Many home owners living in built up areas find themselves plagued by the neighbourhood cats sneaking into their gardens where they spend their time digging up flowerbeds, chewing plants, scratching trees and worst of all using the whole area as a giant litter box.
They are active both at day and also at night when nobody is around to chase them away. They are also very territorial. If one or more cats take a liking to your garden you will find it very difficult to get rid of them.
Cats mark their territory by spraying plants with urine and fouling. Other cats will will see this as a challenge and soon you will find you have a garden full of cat mess as each cat remarks the area as their territory.
There are however a couple of tricks you can use to deter cats and reclaim your garden.
Cats are inherently lazy, so if you make a note of the routes they most often use to access your garden
you can take some easy steps to secure your perimeter. Block these up as well as you can - entrances under and around your fence should be blocked off with obstacles such as large plant pots, heavy wood or chicken wire. This will reduce the number of cats who prefer to get in via ground level.
More agile cats will climb up and over your fence, sometimes making use of window sills or nearby shed roofs to jump from. One type of cat deterrent that will come in handy here is plastic spiked security strips.
These can be deployed along your fence and on entrance ledges. Security spikes are uncomfortable for cats to walk on and will not cause them any harm.
The more seasoned cat that has already developed a toiletry habit in your garden will require a little something extra. Chemical, Mechanical and natural cat deterrents will need to be deployed to either scare away or dissuade a cat from sticking around long enough to get comfortable.
An important part of deterring cats from repeat visiting is to remove their droppings - they mark their territory with cat poo, so you must make sure you it away otherwise it will be an open invitation for them to come back. A pair of gloves and some of those plastic or brown paper bags can be used to bag and bin it. The area should then be disinfected with warm soapy water. Once this is done deploy some scented cat deterrent to seal the deal.
Chemical and natural deterrents are available which offend a cats sense of smell. Different cats react to different scents so a little trial and error maybe required to find the cat deterrent which is most effective against your particular visitors. For this reason you should try to minimize the number of cats getting in with physical means first.
Natural Cat Deterrents include:
Citrus - lemon juice or orange peel have been known to deter some cats. You can also buy Citrus sprays and Citrus infused sticks to ward them away.
Garlic, Vinegar, Coffee Grounds - these strong scents can deter cats, but bear in mind you don't want to make your own garden so smelly you wouldn't want to visit it!
Chili powder, Black Pepper, Cayenne pepper - cats dislike the scent, plus has the benefit of sticking to their fur so they get some negative reinforcement next time they lick themselves!
Lion Dung pellets - Cats are reluctant to compete with larger felines. Pellets soaked in the essence of lions urine acts as a very good cat deterrent. Put some of this around your fence perimeter to ward off curious but timid cats.
Next you should turn your attention to the cats favourite lounging spots and target the more aggressive feline visitors.
Ultrasonic cat deterrents such as The Big Cheese produce a ultrasonic noise which is outside the normal human hearing range and which cats find very uncomfortable. These devices are motion activated to save on batteries and should be positioned so that the cover the cats favourite lounging and messing areas.
An alternative device you can get is a motion detecting water sprayer. This acts in the same way as the ultrasonic deterrent, but will shoot a jet of water in the direction of the cat.
The sudden motion and refracted light will scare the cat away. Be advised - this device cannot tell friend from foe so be wary if you venture in front of it whilst it is on!
Cats which have gotten into the habit of being in your garden may take a while to deter. Don't be surprised if you see cat poop near your cat deterrent device as it tries to assert its authority. Some have even reported a cat trying to stare an ultrasonic device into submission, but it gave up after a while!
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