My garden kitty, Jessie, loves my flower bed too. Here's what works for me. I have lots of roses and whenever I prune them I lay the thorny stems on top of the dirt. She stays out, problem solved! You can use your garden hand rake/claw to move them out of your way when planting. If you have a sweet gum tree and all those irritating "gum balls" laying around you can use those too. Good luck!

The one thing we have had success with is moth balls! Not sure of their organic standing, but has worked great for the flower beds and for the dogs in the yard. My sisters neighbor trapped her cat in a live catch cage, then went to work. The mostly black cat was left in the sun till mid afternoon. When my sister found him, he couldn't hardly walk because he was so hot and dehydrated. Now my blood got to boiling, seriously suggested calling the humane society on that one!! They had even suggested the moth balls to them before......

Mavis, you had me going with that one! I believed you.

Not sure of the science of it, but moth balls are supposed to be pretty serious chemicals and to have bad effects.

here's a little bit of quick mothball information -

http://www.epa.gov/grtlakes/seahome/housewaste/house/mothball.htm

http://www.exoticbird.com/gillian/mothballs.html

http://www.worldwise.com/mothballs.html

They're considered a pesticide and definitely not an organic thing to use.

Every year at this time I always have a bunch of excess, frozen chili peppers left from the previous season, which are great to make up an emulsion mix for warding off cats and rabbits - I put it in areas they with have to go through, and if I can get it right on them, so much the better! Habanero oil doesn't kill them, I don't think...

Dave

I saw a nifty, non-lethal gadget in Lee Valley's website, but it's pretty expensive.
It hooks up to the garden hose, and you program it for time of day for activation, height, etc.
It sets a light beam across your property line, and when something crosses through the beam, it lets fly a shot of cold water. The idea is a cold blast of H2O a couple of times will teach a cat, dog, or garden-looter a lesson.
Kind of cool, I am interested in purchasing this gadget, to see if it can repel a huge Husky that's taken to crapping in my front yard at night.

I'm so sorry for all of you! Not only do I not have that problem with neighbors cats, I have no idea where my cat goes! I've seen him piddle here and there, but I've yet to find anything solid.

Moth balls, I've read, are so toxic that they should'nt even be used for there intended purpose in the house.

I've got the cat problem, too - and on top of that it is really dangerous to be near cat crap when you are pregnant - it carries a disease that can cause fetal deformities and neurological problems!
I am excited to hear some of the tips listed here - but was wondering would coffee grounds work? Has anyone tried it? I might go ahead and try it - unless someone has already tried and can tell me their results...thanks!

These sound like great ideas, but does anyone know if these would work for a cat who sprays the bushes? I've caught the little bugger at it several times. He also sprays the canvas grill cover! I can't even open my windows for the pee smell wafting in...I'd love any feedback!
Dana

hi all, i have a new neighbor with an indoor catso she said i never saw an indoor cat reach my flowerbeds so much before that must be some cat. its in my yard i took the animal trap and i hand her her cat back in it almost everyday. when it started to rain i told her to check it herself or kitty would be left in it until it stoped raining. i was nice but my temper is getting shorter!!! i have lots of peppers left but i have so much area now. and all the new plants to fill it!Ahhhhhh! well kitty is going for a ride soon if she dosn't keep it in side. my sons bb gun is to strong to use it would really hurt the cat. X-( too bad hua, well i'll try the peppers and see how it works!

Cats spray in order to establish and maintain their territory. Other cats come along and smell their spray and so know who that place belongs to. Unaltered males spray the most, and their urine has a strong odor to it. If the cat spraying in your yard is an unaltered male, maybe you could find out who he belongs to and persuade them to neuter the cat. Or maybe you could catch him and get him neutered yourself!

If he's a feral (wild) cat, you might consider trapping him and taking him to the animal shelter. That's what I do. We have a large population of feral stray cats here and they are unadoptable, unvaccinated, flea ridden, hungry, and spray everywhere.

Will the peppers work on indoor plants also? We have a really for real indoor cat, he never goes outside unless he slips out, and when he does my DW freaks, I mean it's an allout alert to everybody in the house to track down and capture "the baby". EEEEWWWAWK! Sorry, got off the subject. He gets in & does his business in my houseplants, and scatters dirt everywhere, I've got some wire mesh fencing over the dirt in some of them but the multi, multi stem plants like my peace lilies that's kinda hard to do, so I was wondering if there would be a problem with that? Also sorry I haven't been here much lately, been working lots, life is hectic but good. I have a few minutes and trying to catch up on my post reading, great to be back, hope all of y'all are well and blessed with a great spring, summer, fall and harvest.

Welcome back! --J--

Hey, thanks, it's great to be back. I love it here, when I log on and start reading I get relaxed & excited both at the same time. Reading & sharing with y'all relaxes me & getting ideas & learning from all of y'all excites me.

I feel your pain. I live in a neighborhood that believes in catering to strays....to a point. They'll claim these kittens, feed them and so on. But, no one takes any of them to the vet for vaccines and what not. I have been here a year now and I am fed up. Another one of my neighbors vagrants was pregnant. I told my husband if she didn't take it in and do something with the kittens, I would. I waited until I figured the cat was in her last week and brought her in. Took her to the vet and got her set up to have the kittens. Which, by the way, all have homes to go to in a couple months. My problem is all these 'new' kittens take up residence on my car, my laundry room, my back yard... I can't figure out how anyone could claim these animals and not take care of them. Needless to say, I'm not on speaking terms with my neighbor anymore and I plan on calling the city to get a trap to get rid of all the toms in the neighborhood sticking up my house!!!!

My mother went through the same thing when she moved into her new house. The neighbor is one of those " Cat Women". She had about 30 when my mom moved in. After about 2 months there was 3 new litters of kittens. The Cat Woman would open her back door and throw food to these cats. The cats used my mother's porch and flower beds for a litter box. She finally bought her own trap and started catching them and shipping them off to my Aunt's farm. Where they were put to good use keeping the rat and mouse population in check. Last count my mom has transplanted 43 cats to need farms! lol!

Misty