How to keep cats from using bathroom in flower beds

10 Ways to Keep Cats Out of Flower Beds

Besides their companionship and charm, cats are helpful to the flower garden in that they keep pests like rabbits, voles, and moles away. However, cats can also cause destruction to gardens by digging (and leaving unauthorized deposits), using plants as a soft napping spot, and chewing. Although there is no direct evidence suggesting plants by themselves can deter pesky felines, its worth a try to influence your cat’s unwanted behavior with these safe repellents.

Bitter Apple

Bitter Apple products act as a taste deterrent rather than a complete repelling agent around plants. The product is not rain proof, but it is excellent on house plants that cats like to nibble on, like your expensive orchids.

Rose Branches

Old rose branches don’t compost well, but they will make your cat think twice about making a shortcut through your prized dahlia stand. If you only need to exclude your cats from an area temporarily, such as a fresh patch of dirt, cover the canes with mulch afterwards to help them break down into the soil.

Floral Wire

A group of bamboo sticks planted here and there will deter cats from settling down to nap on your petunias, but green floral wire is less visible, saving your garden from the appearance of a punji jungle pit trap. Cut heavy gauge floral wire into 10-inch pieces, and insert at regular intervals in seedbeds, window box perches, and anywhere cats like to laze and dwell. This method is slightly less effective on plants cats relish, like nepeta (catmint).

Hot Pepper Spray

When Felix decides that your azaleas make an excellent digestive aid, it’s time to break out the big guns. After all, azaleas and many other favorite garden flowers like baby’s breath, nicotiana, and lilies are poisonous to cats, causing symptoms that range from mild gastrointestinal upset to seizures or coma and death, according to the ASPCA. In this case, a healthy application of hot pepper spray can deter cats with its spicy taste and odor. Some gardeners like to make spray with peppers they grow, but commercial varieties can have more sticking power due to waxes in the formula.

Stinky Plants

Just as there are flowers that attract cats, there are others that drive them away. Flowers with aromatic foliage, like Russian sage and lavender, don’t appeal to cats. Flowers with prickly foliage, like the sea holly, globe thistle, or the tropical grevillea, are resistant to cat and most other animal nibbling as well.

Motion Sprinkler

What can you do when the offending cats aren’t yours to train, but are a group of marauding neighborhood cats or a feral population? A motion triggered sprinkler will act as your sentry 24 hours a day. The upside of using a sprinkler like the ScareCrow or the Havahart Spray Away is that your flowers will get a drink every time an uninvited visitor approaches. The downside is that you will get sprinkled if you forget to deactivate the device before you go out to pull weeds.

Tape

Tape is non toxic, cheap, and uses the element of surprise to deter cats. Placing tape balls made of masking tape or duct tape on the soil is an effective strategy for urns or window boxes that the cat has turned into a lookout post. The first time or two the cat finds itself dealing with these annoying cling-ons, it will be much less likely to jump up, as it cannot preview its landing spot.

Plant a Cat Garden

A semi-shaded garden bed with a soft mulch of grass clippings can make your cat forget she ever made goo-goo eyes at your roses. Fill this kitty Garden of Eden with safe edibles, including cat grass, cat mint, or pansies.

Bird Netting

Although chicken wire gives the same effect, it is more expensive and difficult to work with than bird netting. You can anchor sheets of plastic bird netting over newly planted beds to prevent cats from digging in freshly worked soil. You can also lay strips of netting between plants to stop digging activities.

Sandbox

Like the cat garden, a sandbox isn’t a deterrent, but rather a lure to give cats a new place to dig. Assemble a simple bottomless box from 2 by 4 lumber cut to the size that will accommodate your size and number of cats. Fill with playground sand, and top off as needed.

Do you need advice on how to stop cats from pooping in your garden? Cats instinctively like to roam, but it can be frustrating when they use our flower beds as toilets, dig up borders and predate on wildlife.

Whether you want to keep cats off certain areas in your garden or stop them scratching your garden furniture sets, there are lots of natural ways to ensure they stay away for good. Some cats may wander into your garden out of curiosity, while others might be looking to mate or hunt.

It is important to remember:

• Always use licensed cat deterrent products
• The RSPCA advise households to avoid using 'DIY' deterrents that could potentially be harmful to cats
• If you know the owner of the cat, speak to them first. They might be able to find out why their cat keeps pooping in your garden
• Causing unnecessary suffering to a cat is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006

On that note, keep reading for all the effective ways you can stop cats pooping in your garden...

1. Don't offer them food

Don't leave food out for stray or neighbouring cats, as they are more likely to return. Ensure you clean up properly after a BBQ or garden party, picking up any scraps that may have fallen on the ground. Cats will relish the chance to eat your leftovers, but may also injure themselves walking on broken bones from cooked meat.

2. Keep flower beds watered

You really don't want cat poop in your soil, especially if you're growing edible produce. Cats dislike wet soil, so keeping those flowerbeds well watered will stop them pooping in your garden and crushing your plants. According to the RHS, cats prefer loose, dry earth, mulch and compost.

Annie OtzenGetty Images

3. Install an automatic spray

Designed for outdoor use, water repellers are a humane way to deter cats and other animals from hanging around your garden. They are safe and effective, gently shooting out bursts of water for a few seconds in the general direction of the animal. It's a known fact that cats hate water, so they'll be gone on the first spray.

Simply connect the repeller to a standard garden hose and then turn it on. It won't spray any water until the sensor is triggered, meaning you won't waste any water.

Jet Spray Cat Repeller By PestBye®

Defenders Jet-Spray Wildlife Repeller

Defenders amazon.co.uk

£29.99

Water Jet Animal Deterrent

ISOTRONIC amazon.co.uk

£39.95

Jet-Spray Pond & Garden Protector

STV International amazon.co.uk

£24.90

4. Make it difficult to enter the garden

From close-boarded fences to privacy-giving shrubs, keep nosey cats away by making it difficult for them to enter your garden. If they are still finding their way in, the RSPB suggest surrounding an area with a fence (such as chicken wire) that leans in the direction from which the cat will approach. Alternatively, flimsy plastic roll-up fencing placed on top of a fence will prevent cats climbing over it.

Fokke HasselGetty Images

5. Use scent deterrents

Cats are sensitive when it comes to smells, but there are a few scents they hate that might surprise you (and you probably have them in your kitchen). Try orange and lemon peels, cayenne pepper, coffee grounds, lavender oil, lemon grass oil, citronella oil, peppermint oil, eucalyptus oil, and mustard oil. You can either sprinkle drops directly onto your flower beds or soak a cotton wool around it and place at entry points. One sniff and they'll be gone.

Top tip: Consider growing coleus canina (Plectranthus caninus) in your garden. Marketed under the names Pee-off and Scaredy-cat, it has a pungent odour that is famed for repelling cats and other invasive animals.

dobies.co.uk

Coleus canina Scaredy Cat

6. Install an ultrasonic deterrent

Much like water-based deterrents, invest in an ultrasonic cat repellent that emits a high-pitched frequency to scare cats. While it may take up to four weeks to put them off coming into your garden, cats will find the piercing sound uncomfortable and leave - it is inaudible to humans.

Ultrasonic deterrents available to buy include the RSPCA-endorsed CATwatch deterrent (£55.99), Pestbye's more affordable version which can easily be propped in the soil (£19.99), and this set of two from Primrose (£34.99).

'This is the first time independent research has shown that an ultrasonic device can have a deterrent effect on cats. CATWatch offers a pragmatic partial solution for non-cat owners who wish to deter cats from entering their gardens,' says Andy Evans from the RSPB.

'Gardens are becoming increasingly important to many birds, such as the house sparrow, song thrush and starling. All of these birds are regular visitors to gardens and CATWatch can help to deter cats from entering gardens.'

Waterproof Cat Repellent Ultrasonic Repeller

Pestbye amazon.co.uk

£21.98

Cat watch Ultrasonic Deterrent

CATwatch amazon.co.uk

£52.72

Pest XT U/Sonic Batt Cat V2 Repeller

Mega-Sonic Solar Cat Repeller

7. Cover parts of your garden with pebbles and rocks

Cats prefer smooth and soft surfaces to walk on than bristly ones, so why not try covering parts of your garden with stone chippings, rocks, small pebbles or netting. As soon as their paw touches the scratchy surface, they are sure to leave.

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Lisa Joyner Senior Digital Writer, House Beautiful and Country Living Lisa Joyner is the Senior Digital Writer at House Beautiful UK and Country Living UK, where she's busy writing about home and interiors, gardening, dog breeds, pets, health and wellbeing, countryside news, small space inspiration, and the hottest properties on the market.

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