If you put a sand box somewhere, they might decide they like it. That probably wouldn't be a good idea, though, if you have young children that could get into it.

My 4 outdoor boys use the leafy area behind the shrubbery...thank goodness. I don't take any credit for it; they've just decided that's where they want to go.

An elderly cat of mine named George--now deceased--used to march over into the middle of my neighbor's front yard to do his business. When I'd catch him at it, I'd drag him back to my shrubs and clean up the mess, but he always preferred the neighbor's grass. That neighbor (whose name also is George) told my husband the other day that he'd have complained about it if they hadn't had the same name!

Here is a link that might be useful: cats in my garden

Does cat doo smell like dog doo? We're not sure who the culprit is but we suspect a cat because it's our backyard.

There is a stray cat that has hung around for a long time, and I started feeding it so I could catch it and take it somewhere. Then I started hearing that all the places that take cats are so full they won't take anymore. I don't want to take it to the local pound, if they would even take it, so I decided to try to catch it and take it to the vet for shots and a snip snip, and keep it. It doesn't show up every day - at least that I can see - and it won't come to me, but is getting braver.

There is also a neighbor's dog who gets out all the time. He used to go under our fence, but dh fixed all his escape routes. Now he comes around front where we don't have a fence right now. Dh has also scared him enough that he thinks the dog won't come back into our yard. I doubt that.

But around my veggie garden we keep smelling something that smells like dog poo to me. Could it be cat poo?

Yes, cat-doo can be stinky, too, till it dries up. You might be able to ID it by the size if you can find some of it.

That's nice of you to want to take care of that stray cat. I believe the current thinking is that trap/neuter/release is the best way to control the stray cat population. Do you have a live trap you could use?

All of my outdoor cats just showed up, and stuck around because I fed them. It took a long time for a couple of them to learn to trust us.

My newest one still gets spooked easily and he's been around for over a year. It's a real chore rounding him up for a trip to the vet. Instead of making an appointment, next time I'm going to take him in whenever I can catch him and let them give him his shots when they have time to do it. Then I'll go back and pick him up. My vet is pretty understanding, probably because I give him so much business.

Here is a link that might be useful: TNR

Yes, I've got the live trap. But I don't want to set it at night because I don't want him to have to stay in it all night freaking out, and I don't want to catch something else like a skunk either. I called my vet and they said to bring the trap as soon as I catch him and they will put a plastic bag over it, fill it with sleeping gas to put him out, and take care of him. But then they said to bring him home and let him loose in the garage for a few days.

Our garage is filled with stuff and dh doesn't want a cat loose to hide in something. I was going to wait until the cat would actually come to me or until I can clean out the garage. There was one day I thought he might let me pet him, but I don't want to risk it until he has had a rabies shot and I have had a tetnus shot. He might be one of those cats who slash at the last minute.

Something you could try that's worked for me in the past:

Start feeding the cat in the live trap, propping the door open so it doesn't close. Put a trail of dry food leading into the back of the trap . . . or just put the bowl of food a little further in each day. After it's used to going into it to eat, you can set it to have the door drop when you're ready to take the cat to the vet. (This will only work once, then it will be afraid of the trap for a long time.)

Also, there's a product called Feliway that contains pheromones that have a calming effect on cats. You can spray it on a towel to put in the trap, or spritz the inside of your car before the trip to the vet. I use it whenever I have to take my cats anywhere. It is kind of expensive, though, especially if you're only going to need it once.

I usually keep convalescing kitties on our screened in porch, though I've also used our extra bathroom on occasion.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Feliway

I have "wild" cats (many are tame, but came here as wild) because so many people who don't want them anymore think the country is a good place to DUMP them. I trap them, give them their shots and have them spayed or neutered, and feed them. I have an outside litter box that is protected from the weather, and it really saves my flower beds. I have a lot of room to put litter boxes around, so this may not be a solution for you. Right now there is one who hisses when she my husband puts food out in the morning, but she doesn't run away. She has been with us for over two years, and has never let us pet her. She will, however, sit and listen when I talk to her.

See if your vet has a large wire kennel that you could borrow while the cat needs to be kept inside. It would cut down on the amount of space you have to clean and allow him to be neutered sooner. It would make feeding and cleaning the litter box a bit more problematic, but you might be able to close him off on side.

But, I suspect that it's the dog causing the problem. Cats, especially "wild" cats, tend to be exceedingly careful to cover/bury the feces. They'll spray urine to mark territory, but for some reason that's "different". I have the same problem Carrie does, and haven't had a problem except when there's been a dog running free.

Marti, most of my cats have been 'found" cats - I found them or they found me. All of the ones we have now are of that type.

We have a new addition and at first I thought he might be totally feral. It took at least a month for me to touch him. He would tolerate me near him, but didn't seem to like it.

One day I took the flea comb out to try it on him and he rolled over and showed his tummy and wanted to be combed! It was so weird. He is now a very sweet boy, although he still likes to be outside a lot of the time. It hasn't taken very long at all.

Don't give up! :) Your kitty is lucky to have someone like you. I ended up taking mine to the cheapo spay/neuter clinic. Got the whole shebang - disease testing, neutering, shots and even flea stuff. THEN when I went to pick him up they let me know the anesthesia they use makes them hallucinate and to keep him inside for 48 hours. Oh gee, thanks for the heads-up. But it worked out fine. He stayed in my room and slept in bed with me at night.

Good luck and have patience!

LOL Prairiepaintbrush, was it the one at the feed store?

treelover, I'll look into getting that. I have been putting the food in the trap and he goes in it now just fine. He's been hanging around here a long time, in fact, he is the reason I cut down my front yard boxwoods. They smelled so bad I couldn't even stand to walk by them. The boxwoods on the other side of the chainlink fence were never marked though. We had a dog then though.

He doesn't stay here all day, just shows up at odd times, usually late evening. We don't think he is anyone's pet because of the way he avoids people. I don't know why he has suddenly decided to show himself to us, up until the last few months, I would just catch a glimpse of him running off now and then. He has let me get within two feet of him and then he bolts.

Even though we don't think he has an owner, we do think he hangs around someone else's house like he does ours. They may think he's theirs too and may be very surprised if he shows up one day with a collar. lol

After being spayed, will he quit spraying?

Unfortunately, neutering doesn't stop males from spraying. It may decrease the need/desire for him to spray, but it's truly a case of marking his territory. If you want to make him an indoor cat, depending upon the relationships with any existing cats, he may not spray inside. If he does, cleaning the areas he wants to spray to remove the scent and then covering them with aluminum foil might train him to stop doing it (they don't like the sound it makes). I'm not sure what to do outside, we've never had to deal with extreme marking outside. The two we had trouble with spraying were content to share the outdoors but insisted on marking their territory inside. Be sure to clean it up quickly on any wood or metal, it'll eat the finish and corrode metal. We learned that the hard way. Good luck!

FWIW - our cat is a former stray who adopted us. She always goes outside to poop/pee. She does have a litter box inside but never uses it unless we're gone. I honestly can not tell where she's peed/pooped anywhere. Most cats are pretty good at covering it up unless they're sick. We do have a ton of strays in the neighborhood and no evidence of them in the yard (except we know they're there because we see them and there's the occasional fight).

In our old house the porch had that fake grass/green mat over the concrete, and a cat used to spray there (mainly when we were away and it took up residence, when we came back it left). But no problem now.

Could it be another type of animal?

As for my garden, though, I do put a fence around it with a net over it. It's a PITA but it keeps the cats out and the birds which are worse.

Marti, it was one out by Alliance airport. I'm in Ft. Worth now. I'd probably not use the feedstore - have heard not very encouraging opinions of it. Maybe it's gotten better, I don't know.

Try sitting outside with a comb and a can of wet catfood. Maybe all feral cats like to be combed. :)

Oh, and in my experience male cats do quit marking after they are fixed. Howsumever, they can re-start if they feel their territory is threatened. My new addition quit spraying promptly after being fixed, but one I already had, had begun spraying again when Mr. Stray originally began hanging around. *sigh* I don't care if he does it outside, but I've seen it landing on the back of the recliner, etc. at times.

My formerly stray cats love to have their ears rubbed. Maybe they got to like it back when they had ear mites.

Re the spraying. Old George didn't spray inside until his senility, when he was promptly turned into an outdoor cat. All of my black cats spray, or did, but I've never seen any of my 3 colorpoints do it. They share other personality traits, too, so who knows . . . (All my cats are male & have been neutered.)

I went over to a neighbor's this afternoon, and there on her porch was the cat! She is a new neighbor and the cat has been around much longer, but she said she started feeding him and he stays there most of the day. So I'll quit feeding him.

We have 2 stray outside kitties now, Sam the siamese who has never been shy and follows me when I'm outside the gate, he will sit at the gate and meow at me if I'm inside. I think he is the sibling of BC, a black cat that adopted us just before Ike, and who evacuated with us. There is another black kitty out there who may be their littermate as I first saw it across the school yard about the same time. It is very skittish and I can't even get close enough to tell if male or female. Sam is going to the vet to get fixed as soon as we get back in the houe. I think the guy across the alley is responsible for them, I've found siamese mix kittens before. I'd like to confront him but have no proof-except empty litter boxes outside his house and the cats hang around his yard.
BC prefers to go outside, so do my 2 cats who have the run of the house and yard-they choose to stay out most of the time. BC prefers the alley-dry and sandy, Oscar the neighbors yard behind her garage, no idea with Gomez or Sam. Gomez(female) is the only one I've had problems with spraying in the house, and not often.

I feel bad for Sam sitting outside the gate, he's such a pretty cat, blue cross-eyes, perfect posture. I feed him and pet him about every day, sometimes I don't see him.
Tally HO!