How do I keep my cats from using my flower beds as litter boxes?

Small stones

Hi There ,I hope this may help you .All we do is put Orange peels throughout the garden and they work great.Cats really dont like them.Hope this works for you.

Keep them inside :) Outside Cats are killers of songbirds. Please read the following article for more information

I sprinkle areas with cheap pepper and no problems with animals. Also sprinkle pepper on my garbage sacks. The one time I didnt sprinkle the garbage was torn open and garbage pulled out. Had to resack for trash pickup so pepper has been my solution. Caught woman walking her dog with long leash allowing him to come up to my corner flower bed and when I walked out on porch she pulled him back. Nervy

Place some pretty rocks that will add interest to the garden, here and there in the garden. They won't have the area to get a good dig. You can also add some lawn ornaments to distract them. After a while you can remove them, as the cats will have found a new potty.

Almost any citrus peel will work. Also coffee grounds, tobacco leaves and eucalyptus.

You can make a spray of cayenne pepper and water and spray the area. Citrus also works. Cats do not like citrus. You can simply place some orange/lemon peels in the garden. Another recipe I found years ago was to put citrus peels in a blender with a little bit of water and make a purée. The blender releases all of the oil's in the peels. You can then add more water and strain the purée. Put the liquid in a spray bottle and spray your garden area .

Great tips!!! Thanks for asking the question!!!

That's a great question with no one answer. Pepper is expensive around here right now, (about $1 per half ounce if bought in large jars much more in small tins) but it is less expensive than the "animal repellant" powders you can buy at a home improvement store. Chemical repellants, including pepper, have to be reaplied after watering or rain, and every 30 days or so year round when it is dry. Stepping stones and river stones or pea-sized gravel in the open spaces will deter a cat, as well, but may reflect too much heat, depending on your location. Some mulch will deter a cat, but some will actually invite them. We've have fair luck with cedar chips, but pine does not discourage visits. There really is no one answer. I asked a neighbor to be sure her cat box was available and cleaned out so that the cat would feel less need to come to my garden, and it almost cost me the "good neighborly relationship." Good luck, and wear gloves and a mask, especially if you might become pregnant any time soon. Cat waste can harbor toxoplasmosis, which is really a baddy for the baby.

Put down landscape fabric, so they can't dig, and top it with stones. I like Pennsy Red stones, widely available (they weather to brown). Or you could use river rock.

My my neighbor had a similar problem, only the phewy cat deposits were under her window! We put down landscape cloth and covered it with lava rock. The cats don't like walking on it and it has been down for years.

Cats don't like the balls that drop from gumball trees because they poke their paws. If you don't have any I'm sure someone would gladly give you some.

Just pick up a couple of boxes of moth balls (or flakes if its a wind-protected area) - at the Dollar Store or WalMart - we always did that when I was a kid and it worked great. Good luck!

Sprinkle in some cayenne pepper.

Lay chicken wire on the ground, then hide with a nice layer of soil. Bulbs, flowers etc will grow up through the wire.

Biu☺

Garden mulch, any color. Two layers if necessary. Bought at home depot, lowe's or any garden nursery. Good luck.

Scatter moth balls.

By the way, you beds are very beautiful, and that would be a sin for cats to destroy them.The orange peels really work!

We used a roll of 4 foot wire fencing around our beds, cat couldn't jump over it. Not the prettiest looking,but it worked. I like he chicken wire idea too that was suggested.

Used coffee grounds, just keep adding them, you can maybe even go to a Starr Bucks or some coffee shop and ask for their used coffee grounds. Add some soil mix if you get a lot and then start putting it around the ground. It works.

I poked plastic forks tines up in my garden.

I put down a thick layer of mulch. That worked for me. I don't think they like the feel of digging in wood mulch. I have another garden next to the foundation that they were using too. I had to put gravel in that bed since it was so close to the foundation. We have termite and drainage issues here.

I know in Sydney you can buy from your local nursery, a product (spray) that deters cats and dogs from digging in the garden. I'm sure in the USA you would also have something similar.

you can get a sensor sprayer for your hose,it will shoot a blast of water dose not hurt kitty but kitty and other unwanted animals like possums that can dig under your foundation and damage you're home will not like the spray of water and it dose not hurt your flowers it waters them, it dose not last long just a fast spray. Hope this is another non harmful alternative 😸👍🏽

WHER DO I FIND A SENSOR FOR YOU HOSE

I save my coffee grounds and sprinkle them once a week. Keeps them out!

Go to home depot and get yourself some critter Ritter, it won't hurt your cat but it stop them from using for pretty flower bed as the potty room