Very well summerized James.


"JNJ" wrote in message
...
I hope that this query hasn't been posted before. i am a first time
gardener and I am experiencing problems with cats fouling in my flower
beds. Does anyone know of a good method to prevent this?

Go to Google, select Groups, and do a search for "Cat" in rec.gardens --
there are a BUNCH of discussions on this topic.

The short answer is that there's not much you can really do to stop it.

You can try the liquid repellents -- they wear off and a good rain will
pretty much eliminate their effectiveness.

You can lay rose stems (with thorns) in your beds -- only viable if your
bed(s) is/are small, otherwise the cats will just work their way around
them.

You can keep the mulch damp -- many cats will flat out ignore this and use
it anyway.

You can get one of those motion activated sprinkler type jobbies that will
swivel and squirt whenever something moves in front of it -- pretty
effective, but limited coverage and if you have more than one bed it can
get
expensive.

You can get a dog and leave 'im outside -- pretty effective as well, but
has
limitations and he might just dig up your beds (ours go around the beds
and
eat the cat droppings).

You can place chicken wire under the mulch and/or buy plastic pads with
little pointy things sticking up -- limited viability due to cost and
plantings, but this works fairly well as long as your mulch is only a
light
layer (the cat scratches the chicken wire and learns to stay away).

You can buy a BB gun and shoot the animals (rubber BBs causing less
damage),
and/or you can trap them and take them to your local humane society. Some
people kill them outright with a shotgun or handgun.

You can attempt to create a space for the cats to use that you don't mind,
by adding mulch and such then planting catnip. Some have reported this is
fairly effective but not necessarily an end-all solution (i.e., sometimes
their beds still get fouled).

You can try walling/fencing the beds off, although most cats can easily
jump
5-6 feet in the air from a standing position so this has limited
effectiveness.

I think that's about the extent of the discussions, minus political
debates,
animal rights debates, animal cruelty debates, name calling, complaining
about people that let their cats out, feral cat pack problems in places
like
Australia, wisecracks, and any of a number of extras.

James