Cats!

I live in a so-called townhouse. It's very similar to a condominium in the US. Owners are allowed pets. I don't mind someone's cat entering my so-called exclusive use area (yard). But I do mind when that cat has decided to use my flower beds as a toilet!
What is the best deterrent to stop the cat from doing this?

Kindly don't post any cruel or inhumane advice.

 

Howdy Eldon, we used to have a similar problem. We have a large yard and grow native flowering shrubs to encourage honey eaters and lorikeets by giving them natural habitat but the neighbours cats used to lie hidden inside the shrubs and ambush then kill the birds while they were feeding.
We found getting a rhodesian ridgeback fixed the problem within two to three months. Cats are never seen "in" our yard although they sometimes chance it and run the gauntlet along the top of the 6 foot timber fence surrounding our back yard.

 

Hi joffa, the problem is the front yard is too small to keep a dog.
I was thinking of something I could plant, or perhaps an environment friendly mixture I could spray along the flower beds.

 

I called up my mate who also (as it happens) lives in a townhouse and has a similar problem in the flowers on the end of his deck that overlooks his small yard.
He uses lemon and eucalyptus mixture in a water pistol he keeps by the back door and also sprinkles a mixture of witch hazel and olba oil on the flower beds to discourage them from digging.
Here is the link http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Homemade-Cat-Repellent

 

Short term you can try orange or lemon peels. or vinegar. I have heard moth balls but can't testify to their effectiveness other than they smell bad.
You can buy stuff to spray on ground but you have to reapply every time it rains or you water your flower beds. Good luck.

 

Now where's that LMAO smiley when you need it?
My friend's Siamese cat catches puff adders! But he doesn't poooop in my garden...

Thanks joffa.

If I knew which cat is the culprit, I would go poooop in it's garden.

 

Moth balls are supposedly effective against cats as well as skunks, but I wouldn't put them in a garden where you're going to eat anything that comes out of it. Also, your yard will smell like moth balls, and ick.

I've heard citrus spray and/or peels, coffee grounds, etc. but they have to be replaced as the scent fades. Best option is a motion-activated sprinkler, so every time a cat jumps into your flower bed it gets a shot of water. Beats having to sit around paying attention with a spray bottle, and is good for a giggle if you happen to see it when it goes off. Cats hate water.

A friend had good luck putting spiky stuff like jacks or rose bush clippings with thorns on top of the dirt. It hurts their paws and they learn to stay away.

I tried some of the "predator urine" you can buy that's supposed to repel all manner of animals. First, holy good lord does it smell AWFUL, and for the love of all that's holy DO NOT get any on you when you're spraying! Second, it repelled deer and rabbits, but the squirrels seemed to dig more just to spite me. If you do something like that, only spray around your garden, not directly on your plants. Mine is a container garden so I sprayed the sides of the pots and on the cement around them. Anything you spray, whether a citrus spray or one of the predator sprays, has to be reapplied every couple of weeks or after it rains or after you water.

 

I can't fathom the citrus spray. Our cats sleep under the lemon and orange trees even with fruit hanging down to the ground. But maybe it works for cats who aren't used to the citrus.

 

It may be different smells work on some but not all cats just like people are attracted or repelled by some smells. I have had cats that loved catnip and some it had no effect on. As for the lemons and oranges maybe cut citrus peals would smell stronger than a uncut fruit hanging on a tree. Just guessing.

 

they make a sprinkler that is motion activated , it would give them cats a good bath ......oh wait cats don't like water!

 

My previously mentioned friend first bought commercial citronella spray for repelling the cats but he reckons it was pretty well useless and then found the homemade lemon and eucalyptus (recipe #2 in link) repellent works great. He squirts them with one shot of the water pistol and they don't come back for ages. Ignore the danger warning as there is so little eucalyptus (20 drops) diluted in a litre of water that it is only the smell left which is what the cats don't like. To risk poisoning the cat you would have to spray it undiluted. He thinks the lemon oil is only there as a fixative for the eucalyptus oil as eucalyptus oil doesn't dissolve in water. He lives in the inner Melbourne city area (tiny & very expensive houses) and the houses are all apartments or townhouses with hardly any land and in his street there are about 30 cats as most people don't have dogs due to lack of space. He has a tiny back yard under his first storey deck and the yard is all concrete and with just enough room for a fold down clothes line, a place for his two wheelie bins to live and space to park his car off street. On his deck he has a row of large flower boxes and they are around two sides of the deck to hide the rear laneway and some of his neighbours roof so he has a bit of privacy when entertaining. His plant boxes were popular with the cats because there aren't too many places in the immediate area with gardens nor any parks as it is an inner city concrete jungle with narrow laneways and houses abutting more houses. Not where I would ever choose to live

My sister's cat sleeps under the big lemon tree in her yard and doesn't seem to be bothered if lemons are on the ground nearby or hanging from the tree just above his head. When my sister's next door neighbour wanted to discourage my sister's cat from using her kid's sandpit for a toilet she couldn't be bothered with the water pistol idea (in case her kids used it on each other lol) so she just used the Olbas oil and Witch Hazel recipe I posted earlier and my sister's cat definitely doesn't like that and does his business elsewhere I think she gives the sand a light spray then rakes the sand and gives it another light spray and she does this once a month

 

First off, thank you for adding that part to your post. As a cat owner whose pets scream in misery and rage if they are not allowed outside in the evenings, I do appreciate that you're keeping in mind that though these cats are a pest and a nuisance to you, to someone else out there, they are a beloved pet. Again, thank you for that.

Second, cats are neither cowardly or stupid, which is why deterrents are not going to be successful if they require you to be there. Water pistols are a great example - all they will do is teach the cat to check and make sure you're not around before they go in your flower beds. Something that stings their nose and makes their eyes water without harming them, is usually the most effective option. I once taught an indoor cat to stop chewing on power cords by applying a thin coating of Tabasco to them, and then letting the vinegar and peppers d their job. I figured the burning pain on his tongue and throat was better than being electrocuted. That same cat used to LOVE chewing on house plants. Spraying them with lemon juice and sprinkling lemon pepper on top of the soil in the pot kept him away from the plants.

TL;DR: Joffa's link for home-made repellents should do it for you.