Keeping Cats off your lawn and flowerbeds

[Rose]

Has anyone had any luck keeping cats off your lawn and flowerbeds? I love cats, do get me wrong, but they make such a mess of the flowerbeds especially. I've tried pepper and a few other strange things, but I just can see to keep the little darlings at bay. Your suggestions, however weird, would be appreciated.

 

[KennyV]

Keeping cats on your lawn & gardens ... will keep mice and other destructive rodents away. :wink:...
Especially this time of year when they are looking for a wintering spot... :smile:KennyV

 

[adan]

This is something I don't mind for as long as they do their job of keeping mice and rats away. There are a lot of rats and mice in my place, if you let them.

I agree with you. Cat poo on the bermuda grass is a little inconvenient. But I have learned to look at them as manure for my grass. I just cover them with soil first, mix and spread. That might sound yak to some. But cat poo, cow poo and dog poo are very much part of everyday life here

 

[Green Girl]

I know what works for the deer up in my neck of the woods----perhaps it would help with cats as well. I buy the least expensive bar deoderant soap I can find and I use a potatoe peeler and shave off slices and spread it around in my flower beds.

 

[Rawlings]

If you are still looking for a way to keep them off your lawn then you could try those electronic sonic sound things. I know people who swear by them. If you have bird feeders or are concerned about the danger of disease from the poo then it's worth a try. Here is a link to more information.

 

[littleAudrey]

Some folk round here fill plastic bottles with water and lay them in the flower beds. I don't know how but this is supposed to keep the cats away. Possibly they think it looks like a predator. Personally I welcome cats and I find that they always bury their own poo!

 

[Rose]

Thank you for the deodorant soap suggestion. Actually this is for my cat hating neighbor. She isn't really cat hating, more afraid of cats then anything else. She doesn't mind them on the lawn, but she is too afraid to sit out on her patio if she sees a cat around.

I've been very successful with keeping my own cats from digging up my flower beds. I used the spray bottle method. What I do, is watch over the flower beds by the house in the spring. And if the little darlings start digging, I spray them with warm water. I've used this method in the house too, away from the good furniture of course. Over time the cats associate the spray of water (which most cats hate) and he flower beds, the cats don't dig in them nearly so much. Even if I just pick up the bottle and say "spray bottle" they will think twice about what they were about to do.

However, just lining up spray bottles in the garden wouldn't do much good, I would think. There has to be a person on the other end of the bottle.

 

[adan]

Some folk round here fill plastic bottles with water and lay them in the flower beds. I don't know how but this is supposed to keep the cats away. Possibly they think it looks like a predator. Personally I welcome cats and I find that they always bury their own poo!

This is absolutely right. Cats bury their own poo, unlike dogs. It's cat urine that smells absolutely awful.

As to plastic bottles, this is the first time I hear about this. All the while I thought cats would play with anything that moves with a stroke of their front leg. But filling these bottles with water is something else. Let me try it

 

[carla6]

I've heard that cutting up citrus rinds (especially oranges, lemons, and grapefruit) and spreading them around your garden beds will help keep cats away. My neighbor swears by it. As soon as the rinds degrade, you put down some more.