Garden owners probably know this all too well: you have just dug up your bed and planted one or two new plants and suddenly your neighbor's cat comes, happy about the beautiful, loose soil, and does its business right there. Of course, it not only damages the new plants, but also leaves behind a pile that you then have to dispose of. This gets on the nerves of even the biggest cat lovers. Are there any tips against cats in the garden to prevent this without harming the cat?
My neighbor's cat goes into my garden - what can I do about it?
It doesn't matter whether it's a strange cat in the garden or even your own. TheSmells from cat urineand feces can be really unbearable. How can you keep the cat away from the garden or at least certain areas such as the seating area, the flower and vegetable beds and the children's sandbox?
Tips against cats in the garden – water, but in the right way
Everyone knows: cats absolutely don't like water (at least most of them). Accordingly, you've probably tried this trick before. You've splashed the cat with water over and over again, but it persists and takes advantage of the moments when you can't react. Then take advantage of the possibility of automatic devices! You can equip your sprinklers with motion sensors so that they turn on whenever the cat triggers them. We're sure she'll give it up eventually.
It is important that you place the sensors so that they are not constantly activated by other movements, such as branches and twigs moving in the wind. To do this, you can point them downwards and at the level of the floor.
Essential oils, fruit peels and other smells
Like most animals, cats have a very sensitive olfactory system, which is why they react with aversion to some smells that are normal for us. Accordingly, they are perfect for a relatively permanent deterrent (at least until the next rain or watering). Not only simple banana peels, which you chop up and distribute on the selected areas, are suitable for this purpose. Also suitable are the peels of citrus fruits, which, as you know, emit a rather strong smell. This is especially true for lemon peels.
Essential oils such as peppermint oil, lavender oil or cinnamon oil, which you should definitely dilute with water, are also perfect. Simply spray the products on and around the desired areas. Since citrus scents are quite effective, as already mentioned, you can also use them in the form of essential oils.
The cat poops in the garden? Eggshells can help
If the cat has a favorite spot in the garden, you can specifically keep it away from there by spreading broken eggshells around. This is more of a good idea for beds, so you should come up with something different for the lawn or sandbox. Otherwise, this trick works quite easily: collect eggshells and break them roughly. You then scatter these fragments on the ground.
The big advantage of this method is that this way you can plant your plants the same waysupply with calcium.
Cover the cat's garden toilet
You can also temporarily place grids or nets over previously preferred beds to stop the cat from digging in the ground. Even so, she will quickly lose interest and look for another place. Such protection does not disturb the plants as long as it is temporary, as sufficient light and moisture can still reach them. If the plants are larger and cannot be covered with the grid or net, they can also be cut to size and simply placed between or around the plants.
However, this is only a temporary solution, because once this cover is no longer there, your neighbor's cat (or your own) could quickly find its way back there. For this reason, you should look for more permanent solutions and one of them would also be our final tip:
Tips against cats in the garden: If all else fails, offer the cat a toilet
Doesn't seem to help? Don't despair, we have another idea that might help you. If you don't manage to drive the animal away and prevent it from doing its business where you don't want, then just try to offer a more interesting toilet. It can be oneclassic cat toilet with cat litter(this also neutralizes the smells) or you can try using simple sand, which cats also like to dig in.
Of course, you should also make the animal aware of this special place for them. For this you can again use scents, but this time you prefer them.Catnip, for exampleis very popular with fluffy friends and valerian even more so.
Further tips against cats in the garden or how to drive them away,can be found here.
