Cats pooping in the vegetable garden???

[vermontgirl]

Our two young cats seem to think that our garden beds are a litter box. We found poop in it and witnessed both cats popping a squat right in front of us. Disgusting. We haven't planted anything just yet, but I am really frustrated that this has to be an issue. How gross. I want to somehow get them to stop before we have food growing there.

Any ideas?

[SweetSilver]

For planting seeds, I have laid chicken wire immediately on top of the beds.  I haven't found a perfect solution for mature plants yet.  You could have a sacrifice bed and plant only ornamentals but I know as soon as a start digging anywhere our 1yo kittens go berserk and roll and jump and dig in the fresh dirt--then poop.  All the excitement makes them do that, apparently.  

[LaughingHyena]

I know some people cover the area with spiky twigs till the seadlings come though, once the seadlings are big enough you can remove them and the cats shouldn't bother them.

In our case it's the neighbours cats who are the issue so I'm happy to use wide ranging things and keeping them out of the garden entierly. We've had some sucess with the ultra sonic deterant boxes, it kept the cats away and provided it was set in an area we didn't need to go too often the batteries lasted OK..However the post to stake it in the ground was nto that strong and has broken off so I need to find a new way to fix it up.

There are some granuals/gel which we've used in the past to keep cats of certain areas. They end up quite expensive though as you have to replace them quite frequently.

[tooraloora]

You could try a cat garden. Pick a spot out of the way and plant a bed of catnip, cat mint, and/or cat thyme, leave a patch of dirt to roll in, and throw in a shaded rest spot. Sometimes an area setup with the stuff they like will make the rest of the garden less appealing.

[root*children]

Put netting over or around it.