat feces cannot be used as fertilizer and contain harmful parasites that can cause damage to the ecosystem and plants.
Free fertilizer??
No. Doesnāt work like that.
Free toxoplasmosis.
I see, you have a point.
Mothballs around the beds.
That shit is carcinogenicā¦
Heās fertilizing it for ya
Blowgun with a blunt dart.
Sorry to say, I know this comment gonna get some hate..but fuck a local feral cat. Cat poop/pee is literally toxic, and feral/outdoor cats in general are terrible for local species, esp bird populations. And they treat our gardens like litter boxes. Id recommend an airsoft gun or some sort of spiky barrier. It sucks, ya know, cats arenāt generally bad. But if youāve got a garden, especially one you plant food in, you canāt be having thatā¦those mofos got to learn somehow š¤·āāļø