Keeping CATS off my lawn

With reference to the gravel, if your gravel is smaller than 14mm, then the cats will see it as a litter tray. Anything that is like horticultural gravel will be too temping. If the gravel is small and quite deep then they have something to dig in. Laying a concrete foundation and setting some gravel then sprinkling any gravel smaller than 14mm is the way to go so they can't dig. The 14mm and over gravel is usually too big for them to dig.
With regard to your lawn, unless you have witnessed a cat actually doing its ablusions on it then I would be inclined to say it's a fox or a hedgehog not a cat. I would be surprised if it was a cat, they are usually pretty careful to bury their muck. If it is a cat keep the grass as low as possible, understandably hard this time of year and plant cat repellant plants around your lawn like - Coleus Canina (Scardy Cat), Helichrysum Italica (curry plant), artemisia powis castle, the odd voodoo lilly in your borders for short times of the year and other strong scented plants, when the lawn is dry sprinkle chilli powder, ground black/white pepper and garlic salt around the popular pooing places on the lawn. You can put some descretely placed litter trays around the garden which might encourage them to do it in there, or buy a large water gun, fun and very theraputic!! I have done it on my own cat! Scented candles with citronella and orange oils and oil burners in the summer will be a good detterrant and will look nice as well. During the winter, place your orange/citrus peel around the garden on the soil, you will need to remove it when it is totally mouldy as it will not compost well. If they are going in your garden make sure your borders are packed full of plants and shrubs then they will have no room to move or leave little messages.
If they do leave visible messages they buy some dog poop bags and use a dedicated/old trowel to remove it, the poop bags or even nappy sacks are scented and they can be tied and put in the bin.
It is unfortunate and especially frustrating but cats are a part of everyday life and unfortunately are treated as farrel creatures and cannot be treated the same as dogs, they will go just about anywhere, but if we all feel fed up the only thing to do it prevention and a bit of persistance will help, maybe not cure it altogether though. Hope this is of help
Andrea

Sonic cat scarers - they do work. I have a large garden which was heavily used by the local feline population but using just two of these over 12 months has done the trick. The knack is to move them round the garden quite often (say every couple of weeks), else they get used to the bits to avoid. Eventually they get the message that the whole garden emits this horrible (to them) noise and they 'go' elsewhere. They are not cheap (I paid £50 for each of mine) but it has solved the problem.
AndrewR

I wonder if they work on Rabbits ?

Would they upset Henry - our Labrador? I had to clear up some more half-buried cat poo when I was weeding this morning UGH!

Rabbits or dogs - pass. They are only advertised for cats - it must depend on the frequency of the sound.

I am like many gardeners out there a cat lover and do have two very clean females but they can be a problem.

Cats are creatures of habit and tend to go to the same spot. I had a real problem with my front lawn and a male cat, who left his mess on the top of the grass. Females tend to always dig a a whole and bury. Well mine do any way and that is why you are having problems with your gravel area, they think its a litter tray.

I found the following a completed sucess.

Take a cane, break in to small sticks approx 6 inches, wrap tin foil on the top and place were you have the problem. Cats don't like tin foil and the stick give them a shock. Break the habit, solve the problem. Also keeping you grass short does help but in the winter when the grass grows and you don't mow the is a perfect solution. I have used this method for a few years now and its easy to take the sticks out when mowing then pop the back and if you stand on them they are easily replaced.. I put them in clusters of three.

Hope it helps

Debs

yes i have the same problem, and if it is any help i have a sonic fox alam and it does not effect cats or dogs! so maybe a cat one would not effect dogs - but i would check it out first, i like Andrea's idea about the water gun, this does work! and its lots of fun doing it! but i would say that your problem proberly is just cats as you have said, as fox pooh is unmistakeable! it looks nothing like cat pooh and you can smell it from miles around it really is foul. and foxes don't just stop a poohing in your garden they make lots of other mess too so you would be in not doubt if you had foxes!

Thanks for all your answers.. it is definatley a cat not a fox.. we have a large male cat over the road and i have seen a huge fluffy white cat poohing on the neighbours lawns as well as mine it does not cover it up......... i will try a few of your ideas to see which works best......

I used to have tons of problems with cats messing in my garden. I use an ultrasonic cat deterrent combined with lion poo now. Spiked security strips on the fence also works to deter cats. Lots of info at www.cat-deterrent.co.uk.

Lion poo???? i would imagine that kind of defeats the object lol

Ive bought a sonic cat repeller which sends out a high frequency noise that only cats can hear and it annoys them so they ignore your garden,I bought one three weeks ago after next door got two kittens and not seen one since

Dear Steveferr,
Where did you find the sonic device? We got one to shut up the neighbors dogs & it didn't phase them! I had to resort to buying a cat trap! I wish people would keep them in their houses. It's not like you have to (or COULD!) walk them! That's what litter boxes are for!
Thanks for any info on it. If it worked for you, I'd sure be willing to try it! The smell is noxious & it's DEFINTELY not good for vegetable gardens. I could at least keep it out in or near my front gardens, where I can't put my trap. People around here steal all kinds of things, & I live in the SUBURBS of New Orleans!
Dianne Acosta

ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS GET A 2, 3 OR 4 LITRE BOTTLE SEETHROUGH TAKE STICKERS OFF AND EMPTY IT FILL BOTTLE WITH PLAIN OLD WATER PUT LID ON AND GO PUT (stand) BOTTLE NEAR AFFECTED AREA IF U HAVE MORE ONE AREA LARGE GARDEN GET A FEW 3 LITRE WORK BEST . ITS TO DO WITH CAT EYES AND REFLECTION IN WATER IT SEES ITSELF LIKE WE DO IN MIRROR BUT CATS BRAIN TELLS IT ITS ANOTHER CAT. JUST TRY ITS INEXPENSIVE JUST NEED EMPTY BOTTLES FULL OF WATER . YOU WONT SEE CAT IN YOUR GARDEN AGAIN LOL HAHA?