Poultry wire mesh laid flat on the ground works well. Cats like to scratch the soil afterwards and the wires throw them off and send them elsewhere. My neighbor's cat raised havoc in my veggie garden but poultry mesh did the trick. Then the coyotes got the cat, so the mesh was no longer required.

I think you could make an outdoor cat box, using sand, but it would require cleaning it just as you would an indoor box, or they will stop using it and go elsewhere.

I heard once that moth balls are a deterrent.

Also, you are allowed to humanely trap them and take them to the pound.

Thanks all. I'm aware of deterrents and already use some. My aim is to provide a specific spot for the cat to go so I don't have to constantly monitor the places she does go now, despite my deterrents. She has to go somewhere. I already trapped the cat, took her to the vet to find she was microchipped, returned her to her owner, but she still hangs out in my yard. She's a sweet little thing. I don't want to harm her. I wondered if anybody else, maybe somebody with their own cat, has dealt with this issue.

Lava rock mulch- cats hate to walk on that,they know they cant cover their own poop with it- too rough.

There are black lava rock gravels for the invisible look.

Other rough gravels should do as well. I know my lava stopped them in their cat tracks!

I had great success with mothballs when nothing else worked. I swear it must have been a panther digging up the begonias in my large planter and making huge destructive holes. I tried cayenne pepper, commercial deterrent products, thorny rose bush clippings, mesh. I even laid down some carpet tack strips that we had pulled out of the house when we restored the floors. The creature was undeterred. But the mothballs worked immediately. They gradually dissolved over a few weeks, enough time for the cat to change its habits, and it never came back. I never had to put out the mothballs again. I hate the smell, but it was worth it.

I would never put mothballs in my raised beds where I grow vegetables. Or anywhere else, for that matter. They're toxic.

Have you tried coffee grounds?

You could just put a regular plastic cat box out there with clay litter. You do use some of the deterrents, so maybe if there was a regular litter box too, she'd use that instead.

But yeah, you'd have to clean it out regularly, just like she was your cat. Your outside cat, your neighbor's inside cat, lol.

I guess bee has never tried to plant a seed and pulled a hand full of cat crap.

we got lucky a few years ago. Coyotes moved in and took care of the problem.

When CV says "big holes" thats not cat . Thats gopher,maybe harmless moles.

What I notice is cats are not nearly as smell sensitive as dogs. They are though MUCH more sensitive to what they walk on. So,coffee grounds,rough gravels...their paws don't like the feel or texture.

I mean,put something like fine sand around a cactus or succulent and its nirvana to every cat in town...

I am pretty sure that it was a cat, we don't have gophers or moles in Houston, TX. We do have armadillos, but this was a brick planter about 2 feet high, so it was a fairly acrobatic creature.

I want to add that while I would consider using mothballs again for flowers, I would never put them in a veggie garden, if that is what you have in your raised beds. Could you borrow a friend's (non-digging) dog to hang out in your yard temporarily?

I read the suggestion to use sticks. I save tree and shrub trimmings and lay them all over the strip by our front walk when I plant it. I leave the sticks there till the plants grow large enough to cover the soil. You have to be sure that no area is left bare that might be large enough to dig and squat--6 inches square or so. Sticks work if you use enough of them.

You don't have to put the moth balls in the garden. Try putting them where he walks into the backyard.

I use rose canes pruned from my rose shrubs in Jan. Works really well for me and the plants grow up through them very well

When I was a kid, someone told us to throw our orange peels in the flower bed, that it would deter them, and it may have, I'm not sure.

These days I tend to use burlap as mulch, so they can't dig in my dirt. It keeps the weeds down, too.

A neighbor has a motion-sensor sprinkler to keep strays out of her yard, it was about $50.

OP "-Has anyone established an outdoor litter box and been successful?"

I'm thinking the answer is no. You obviously have more of something than most of us.

I remember a really long, heated thread about DETERRENTS several years ago. I think this is it:

Cat using raised beds as litterbox 2011

Believe it or not, a raccoon finally took care of "my" cat. FWIW, he was NOT a "sweet thing". I would turn the hose on him and he would open his mouth and drink.

I have that problem with my cat that we let outdoors during the day. What I did was use a product called critter ridder. It's totally organic, just a bunch of peppers etc that works really good at deterring cats, raccoons, skunks, etc.. If you want give it a try, oh can but it at Home Depot or lowes. Let me know if it works for you!

I still say cats dont dig holes. Maybe a Possum? They also eat your ferns too if you are seeing them thin out.