cat going in neighbours garden

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mell-annie
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cat going in neighbours garden

Post by mell-annie »

Staying at my friends for a couple of months till my flat is ready. My cats have settled well but the female has started using next doors garden as a toilet. I am mortified and i don't want to leave here knowing i have left bad feeling between my friend and her neighbour. The neighbour, ( a lovely person ) is not pleased as she has small children. I have told her to spray her with water,but what i really need is a reccomendation for a garden repellant. There are loads on the market but i just haven;t a clue as to which is effeciant. thanks in advance
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JulieandBarney
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Re: cat going in neighbours garden

Post by JulieandBarney »

Hi....Its not the fault of the poor cat, she may be a little confused at the moment, her whole routine has been totally changed while you are staying there poor thing, it is not her fault....ask the neighbours to maybe put down some orange peel as a deterent, certainly not to spray with water which I personally think is very cruel.....if anyone sprayed my cat with water I would more than happily throw a bucket of ice cold water over their head the following day !! :evil:
andrea8411
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Re: cat going in neighbours garden

Post by andrea8411 »

Unfortunately cats will go where they want to mine take great pleasure in using my neighbours garden and slightly embarrassing when you are standing talking to the neighbour! Maybe put a litter tray outside their cat flap? If at any time they do use the tray, sprinkle it around your garden, to encourage them where to go. As its only temporary I would have thought the neighbour would be alittle more understanding as cats will roam into many people gardens and this probably will not be the first or last animal to use her garden as a toilet.
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sarie
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Re: cat going in neighbours garden

Post by sarie »

Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with giving them a quick squirt with some water - there are automatic sprinklers with infra red sensors to keep cats out of gardens that do much the same thing and work very well. If it's just a quick squirt as a deterrant it's perfectly harmless. The whole point of a deterrant is that the cats don't like it - it's not meant to be nice otherwise it wouldn't work! I love my cats just as much as the next cat owner but I'd much prefer someone to use water to deter my boys than feel they have to resort to something more harmful. However, the water spray method does rely on your neighbour actually catching your cat/s in the garden and they soon learn to simply avoid the garden when people are around so it's not foolproof.

There are a number of good products on the market. The infra red sonic repellers are about as good as it gets - I've known a good few people use them with success, myself included.

In my experience, orange peel etc doesn't work - even my cat Harv who has a sensitive nose will gladly sniff orange or lemon juice without batting an eyelid and the peel dries out almost immediately and becomes usesless.

mell-annie - this is a good product you could try out - I used one of these indoors for a while to train my cats to stay out of a specific bedroom and it worked like a charm. It uses a motion detector and the moment the cat trips it then it emits a sonic tone and the light flashes red to let you know it's operating. My cats hated it and within a day they worked out to stay the heck away from it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/STV-STV610-Mega ... t+repeller" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can buy a mains adaptor for it too but if you're not going to be there too long then batteries are probably fine. They do start to run down after a few weeks and once they start to run down the cats don't respond to it anymore so if you find that it stops working, it'll be the batteries. Mine started venturing back into the forbidden room after a few months and I found out that was the problem :)

You can also get the auto-sprayer things I referred to above but imo they're not as good as the sonic repellers as they require more setup and a hose to supply water. Better as a long term repeller but short term I'd go for the sonic one and only resort to one of these if that doesn't work! :)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Contech-ScareCr ... t+repeller" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

or the cheaper knock-off version (reviews aren't as good)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/STV-STV414-Jet- ... t+repeller" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't wish to upset the other posters but I really think it's important that cat owners embrace these repellers and help out neighbours who have a problem with our cats rather than jumping to their defense and getting angry about people using things like water pistols on them. It isn't the cats fault that they poo/wee in the neighbour's garden but neither is it the fault or the responsibility of that neighbour. By making excuses or getting angry with the neighbour you just push them to do take matters into their own hands. I'd far rather give my neighbour a few humane options than leave them no choice other than to take matters into their own hands and possibly use harmful ways of keeping my cats out of their garden.
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bobbys girl
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Re: cat going in neighbours garden

Post by bobbys girl »

I have to agree with sarie on this one. The last thing I would want is to harm a cat (or any animal) but to be on the receiving end - so to speak, of cats lavatorial habits, well guys it's not nice!
andrea8411 wrote: and slightly embarrassing when you are standing talking to the neighbour!
:lol: In my pre-cat days in England I was plagued by neighbours cats using my veg garden as a litter tray. One day I was talking to our next-door neighbour over the fence, when her cat, Suki, (a big, white, miserable ball of fluff, prone to attacking anyone including the owners OH and son) strolled by me. The neighbour was telling me how clean her darling (and all other cats were) when Suki dug a big hole in my carrots and deposited a steaming pile of poo! :shock: I said that's why they are all so clean they cxxp in MY garden! :evil: Unlike you Andrea the owner was not the slightest bit embarrassed or apologetic 'Oops sorry' would have done.

My neighbour on the other side had the answer. Fed up with another cat getting into her childrens (covered) sand pit to toilet, she borrowed her son's water pistol and added a drop of baby shampoo to the water. She caught the cat trying to get under the cover with a quick squirt. It stopped to wash off the offending water and was seen walking away going 'bler pooey yeuch. It worked - no more poo in the sand pit. Oddly enough there was more in my garden, funny that.....? :?
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Janey
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Re: cat going in neighbours garden

Post by Janey »

A squirt of water is not harmful to the cat and useful deterrent, best not to let the cat see you administering the water though so the cat doesn't associate it with you, and needs to be done at the time of the offending behaviour otherwise the cat won't associate it with the negative effect. I woudn't add anything to the water though.
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Kay
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Re: cat going in neighbours garden

Post by Kay »

perhaps digging out an earth pit, or setting up a sand pit, in your own garden might help - offering something better than anything available in neighbours' gardens would be my chosen solution, and one which harms no cats or neighbourly sensitivities
mell-annie
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Re: cat going in neighbours garden

Post by mell-annie »

Well, after looking at all the options and bearing on mind i have only 7 weeks here water spray it is. I am not sugesting a bucket of ice water Julie.
All the repellant have terrible reviews and the others a bit expensive for a few weeks.
However the female cat has been staying in and using her litter tray, She does seem nervous of going out so i think the fella next door has been shouting at her,(he is not as nice as his wife. a nasty man )
She has to learn to be an indoor cat so best to learn now.
Thank ypu so much for your replies.
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JulieandBarney
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Re: cat going in neighbours garden

Post by JulieandBarney »

Hi Mell-Annie....sorry, my post was meant as a bucket of ice water for the neighbour, not the puss.. :o .lol..... plus it really is only for 7 weeks and seems rather OTT for the neighbour, knowing that it is literally short term issue...:
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