28 January 2024 , 14:30
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Not everyone is a cat person, but even if you do have a soft spot for our feline friends, you may find yourself frustrated that the local cats in your area have started regularly digging up your prized flower beds and plant pots - finding them the perfect place to relieve themselves.
As the RSPCA explains, cats are by nature animals that love cleanliness, and they do a lot of the hard work themselves, keeping themselves well-groomed with their tongues that have hooks to remove impurities from their coats.
They also often will be incredibly reluctant to use a litter tray that has already been soiled, leaving your garden vulnerable to becoming their toilet of choice.
This love of cleanliness, however, can be the greatest tool in your arsenal when it comes to stopping cats from pooping in your garden. Cats normally prefer to hide and bury their faeces, but one simple change to your soil maintenance can put them off entirely.
According to the Royal Horticultural Society, you can avoid this by simply ensuring that in dry spells you water your soil regularly, because "cats dislike wet soil, preferring loose, dry earth and mulch" to bury their excrement in.
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Equally, if you plant as much as possible in your beds with the plants as closely positioned as possible, the RHS claims that this can minimise the damage cats do by digging - because there is simply less space for them to access the soil directly, and it becomes a less enticing bathroom spot.
Per the RSPCA, cats use faeces and urine to mark their territory, so it may be that if you have been exceptionally friendly to a neighbourhood cat, they have started to perceive your garden as part of their territory which they instinctively want to defend against other cats.
A way around this is to stop feeding them if you have been giving them a snack here and there, according to House Beautiful, and make sure that you don't leave any food waste accessible to them outside.
If the cat in question is your own, then your best bet might be to stick to the RHS's advice of well-watered beds and close planting - as well as making sure you are strictly on top of cleaning out their litter tray - to stop them opting to poop in your flowerbeds.
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