Bodily functions of cats in my garden

CJBA wrote (see)

Rowan, as a cat owner (and a responsible one at that) I'd say that there's b*gger all you can do to control where your cats go during the day/night and what they do when they're there. 

True to a certain extent... but I have heard good reports of systems using overhangs of netting both to keep cats in a garden and out.  Pretty major to set up though!

CJBA wrote (see)

My neighbours leave their cats out all day, so they come into my house eat my cats'  food and sleep in their baskets.  I don't particularly like it, but as soon they hear me, they whip out of the cat flap (and then proceed to give me the eye from the garden).  One of them has now started attempting to mark my house as his territory by weeing on it .

You know you can get flaps that only let your cats in?  Some use an electronic key on the cat's collar.  You can even get ones that recognise a cat's microchip if they won't keep a collar on!  You might even want to consider blocking the flap and letting your cats in and out yourself: if they are starting 'pee wars' in your house your cats are likely to be getting pretty stressed and could well be marking themselves.  In which case blocking up the flap would make them feel more secure (think how you'd feel if your door had no lock and the local thug wandered in on a regular basis... flaps with special locks may not be enough to re-assure a cat in that case, as they may not realise only they can get in).

(Sorry, ambition to be a cat shrink... )

Thanks, "cat shrink" but electronic cat flaps are fine - as long as your cat doesn't lose the collar (mine have) if they do, they can't get in as the flap will only open if operated by the electronic tag.

Blocking the flap and letting the cats out myself - not in the middle of the night, or when I'm out during the day

We've locked the flap before to keep them in, it just makes them extremely stressed.

We have one of those that you can use 4 different ways - really the problems is next door not allowing their cats in - or feeding them enough as they come to us for supplies.  Quite funny really to see one of theirs trying to escape through the cat flap (in a hurry) he's too fat and often gets stuck.

A neighbour a few doors down uses wire - I've ended up at the vet with a cat with torn paws thanks to the wire - cuts needed stitches.

Heyas, 

It's coming up to winter so this wont help till the spring, but the non-toxic stuff you need is Coleus canina - it's a plant developed by a german hoticulturist specificly to repel cats.

You can buy it online here

If you don't want to buy your plants online you could try your local garden centre, or alternatively Lavendar is also a milder cat repelant (so you'd have to plant more).

This is a longer term repellant to Lion poo which is very effective.

My border collie has been repelling cats from my property, but I still have Lavendar cause I love the smell

We had this problem a few years ago when I lived in another house....cat poo all over the yard.

Lion dung worked a TREAT - honestly.

You can buy it form the garden centre - it was called silent roar - and comes in dry pellety things to sprinkle about. Brilliant.

Er, now I have 2 tom cats who 'go' outside. Not in my yard...not sure where actually. I just have to hope it is on the little grassy park areas we have around here not the neighbours yards

Didn't know that Rowan, they've been chipped, so will look into that.

Didn't know about lavendar either, but oddly enough, growing cat nip might encourage them to roll in it, sleep under it etc, but never (in my experience) use it as a loo.

PS - the cats using it, I mean, of course.

Vicki, that'll explain why they don't poo in my lavender border then...they usually don't bother with my veg patch in the summer because I grow courgettes with spiky old leaves.

Barley, I have a friend who keeps a jar of 'cat rocks' on the kitchen shelf...but that kind of deterrant only works if you're there when they're doing the business. Unless I can rig up some kind of tripwire/super soaker

Thanks all, there's some great ideas on here.