im not sure if i should post this here but help me if you can....i removed the mulch from around my house where i had seen termites....now the soil there is nice and loose and rich since some of the mulch had turned to compost....i put out new bulbs and some hosta and such.......now my kittens are using it as their litter box........is this goin to hurt the plants?.........they arent digging up anything but i didnt know if what they were doing in my dirt would harm the plants....if this will harm the plants, any suggestions to keep the cats out of my dirt.....thanks so very much........cindy
cats are using my soil
The cats use my flower beds for potty boxes too. I can't see that it has hurt anything except to rearrange seeds and occasionally uproot a small plant. Just wear gloves when you work in the soil so you don't get a handfull of "cat surprise".
well thank you mary...someone finally answered my post....lol...but all my kittens are gone now.....i have only grown cats now and they go out into the yard so i dont have to worry anymore.......except ill still wear gloves....lol..thanks again mary......i will know next time...:)
cindy
Cindy, I don't care for cats using my flower beds as their litter box. I don't really know how much their urine and feces hurts the soil and plants, but it's just nasty and - -especially if the bed is close to a door - it gets pretty stinky after repeated use. I put rose cane prunings in the beds they tend to favor. Use big ones, so you only have to move a few when you need to do maintenance in the bed. And they do seem to work - the cats go elsewhere when they can't easily scratch the soil to cover their waste.
Broomom
A sure cure for the cats
Get a pit bull and tie him near the beds.
Paul :)
nothing like finding cat spary on your car tires each morning! and they Love sleeping/spraying on my porch furniture. Don;t know why people with cats don;t keep thm in doors.
Better late than never, some new member may come along and find this useful:
Cat Deterrents:
* blood's meal fertilizer
* purple foutain grass (link below - just imagine it purple) to hide a pool pump that the cat LUVVVVVVs it and lays in the long leaves all day. So my thought is maybe put something in that the cats really like and - you know cats won't winky were they like to hang out.
* chili powder, red crushed pepper , cayenne pepper
(Beware for reasons posted above)
* toothpicks
* coffee grounds
* black pepper
* aluminum foil
* water bottle on "stream"
* motion sensor sprinklers
* river rocks over the exposed soil
* garlic
*cayenne pepper, it gets on the cat's paws then they wash themselves and they get it in their eyes, beware cats have literally scratched their eyes out because of this
# moth balls, avoid these in your garden because they are highly toxic
Give them their own areas:
(if you don't mind them protecting your garden from other critters)
* give them their own areas to dig in: loose soil and mulch like small bark mulch
* give her her own plants - ie., pots of grass for her to chew on and a place in a large planted container on her balcony with some miscanthus grass in it (the cat likes to curl up in that for some reason)
* pick the cat up and bring it to eye level with the plant to see and smell it up close. She noted that once her cat has seen and sniffed at the plant, she usually doesn't bother with it later.
* Barley Grass
* Oat Grass
* Wheat Grass
* Flax
* Wheat Berries
* Catmint cultivars
* Carex elata 'Bolwes Golden' but put it in some shade
* Valarian
* Striped Ribbon Grass (can be invasive)
* Cat Thyme, Teucrium marum, and Silver-vine, Actinidia polygama, and Mints
* Sweetgrass
I read on the bag of cocoa hulls available at Home Depot, that cats dislike the smell and I tried it (I have 4 cats). It seems to work. After I finished planting in the bed, I put a thin layer over the top. My main problem is I find I am rarely finished with a bed. And the smell is wonderful to me!
This message was edited Monday, Jun 17th 10:18 PM
Hi Everyone,
I have had great luck using broken pottery pieces in my flower beds and pots. I have 4 cats, and this seems to discourage them. Another bonus is that it can look very decorative. Coincidentally, most of my broken pottery has been given to me by the cats. :-)
Jen
LOL!!! Jen, that's funny. Just discovered my new cat left to me by my dear son likes a certain place in the garden, going to have to try some of these.
This is what I do, if I see any cat poop I pick it up right away and throw it out, it is not good for the soil, in fact over time it can really make the soil smell bad. You can train your eyes to spot it right away. Some times they dig up small plants as well. But, it is really hard to stop them.
I had this this problem last summer and go_vols suggested placing old prickly rose canes in the area, I tried this and it really worked well.
Becky
Rose cans would work if they were only using one area. I can tell you they like fluffy dry soil best. I have a lot of litter boxes in the house, and another idea is put a litter box outside near the area and hopefully they will use that instead.