Hello - I'm having problems with cat poop in our garden. Ever since we moved into our house our neighbour's cat has used our garden as a toilet. We tried all the cat-deterrent things (powder to shake on the borders, an ultrasonic cat scarer) available in B&Q with no luck. Everyone I spoke to said the only way to keep a cat out of the garden was to get a cat ourselves.

We got a cat back in September (not to try to keep out strange cats I haste to add - we had talked about this for a couple of years and were waiting until we owned a house rather than a flat) and she has had access to our garden over the last few months. At first she would still use her litter tray, but she obviously didn't approve of the new litter I was trying and stopped going in the tray. Unfortunately she has taken to using the same border as the neighbour's cat. After the recent snow melted it was like a minefield - we must have counted at least 10 poops in what is a very small border . Some are definitely Milly's as we have seen her 'in action'. I thought cats never used their own garden as a toilet? Any ideas of how we can stop both cats? Besides the hygiene issue it looks awful (neither cat is covering it) and whenever we plant up the border the plants get dug up again .

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Im speaking with my bosses voice here as she is an avid gardener and dislikes cats pooping in her garden for obvious reasons...

If you prevent your cat from going in your garden through whatever means, then you are bascially asking it to go in someone else's garden instead - this person may hate cats, have children or just genuinely not want a cat doing their business next to their daffodils.

I am a cat owner myself and all my 3 are outdoors - I am fairly certain they and possibly other neighbourhood cats use the flowerbed under our kitchen window at the front of the house. I removed all the plants and barked it over as I get fed up of trying to garden amongst the piles. I've accepted that it's where they go and on occasion I go out and dig it over myself and put more bark down.

However, my personal take on it is that we have decided to have cats and therefore if they poop in our house or in our garden then that is part of the deal, although I get why you dont want the other cat going there.

If you want to discourage you could try coarse gravel so they dont want to stand on it or permanent natural plants - I think Chilli bushes are meant to be a good cat deterrant.

lol cats of course use their own garden to mark it, your girl is going in the same place either to show the cat that its her place or maybe she now thinks its the toilet and all cats go there!

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I am in agreement with CDC.Your cat has to poop somewhere,if it wont use a litter tray then it is only right that it uses your garden.After all why should it use somebody elses.

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Yes, I am afraid there is little you can do. It is not fair to expect cats to use other people's gardens! I would suggest you get an additional litter tray (make sure you keep it super clean and change sand regularly) for her. The best long-term solution for the garden is to plant a creeping (cat-safe) evergreen, perennial groundcover plant. Good luck.

I also think your cat could be trying to claim her territory and overwhelm the scent of the 'invador' as they are not digging it in. If she is trying to warn off the other cat - fair play to her. I'd let her continue until the other cat gives up. As for the poop problem - just dig it in and it won't harm the plants. I've heard that lavender is a natural deterrent but I'm not convinced on that score myself yet.

When we had cats at home, they always used garden, we had a spot at top, quiet spot with some privacy which they adopted! As has ben said, it hopefully discourages them from using someone elses garden

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Fairy smiling, smokes cheroot ...
Simply doesn't give a hoot.

Good point about privacy. You could allocate an area and surround it with some pretty, soft grasses (our cat loves stipa tennuissima but there are loads of choices), sprinkle a little used cat litter on the area to encourage her and I suspect she'll be happy to use it

We used to smile at ours disappearing to their "chamber" for "morning toilet" they used to wait their turn I swear

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Fairy smiling, smokes cheroot ...
Simply doesn't give a hoot.

Thanks for the replies folks. I'm new to cat ownership and just had it in my head they didn't go in their own gardens (hence why they always use someone else's!), but it seems I'm proved wrong . I have no problem with Milly using our garden and was certainly not looking for a way to get her to poo in other people's gardens (Milly does 'ladylike' poops, those of the neighbour's cat are a different story ). If she stuck to the litter tray for all her business rather than just when the catflap is locked at night I'd be happier - that way I would know she is not being a pest like my neighbour's cat. That will teach me for trying to be 'green' and try out a biodegradable litter (bio catolet), again I'm learning cats can be fussy creatures! It's more their chosen site - the rest of the garden is not that tidy, so plenty of places to go, yet they choose the border nearest the patio that is the only one planted up nicely - I guess they like the softened, dug-over soil. The ideas from Kiwi and Amethyst made me laugh regarding a cat 'toilet cubicle' and we will look into that as we redesign the garden.

It's more the neighbour's cat that is an on-going problem and I think that Kiwi may be right that there is a bit of a 'turfwar' going on between the two. I've posted on here before regarding the behaviour between this big ginger tom and our cat and the consensus seemed to be that they were friends (off topic but is it friendly behaviour for him to be trying to mount her? she has been spayed). I guess I'll just have to get shovelling more often...