Stray cat is causing me problems.

OK, I really am getting very annoyed by a stray cat that has been messing around my roof garden (pooping in my clay pots). To avoid an occasional encounter with poisonous snakes, I plant flowers and vegetables on the roof. However up at this place, I now seen to run into a stray cat - Who is hellbent upon ruining everything I do!

So I was wondering, is there a plant that will repel cats? I had a pet dog when I was growing up. So as long as she (my dog) was patrolling around my home, no cat dared to come near. But I am not in a mood to keep a dog again...

Instead, I was wondering if there is anything out there that will deter a cat from climbing onto my roof. I want something that will not harm the cat in any way, I just don't want it to come up here anymore.

I know that indoors, if you pour a little bleach somewhere - Then cats stay away from that area (as they hate the smell of chlorine). But this will not work outside. Cats also hate water, so whenever sighted, I do try to drench in with water. But this is not at all an easy thing to do...


Stray cat causing problems. ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden )

 

There are a couple of good tips in this thread from a while ago. Read down -- there is a warning about using moth balls.

http://www.gardenstew.com/about9816.html

 

At my last home before this I had problems with squirrels digging in my containers ....sometimes eating the plant but most of the time just digging and putting a nut in it. I quit planting the ones they liked and started using some wire with large enough holes in it for my plants to come up. Sometimes if the wire didn't have big enough holes for a larger plant, I just cut a space larger. It worked for me but it is a lot of work. It also helped in a small flower bed when my lab was young. She liked to dig holes and I put some wire down in the spring and it ended the digging. The plants came up through the openings and you didn't even notice the wire. Good Luck...you can also buy a spray that will help keep cats and dogs out of your garden...it is made like the liquid fence for deer but it keeps out the other critters.

 

S-H, if you have access to any thorny plants, a few branches stuck in each pot will deter the cat. Of course, when you work with the plant you need to remove the branches temporarily!
I use rose cuttings around some vegetable plants to keep the feral cats away, and it works well.

 

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions!

I really like the concept of using Coleus Canina plant, as suggested my Eileen. But unfortunately, no one here has heard of it (so perhaps I'll try to trade some seeds of mine for it with someone).

Using chicken wire is another great idea - However, we here have got the "house crows". So any metallic wire like structure (which is light enough), they love to steal! Because that literary gives their nests a steel foundation!!!

Using moth balls is another great idea. However, I have heard that they are mildly toxic, and can cause cataracts in the eyes (both of humans as well as animals). I have also just now read some more warning about it in the thread suggested by Daisybeans. So this I will use only as a last resort.

As for using cuttings of thorny shrubs, Well I had been doing that, but the cats just toss it out (much the same way I would do).

Basically, the reason why I have got such determined cats around my home, is because they (the cats) are constantly engaged in their territorial war. That and there is also another reason why they climb up at the roof - Which is that can then easily hunt sparrows perched on tree branches that way.

 

When I get a stray cat messing around my yard I get out the have-a-heart trap. After it is trapped I relocate at a local dairy farm. The owner is glad for the rodent control and I and rid of a problem. Win Win for both of us. The cat is not harmed in any way by the trap. I have never had one find its way back to pester me again. I have used the chicken wire trick and it works very well.
We have a HUGE feral cat problem here in rural Utah! There are hundreds born every spring just here in my little town. No ones seems to care about the over population of cats but you better not let your dog run around or go un-licensed. Burns me up! Good luck with your cat issue!

 

Again, thank you all for your suggestions. I however also now realize, that the cat is only littering in soil that is dry. So now I will do my best to keep all the pots moist (even the ones which don't have plants in them right now). So that alone should deter the cat.

Until I find the Coleus Canina plant (or it's seeds).

 

I am a cat lover but can understand your frustrations! :-? Our neighbor's cat was using my planter as his personal toilet I bought long, thin wooden skewers from WalMart and shoved them into the dirt. They didn't hurt the plants and they were close enough together that he couldn't fit his little self in there! The only problem was that because they were thin and wooden they rotted pretty quickly. I think they probably lasted 1 summer, which was ok because they were pretty cheap to buy and really worked! The people at out Walmart think I make a lot of shishkabobs

 

OK, this I think is the cheapest and most effective idea I have heard here - THANKS!

Best of all, no one gets hurt this way!

 

I've used large rocks scattered around in large planters, when my cats were kittens and decided I had provided them with additional potty places.

The rocks can look decorative if arranged nicely and the plants have a chance to grow and cover the surface of the planter. Of course my hubby took offense at me stopping to pick up the "just right rock" when we were out and about. Some of those rocks and planters out lived the cats (old Thomas made it to his teens.)

 

I use moth balls in my planters and planting beds for this problem...my dogs don't dig in it cats and other stray animals stay away...you can pick them up at most dollar stores so it is not that expensive.