Coyote?

Have you tried sprinkling red pepper in the bed? Usually after the first sneeze, they will find another area in which to relax.

Rick, do you order yours online? (Truth be told, several cats in my neiighborhood have vanished as of late and coyotes have been spotted in the nearby creek.)
We are experimenting with a motion detecting sprinkler right now, as we have a cat issue as well.
It seems to be working, but I really don't want to leave that sprinkler in the yard for the rest of my life.

There are a number of websites with humane ways to handle unwanted cats in the flower beds. Here are some suggestions that I have found.

There are some herbs that will keep cats out of flower beds. Rue is one of them.

Subject: Rue as a Cat Repellent
Answered by: Conrad Richter
Question from: Vivian Rebeiro
Posted on: August 15, 1999

I read in a household hint section of the newspaper, that planting rue in your garden will keep cats from using it as a litter box? Is this true? What is rue?

Rue is a perennial herb that is not well known in North America. In Europe, particularly some southern European countries, it is considered a culinary and medicinal herb. It is easy to grow in any sunny, well-drained location. Some people are sensitive to its oils and can develop rashes if skin brushes against the leaves.

Rue is reported to be effective against some, but probably not all, cats. According to Inge Poot, our website horticulturist, rue was effective for her. She laid down some chicken wire in her garden, and then planted seeds of rue. The plants caused cats to do their business elsewhere.

Q: Is there something I can put on my garden and flowers to keep cats away? (e-mail reference)

A: Your question is common, but difficult to answer. Try to find out if there is a leash law in your community. If there is, tell the owners that if they dont comply with the leash law, you will notify animal control. If they are wild cats, they should be rounded up by animal control.

Or you can purchase a roll of concrete reinforcing wire and lay it across the entry points to your planting area. Spray it with Re-pel, anise oil or Eucalyptus oil (both of these are herbs). Cats find stepping between the openings an annoyance and that coupled with the smell will drive them away. You can place pieces of cardboard with Tanglefoot applied. Cats step in it once and leave quickly! Get a scarecrow impact sprinkler that is motion controlled. It comes on loudly, runs for about 10 seconds in an arc and scares the cats away. These are the best suggestions I have.

Q: My big tomcat is using my gardens as a litter box. In the summer I try to keep them wet, but they now have no snow cover on them. I've visited some of our garden centers in but have not found a solution to keeping the cat out. I dug up one garden he killed this past summer and totally replaced the dirt along with the perennials. He's now in the bulb garden. I finally dropped a bunch of mothballs out there but the smell wafting out over the neighborhood just engulfs me and isn't a good solution either. What can I do to keep him out of the gardens? Thank you. (Bismarck, N.D.)

A: I used to recommend mothballs until someone pointed out the obvious; they are toxic and a hazard to cats and children who might pick them up by mistake. Try the natural approach instead. You might try planting a cat litter box of catnip (a member of the mint family) to attract him to a particular spot. In the beds you don't want him in, plant herbs such as lavender, rue, geranium, absinthe or lemon thyme. A German gardener has come up with a plant, coleus canin, which he has found keeps cats at bay. It can be ordered from various garden catalog services in Germany or perhaps your local garden center can obtain it for you. He has also come up with a mixture that is easily made and will keep away just about anything on four paws. ItÂs two parts cayenne pepper, three parts dry mustard and five parts flour. Mix together and sprinkle on areas where you donÂt want cats. Cats donÂt care much for tea leaves, so save the tea bags and sprinkle the leaves over the beds you want to keep him out of. You can try laying large, flat river stones around the digging areas of your bed. Cats love freshly prepared soil (and fresh laundry too!), so putting the stones around would keep kitty from doing as much digging.

And if you have problems with dogs digging, the following herb is suggested.

Subject: Herb to Stop Dog from Digging?
Answered by: Conrad Richter
Question from: Carol Werner
Posted on: January 17, 2006

Hi and thank you for your time and for sharing your knowledge.

Is there a herb that can be planted with flowers that would discourage a dog from digging? Discourage by taste or by smell? Our dog is a lab who loves to dig. I would like to plant flowers and herbs in his territory, which is the yard, but he is most stubborn about digging everything up.

The "Piss-Off Plant" repels dogs. Not all dogs are affected, but many are, so it's worth a try. It is very easy to grow, thriving in most garden situations. You need to plant it out every spring because it is not winter hardy. For more information, please see:

http://www.richters.com/Web_store/web_store.cgi?product=X4490

Try a set mousetrap.

Carla

You could try bloodsmeal. It's stinky enough that I've had it keep cats out of a flower bed.

If you try the rue, might wear gloves. I've read where some people can develop a skin rash to it.

I believe Garden Supply Co. sells a product you put down, the motion detector sprinkler, and some plastic mats that have short pointy spikes (not sharp enough to impale anything, just enough to make it uncomfortable).

Thanks everyone - I'm gonna keep tryin stuff. Today I just used long peices of mulch and poked tham into the ground about 3in apart...so it appeard "full" haven't seen her in there since. If it wasn't for my child feeding her when she showed up as a stray and making it "her pet" I'd try to find her a home where she could go inside. I'm so allergic to animals I can't walk through the livestock at the fair or attend the circus.

I forgot to say that I did just use sticks once....it works, but it looks funny. If mulch keeps your plants alive stuck up on end, then so be it! :)

I had someone once say they saved the prickly seed balls from their sweet gum tree and sprinkled those in the flower beds to keep cats out. Cats don't like their paws getting stuck with anything, whether it is prickly or sticky, they will stay out once they find it is uncomfortable to walk on. Since you used the mulch pieces stuck up out of the ground like that, it is doing the same thing - irritating the cats' feet.

Cat Deterrents for your Garden:

Keep in mind that each cat is different (like people), what works for one may not necessarily work for another. On the plus side, most cats will keep pesty squirrels, moles and other critters out of your garden. They're great for keeping out moles, rabbits, squirrels, and other critters which can do more damage in your garden than a cat ever will. Birds aren't stupid, they watch for cats and stay away. Sometimes natural law comes into play and the quicker animal wins, it's natural law.

If the cats have owners, talk to them without being confrontational. The cat owner who allows his cat to damage other peoples' property is as guilty as the cat hater who kills the cat for trespassing. Remember, cats will be cats, and it is unfair of us to blame them for being what they are and how nature intended them to participate in this world. After-all, we praise them when they catch mice or rats or other creatures we deem to be 'pests'.

* amonia soaked (corncobs, etc)
* aluminum foil
* bamboo skewers
* black pepper
* blood meal fertilizer
* bramble cuttings
* Carefresh - "recycled" wood pulp
* catnip - donated into your neighbor's yards (so they'll stay in their own yards)
* cedar compost
* chicken wire (metal or plastic)
* cinnamon
* citrus peels
* citrus spray
* cocoa bean shells
* coffee grounds -fresh & unbrewed, not just a light sprinkling (highly recommended by MANY Gardenwebbers!)
* dogs
* electric fence for animals
* essence of orange. essence of lemon, lime (citrus essential oils)
* fresh manure(ditto)
* garlic cloves
* gumballs from the Sweet Gum Tree
* gutter covers
* hardware cloth
* 2 liter bottle full of water (magnifies movement on other side)
* heavy bark mulch
* holly leaves
* keep the area damp, they like dry soil
* lavender
* liquid manure (good for your garden too)
* motion sensor sprinkler
* pennyroyal
* pinecones
* pipe tobacco
* plastic forks
* predator urine
* red wine vinegar
* river rocks over the exposed soil
* rocks, crushed
* rose bush clippings
* rue, an herb (Ruta graveolens) (highly recommended in plant form only)
Scarecrow Motion Activated Sprinkler
(do a froogle.com search or www.safepetproducts.com)
Shake-Away Domestic Cat Repellent Urine Powder
(do a froogle.com search or www.safepetproducts.com)
* short twigs throughout the planted area about 6" apart
* six-inch bamboo skewers (pointy side up)
* Spray on your leaves (not the cat): fill a spray bottle with 1/2 t chili powder, 1/2 t cayenne pepper, 1 t dish soap and water
* squirt gun with water
* talk to your neighbors
* tansy
* thorny berry, lilac, hawthorn, rose clippings
* toothpicks
* upside down vinyl carpet
* vinegar sprayed on areas where they roam
* water bottle on "stream"

NOT RECOMMENDED:
*** chili powder, red crushed pepper, cayenne pepper (NOT recommended), it gets on the cat's paws then they wash themselves and they get it in their eyes, beware cats have literally scratched their eyes out because of this. Even if it's one cat out of 500 infected in this way, that's one too many for me.
*** Don't ever use mothballs or flakes. Those little toxic waste pellets destroy cats' kidney function, could seriously harm people who handle them, and yes, contaminate your own garden soil. Their packaging even warns against using them this way.

Give them their own areas:

(To keep them out of where you don't want them)
(If you don't mind them protecting your garden from other critters)

+ Pick the cat up and bring it to eye level with the plant to see and smell it up close. Usually, once a cat seen and sniffed at the plant, she usually doesn't bother with it later.

+ give them their own plants - i.e., pots of grass for her to chew on and a place in a large planted container on her balcony with some miscanthus grass in it (the cat likes to curl up in that for some reason)

+ if the cats are strictly indoors and attracted to your houseplants, grow catgrass for them. If someone forced you to remain inside one enclosed structure all your life, you might be attracted to the plants too.

+ Barley Grass
+ Any type of "catgrass" from the pet store
+ Carex elata 'Bolwes Golden' but put it in some shade
+ Catmint
Nepeta mussini
cultivars (Simply put, Catmints are Catnips without any culinary or feline use. In any case, they are, however, phenomenal, long flowering, hardy perennials that belong in every fairie or flower garden.)
+ Catnip
Nepeta cataria
(in your own yard) The oils of which also work as a mosquito repellent that works 10 times better than Deet! Catmint is the common name for all varieties of Nepeta. Catnip is the common name for the specific variety of Nepeta called
nepeta cataria
, which is the variety that cats are most attracted to.
+ Cat Thyme (Teucrium marum)
+ Flax
+ Oat Grass
+ Jacob's Ladder
+ Lemon Grass
+ Loose soil and mulch like small bark mulch
+ Mints
+ Purple Fountain Grass so the cat lays in the long leaves all day. Maybe put something in that the cats really like and - you know cats won't winky were they like to hang out.
+ Sandy area
+ Silver vine (Actinidia polygama)
+ Striped Ribbon Grass (can be invasive)
+ Sweet grass
+ Trificum aestivum (type of cat grass)
+ Various Varieties of Cat Mints (Catnips)
+ Wheat Grass
+ Wheat Berries
+ Valerian

As a gardener, grow your indoor cat some catgrass and catnip. They're healthy alternatives for your houseplants and they'll much prefer them.

Change the litter to something they prefer. If you don't clean it out everyday, consider it. Cat's appreciate a clean, comfortable place to go just as much as humans do.

This list compiled from existing GW posts by Violet_Z6, email at violet.z6@gmail.com for comments and suggestions regarding this list.

thanks for the great information...I'm still working on it. Got here to leave 3 of my beds alone - now working on the last 4 - lol

The answer to your question is the pound. I know that sounds harsh, but if the cats are pets then their owners should keep them on their own property. Once it starts tooncing around, digging, pooping, spraying, everywhere else it's fair game. Let the owners sort it out with city animal control.

I do not let my dogs leave waste in other people's yards, or tear through their garbage and make a mess. It's absurd that cat owners expect everyone to tolerate this.

A chemical control would be permethrin. Harmless to people, dogs, etc., but cannot be metabolized by cats and makes them very sick. Also well tolerated by plants. Or just shoot them with a pellet gun. A cat on your property is just a wild animal.

I have two cats who live outside, a mother and her male kitten. The mother, a beautiful white short haired cat with blue eyes, was dropped off by someone and took up at my house. She had three litters of kittens before I could trap her and have her spayed. I have also trapped the kitten and had him fixed. I wish more people would do this.
It just breaks my heart to see homeless creatures suffering.
I lost several pot plants due to the male kitten using the pots for a litterbox. I solved this by sticking sticks
around in the pots.
It's been worth the loss of a few plants to have these beautiful creatures around- just to enjoy their beauty, their grace and their antics.
If the cats in your garden are strays, please consider trapping and spaying/neutering them. Help control the pet population. Please don't do anything to hurt the animals.
They are innocent creatures and cannot help doing what comes to them naturally.

Marianne

My dad had the same problem where someone dumped a pregnant female cat out by his house. She started hanging around my dad's probably because he started to feed her and had the kittens there under his shed. He eventually caught the mama cat and the kittens, took them to the local SPCA, had the mama cat spayed and also one of her babies spayed and kept those two and put the rest up for adoption. He enjoys having the cats around outside. He lives out in the country, so having animals outside is the norm there. He sits on his covered porch and the cats will come up and visit him and his wife and they give them lots of attention.

Besides being so enjoyable to have around, cats will keep the rat population down. My outside mother cat has brought in at least five or six rats as a 'gift' to me. LOL
I used to see them in the garage (tried traps to no avail), but haven't seen any lately.

About the post above with the mouse trap suggestion. It works, but put the set mouse traps upside down so they can't catch the cat or anything else. If the cat or critter bumps the traps they spring up in the air & the animal runs off. I did this & it works, but it was took some practice before I could set the trap sensitive enough to go off easily without setting if off myself when I set it down.

I tried the chicken wire after something suggested it here to me for my dog, and it worked, but was a royal pain to weed grasses or things with runners, and to plant things later.

I also tried putting those cheap spinners, and it didn't faze my dog in the least.

Also tried putting those thin plant bamboo plants sticks all around & the dog just knocked them down & lay on them.

I planted dill and funnel and tied Ivory soap to fence it worked the climb the fence but wont stay in my yard the hate the dill or soap not sure which it was but it worked and my neighbor has 35 cats so its a big work hehehe.

tcharles, you obviously hate cats. Your comments are not appreciated by me, nor by many others on this list. If you cannot offer comments in the spirit of this kind, loving and informative website, then don't post.

denisew, bless your dad for taking care of the cats. I do wish more people would be so kind and have strays fixed and released.
They will bring him a lot of joy. I know mine do.
Although they are feral (both are 'fixed'.) and won't let me pet them (well, I DID manage to pet the little tom a few times before he ran away) they are so much fun to have around. They follow me around in the yard (at a distance), play together and sleep together. The little tom is about 8 months old, and it's so cute to see him playing with his mom. He'll stalk her, tackle her and they'll roll around. LOL They will often rub their heads on each other. SO cute.
Once I had the mother cat pinned up in the garage to try to catch her and put flea stuff on her, and he sat outside and cried and cried for her. Don't tell me animals don't feel love for each other.

Marianne

RE: Your comments are not appreciated by me, nor by many others on this list. If you cannot offer comments in the spirit of this kind, loving and informative website, then don't post.

I can't believe you have the audacity to post that. I don't care what you appreciate. The Texas garden forum is not your personal fiefdom! The person asked a question and I gave them an opinion, which I am entitled to do.

Calling animal control is the probably the most humane thing to do with stray cats, short of the catch and release strategy described above which seems a little problematic to me, seeing as how you are just as likely to capture a skunk in my neighborhood, or someone's pet.

I'm sorry that is not within the 'loving informative spirit of the forum'. Geez.....who talks like that? lol.

i do not spend my time trying to keep other peoples cats out of my flowerbeds. i call animal control. after the owners having to pay to get their cat out of *jail* a few times, they will learn to keep it inside where it belongs.

Ya, I should have never allowed my 8yr old to start feeding this thing - I hate to call animal control now - she considers it her "pet"

Sorry, Scuba-gal, your stuck! Ha!
Jim

Scuba gal,
Please have her spayed soon and then you only have to enjoy one cat. :-) Congratulations on your new addition. Aren't kids wonderful?

the cat is already spayed - we think a neightbor must have just turned out their once pet...

I have plants that attract birds and butterflies. My daughters cat used to hide under the plants and kill the birds (in one month her cat got about 8 birds!).
I put lava rocks around and under the plants that I did not want the cat near. Most cats hate the feeling of lava rocks on their pads.

I second the lava rock solution. I used it inside for one of my cats that wanted to dig. Once conditioned I didn't need to keep doing it with newer plants after that. They can always be reused at a later point if desired as a part of a container mix. It is best to break them down some as they are quite big for most containers.
Love my cats and my plants
One big happy growing family
David

Hey, don't knock cats. Yes they can be PITA's, but they can also be great fun. Story in a minute, but I want to third the lava rocks. I had two small trees inside that one or two of my cats decided to use as liter boxes because they were two good to go with the others in theirs. (I have 4 cats). So we put lava rocks in the pots, and both the plants, the cats, and their humans are much happier.

As for cats...true story...my uncle, who lived out in the country, hated cats. He had a stray that wouldn't go away and threatened to shoot it the next time he saw it. After coming home from church late one night with my aunt, he saw the cat sitting under the carport. He honked his horn and it wouldn't move. So he got out and looked at what the cat was staring at. It was a 3 ft long rattler. If my uncle had of gotten out of the car where he parked it normally, he would've gotten bit. Needless to say, the cat got to stay after that.