chicken wire or bird netting on the ground where they are going. Not tight to the ground, fluff it up.

Electric wire on fences to block their entry into your yard. Watch, they move in regular patterns/pathways. Fi-Shock is fifty bucks or so at Petco.

heavy mulch like gravel or large bark chunks or cedar chips.

They are smart enough to know when you are close by so scaring them only works when you are there. They'll just come back when you aren't.

motion sensing water cannon like Scarecrow, if you are handy you can build one with my friend's plans linked below for less than you can buy the name brand. He has a parts list and pictures.

Here is a link that might be useful: Heronizer DIY Scarecrow

If you know whose cat it is, call the city and report it - hopefully they will be out there to issue a ticket or at the least have a talk with the owner (I've done it, and yes the township did come out).

Or, you could just report as a stray and let Animal Control deal with it. Bet that will teach the fools not to let their precious "kitty" roam....

I had a huge problem with stray cats for years. Never found a way to keep them out although they really don't like digging in very moist soil, so that's a possibility.

Suddenly after never ever seeing a rabbit in my neighborhood, we had them. Don't know where they came from, but they came... and reproduced.... babies all over the place eating everything.

Then one day I saw a cat in my yard chasing a rabbit. I had to rethink my distaste for stray cats. Rabbits or cats? The cats are now welcome.

Kevin

I have an outdoor cat, who helps control the population of mice, moles, voles, and rabbits in the yard. But she does catch a bird occasionally, which bothers me. How you site the feeders and bird baths is important - it will be safer for the birds to locate them out in the open, at least 5-6 feet away from any foliage where the cat can hide and ambush the birds while they are bathing or feeding. But the birds also need some dense shrubbery or evergreens nearby (approx 10 feet) to escape hawks.

As for digging in the gardens, the only time I've observed this was when one of my cats at the previous house did this after sowing a row of veggie seeds. I laid down a large piece of wire fencing over the row of seeds, and that solved the problem.

The scarecrow motion activated sprayer does work for cats, just noticed them at a local family owned hardware store for the first time at quite a bit less than I paid for my own years ago (bought it for deer) so maybe price has come down.

Try 'Get Off My Garden' jello-like green repellent cubes, or 'Critter Ridder' granules by Havahart - get the granules, not the spray.

I think what started this is that I put down a new layer of finer pinch mulch before the heat of summer really kicks in, and now they are loving digging in the new mulch.
Maybe once the mulch settles and starts to decompose, the cats will stop. It doesn't help that they come to get the birds at my bird feeder close by too. But, I'm not willing to get rid of the bird feeder because of some irresponsible owners.

I feel your frustration. We have two indoor cats but the neighbours have several outdoor cats. I will not hesitate to send my Black Lab out to chase them out of my gardens which keeps most of them at bay.

There is always that problem cat though... One owner does not bring in his cat at night and that is when it comes around to use the gardens as a litter box. This cat is also aggressive and thinks it owns the birdbath. For that one I've called the owner and asked that they put a collar with a bell on the furball, and bring the cat in at night. At first the owner refused and I advised them that if they did not I would trap it and hand it over to the SPCA/city which would create quite the inconvenience for them. It worked.

We've had Coyote sightings so I'm hoping that solves a bit of the problem...

Keep that animal control officer on the burner if all the other kindly suggestions don't work. Say they are "ferral" and you are concerned that they may be unvaccinated for rabies. Also, if this is true or you lie well, you've noticed they can be aggressive when approached.

that's what animal control officers are trained and paid to do. I actually agree with the park manager, but if he'd thought of it he should have called the animal control officer.

Yeah, but half these suggestions mean you have to be on site when they come around. You're not going to skip a trip to beach or pool waiting forever to snag them are you.

So, when you tired of the acrobatics, call the cat cops

How many cities/towns actually have "leash laws" for cats? Mine certainly does not. There are more indoor/outdoor cats on my street than dogs but the dogs cause me far more aggravation.

Most of my flowerbeds are too tightly packed for cats to dig in. I use a lot of groundcovers as living mulch.

But, I'm not willing to get rid of the bird feeder because of some irresponsible owners.

Did you read my post about siting your feeders and bird baths properly so the birds will be safe? My cat has never gotten a bird on my feeders, which are pole-mounted 6 feet up and properly baffled. There is also lots of cover nearly. Cats are not the only predators that will find the birds to be easy prey. Feeders and bird baths cause birds to congregate in numbers that are not natural, and this attracts predators. They are also more susceptible to window collisions, and diseases that spread from feeders/bird baths that aren't kept clean. Do a little googling and become a responsible bird watcher.

I have an indoor/outdoor cat. Had you told me 5 years ago that I would have a free roaming day time outdoor cat I would have slapped you silly. I don't believe in risking a cats life by letting them roam free. However an irresponsible neighbor left him to fend for himself outdoors for the first year and a half of his life. I'm sure birds were one item that kept him from starving to death. Now that I have adopted him he spends his evenings inside, but the call of the wild during the day will not be denied. I am terrified that someone will take it upon themselves to kill him not knowing how beneficial he is. My neighbors who know me and him are grateful for his vigilence against rabbits, mice, voles and yes, other cats. I have one neighbor who in fact wanted to "borrow" him for his back yard when the field mice became bad. Please remember we are all God's creatures and life is sometimes messy. The situation all these cats find themselves in is not their fault.

I would give anything to be able to keep a cat outside part of the day. Ever since mine was killed by a car, I've had an endless problem with rabbits and voles. My favorite perennials have been killed and I have had to replant with rabbit resistant plants. I'll never allow my cats out again but how I wish I could. I would trade poop in my flower beds any day for a rabbit free environment and the ability to grow tulips, etc. again.

I've been lucky never had any trouble with outdoor cats until this year. I have one that I'm trying to stop from digging at my freshly planted seedlings. I have been grateful to the free roaming cats in the neighborhood over the years. They have kept the rabbits at bay. This year was the first year that rabbits ate several plants but since this new cat showed up that has stopped. This one prefers to come when I'm working in my garden mostly to play. I'm not happy about the digging and have told him so. I now trying to grow my seedlings so that are much taller before I put them in the ground. I'm hoping that will help.

The best way to keep cats out of your yard is to get your own cat (the bigger the better). Cats are territorial, and yours should drive the other ones off.

Or better still, get a dog.

The dog won't work, unless you let said dog roam. Even then, some dogs are no match for a vicious cat - they'll get their eyes scatched out and their fur ripped off, returning home to you licking their wounds...

I have pet birds and love even the wild birds. So, a cat or dog is out of the question for me.

I have heard that citrus peels like orange peel or lemon peel may help, and also keeping the flower beds watered because they hate to dig in moist soils.

I didn't have too much of a problem with them until I put down the new mulch. So, maybe once that settles, it'll settle the other problem. I also hate moving aside the mulch and running my hand into some smelly cat poo.

I don't really have anything against cats per say, just when they dig in my flower beds. Otherwise they are a help in keeping rodents down and voles.

The motion activated scarecrow really worked for me.

Also, I put thorny branches (roses, barberries, etc.) where I do not want them to dig. It does deter them.

Well, personally I never garden without my gloves on. Too many soil born diseases that have nothing to do with cats. I think I'd have a "Monk" attack if I actually had to dig with my bare hands. Having said that I do have to keep my cat out of my freshly sown plantings and for that I use hardware cloth which I make into low Quanset hut type structures that I place over the seed rows(they look like this: ( only right side up). Cats won't walk on them and when the seedlings are high enough I remove the quanset hut structure. Cats won't purposely walk on the small plants as a rule. Don't make them too high though or that will intrigue a cat to see what's going on under the hump. As for mulch, once it settles down my cat mostly leaves it alone.

Another thing you could do to protect the birds is to ask the cat's owner to put bells on the cat's collar. Or, if the cat is tame and will let you handle it, you could do it yourself.

Could you set up a tray of kitty litter, away from your beds,and hope that the cat will use it,and not your flower bed?

Trap the cat and take him to your local shelter .

A domestic cat loose in a residential area is the equivalent of a small scale ecological disaster. Feral and domestic cats will kill anything that moves and are the #1 killer of little songbirds. Get a trap from your shelter. Raccoon traps work great. Maybe the owner will learn a lesson.

If you know who the owner is, you can also call your municipality and file a complaint (presuming you have a local ordinance that prevents roaming animals).

I did this one time because my neighbor was feeding feral cats. They township DID come out and give her a warning, and she never knew who reported her, the complaint was anonymous.