Domestic cats are often adored by their owners… and hated by the neighbours who find their garden plants trampled, peed on or uprooted by a scratching cat looking for an outdoor toilet. If you are one of those garden owners, the following list of cat deterrents for gardens will come useful. It is admittedly difficult to keep felines permanently outside a garden, particularly if they think it’s their territory, but they may help make your garden a less attractive place.

Before you start using cat deterrents for gardens, you may want to look into ensuring that in the first place, the animals can’t access your garden. However, this is easier said than done, particularly when we’re talking about small creatures that can jump over quite tall fences with relative ease. Gutter covers on top of fences may help, as does having a dog. Some cats are relatively easy to scare by hanging old CDs that reflect the light, but others may find chasing the reflection a terrific game. If you are good at DIY you may want to install a sprinker that can be activated from your window, a few well timed sprays and the neighbour’s tomcat may decide to find another toilet.

Shake Away Cat Repellent

You may also want to take a look at commercial feline deterrents for gardens that can make your planting beds smell in a way kitties dislike. Shake away cat repellent is a commercially available organic and safe cat deterrent that is sprinkled on the ground and keeps cats away for about a month. It works by convincing the felines (and other small animals such as city foxes) that the garden they are about to enter is the territory of a bigger predator, more specifically a coyote or fox. It’s made of powdered coyote and fox urine, which sounds absolutely disgusting but it actually works and is not like you plan on eating on your garden beds, right? There are also liquid cat deterrent sprays but they tend to wash out quicker than granules particularly if you have frequent storms.

Cat Repellent Plants

If you prefer DIY types of cat repellent, another great alternative is to plant species that are natural cat deterrents for gardens. Planting rue, lavender and pennyroyal or “scaredy cat plant” may help you keep them away from your flowers, and will also help keeping away other small predators that may visit your garden. You can also reach a friendly understanding with the street cat population, and plant herbs they actually like in a dedicated area of the garden so they don’t feel tempted to pee on your newly planted flowers. However, that may not work as well as intended, and instead of reducing the problem you may end up with a friendly colony right outside your door. Only try this if you have a large garden, as otherwise the problem may be worse than it was before.

Chicken Wire As Cat Repellent For Garden Grounds

Chicken wire is probably one of the best deterrents for cats in gardens. If you haven’t planted anything yet, you can also lay chicken wire on the top of the ground, as cats dislike walking over it and most likely will go elsewhere. Leave enough spaces between the chicken wire strings to make room for your seedlings and you may get close to a cat free garden.

Keep in mind that kitties mean you no harm, and even if their visits to your garden are unwelcome that doesn’t mean you should use garden cat repellent techniques that could harm them or others. Using toxic substances or planting flowers that are toxic to cats may harm the wildlife in your garden, and even could put your children at risk if they eat them accidentally. The garden cat repellent methods in this article are not cruel to the animals themselves, don't harm the wildlife, and are safe to use even if you have young ones in your family.