…went out to have a look at how things are doing in our raised bed. Plant wise, most of it's pretty much hopeless, but the crop of catshit is comming on really well, to the extent that when we watered the beds, it smelt rancid. My daughter had been eating carrots pulled out of the ground 10 minutes earlier with only a quick rinse under the tap. Two questions, does catshit pose much of a health issue when applied to growing vegetables and how do I deter the car (not ours BTW) from using the raised bed as a cat litter?

A connection should be made between the cat and a heavy boot.

I put plenty of pepper down and the.cat cleared off from ours

used tea bags soaked in bleach, put a few of them in the bed – sorted.

Catch the cat and make it eat what it did.

I've tried several ways to do this, from a soaking, to leaving sharp objects in the beds, to putting down bad smelling stuff. The sharp objects did the trick.

does catshit pose much of a health issue when applied to growing vegetables

I would be surprised if it does – there really isn't much in the way of zoonotic diseases which can be caught from cats as far as I know. Toxocara canis is the big iffy one, which is obviously caught from dogs.

The Scaredy Cat plant apparently works well at deterring cats :

http://www.gardening.co.uk/i-ee-1235A-/coleus-canina-scaredy-cat/?Ref=WEB.FR

Cut up some oranges and put them in amongst the veg. Cats no likey citrus.

ernie – there's a corresponding Toxocara cati (honest!) and also Toxoplasma gondii

dutty bastids, IMO

Well obviously cats just like any other animal can carry worms and parasites, but do they pose a significant risk to humans in the UK ? I've always understood that Toxocara canis was always the really problematic one.

Are you absolutely sure that it is cat shit and not fox shit lodious ? Domestic cats nearly always bury theirs whilst foxes tend to leave theirs exposed. Foxes can transmit Toxocara canis.

Silly as it might sound, if it is fox shit, then I would be tempted to de-worm them by leaving a single dose every now and then on baited food. Like that it will remove the risk to your kids as you will only have de-wormed foxes in your garden. Do not try to kill or in some way remove the foxes as the territory will simply be taken over by other foxes so the risk will still be there – you cannot have a guaranteed fox-free garden. So better to have clean foxes visiting you. imo

we had the same issue with the neighbours cats. (With their owners blessing / knowledge) I've turned the hose on them a couple of times (we've a sprinkler sat in the middle of the beds, just turned it on at the tap. That and sticking holly bush cuttings into the beds and sprinklings of pepper seem to have worked…

A lot of people will tell you that cats bury their poo – certainly not true in my neighbourhood, and clearing it up is absolutely disgusting.

The only thing I've found that works is one of those ultrasonic scarers. Except one of the cats in our road seems to be deaf, and poos right in front of it.

I really dislike cats.

A lot of people will tell you that cats bury their poo – certainly not true in my neighbourhood, and clearing it up is absolutely disgusting.

Fascinates me, in 20 years of owning cats and even being related to a cat breeder I've never ever known a cat not bury it. But obviously some people have seen otherwise. Some cats are a little half-hearted with the burying, but never seen it on grass and usually our main complaint was the fact that they actually dug up plants while trying to bury it!

IME cats use the same places to poo whereas a fox doesn't but cats do tend to bury their mess. I tried putting rose bush branches down to make it difficult for my neighbour's cat to squat but it just picked it's way through and shat on the branches and no longer buried it's mess. Razor wire seemed the next step but then I moved house.

My neighbours cats seem to employ a range of techniques from burying their poo to leaving it on the surface. They seem to be in my garden at the same time of day, normally when I'm having my breakfast, so I can usually catch them at it. An unltrasonic gun and/ or a water pistol filled with a mixture of vinegar,washing up liquid and detergent are the best weapons.

Some of my neighbours, the cat owning ones, seem oblivious to the behaviour of their beloved pets. I'm sure they would take a different view if I took my morning dump on their flower beds after a night of shagging noisily on their driveway and killing small animals in their garden.

We tried allsorts – pepper, chili powder, spikey things, netting, water pistols, stones, kicking.

The only thing that worked was an ultra-sonic scarer.

I wonder if part of the problem is trying to stop them, the more you try to stop them the more they'll try to get in there to do it, territory-marking fashion?

Full and comprehensive week old poo thread.

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cat-poo

Go with spikey objects first. Get a pack of wooden skewers that are supposed to be used for BBQs, they only cost about £1. Stick these around the veg pointy side up and build your own fortress defence. I wouldn't bother with holly bushes as these aren't spikey enough. If you have some proper thorny bushes with 1" plus spines you could try cuttings from them. Lemon scented gel, orange peel etc has never worked in my experince so don't waste your time and money.

The best solution is a fruit net over the top as this stops the cats and will will also stop birds, which might eat stuff like strawberries.

Same problem here. Holly is working but it just moves them to antoher bed IME.

Swearing at them doesn't work BTW :O(

I wonder if part of the problem is trying to stop them, the more you try to stop them the more they'll try to get in there to do it, territory-marking fashion?

I don't think so – it is simply habitual. They find a nice comfortable and safe spot to dump and by the time you realise they are crapping in your garden they have formed the habit.

But saying that, they are cats and cats ARE spiteful little monsters…

in 20 years of owning cats and even being related to a cat breeder I've never ever known a cat not bury it.

It is unusual although not unheard of, for domesticated cats not to bury their shit. It is however very common amongst feral cats, as dominant males will mark their territories in exactly the same way as foxes (and some other mammals) by leaving little exposed turds placed in strategic locations. Subordinate feral cats bury theirs.

The reason domesticated cats nearly always bury theirs, is that their owners/humans become the "dominant males". One of the common effects of owning pets is that the animals never attain full maturity as they remain with their "parents" for the whole duration of their lives.

I believe adult wolves almost never bark, although wolf cubs bark a great deal. And adult wolves communicate between themselves (specially over distances) by howling, domesticated dogs on the other hand rarely howl.

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Big Dave – Member

Some of my neighbours, the cat owning ones, seem oblivious to the behaviour of their beloved pets. I'm sure they would take a different view if I took my morning dump on their flower beds after a night of shagging noisily on their driveway and killing small animals in their garden.

I would probably think "that alpha male Big Dave has been marking his territory again…………the randy fecker".

I would probably think "that alpha male Big Dave has been marking his territory again…………the randy fecker".

😀 😀

A neighbour's cat used to squat over the side of a small terracotta planter we had like it was sat on a bog. Cheeky ufcker.