# How to stop cat fouling the front lawn



## bobthebadger (Jun 10, 2012)

I am afraid to say it is my own cat, and I clean this up at weekends. It would not be a problem in itself, except I live in a terraced house and share the front lawn with my next door neighbour, whom I think is getting quite fed up with it. We live in an area that borders the countryside and there are plenty of areas easily accessible to her that is not belonging to anyone's garden. In addition I have a cat tray that is scooped every day (I have two cats and the other is a Birman who is not allowed to leave the house). 

My 'problem' cat is a Norwegian that was rehomed as an adult, and she loves to go out and I do not intend on keeping her indoors as I think that would be cruel to inflict that upon her at this stage. I just want her to stop using the front lawn as a toilet. I have tried pepper, spray on cat repellent (3 varieties), cat repellent in gel form, and I have 3 Sonic cat scarers all focused on the area she uses, but nothing has worked. In the interests of good neighbourhood relations, I am keen to get this resolved. Hope someone can help. Thanks.


----------



## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

Does she have a litter tray indoors?


----------



## bobthebadger (Jun 10, 2012)

OrientalSlave said:


> Does she have a litter tray indoors?


Yes, of course. I have a second cat that does not go out so a tray would not be optional.


----------



## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

bobthebadger said:


> Yes, of course. I have a second cat that does not go out so a tray would not be optional.


I believe what OliviaRussian means is does the Norwegian have her OWN litter tray? (as you mentioned having one tray for the Birman).

The thing is once cats start going outdoors they often prefer to toilet outside even though there are litter trays provided indoors.

I used to have an elderly rescued Norwegian Forest cat (RIP) who coincidentally also pooed on the lawn. (could it be a breed trait?) I always thought it was because she disliked getting her fluffy feet muddy or wet. Luckily she pooed on the back lawn not the front, so my neighbours were not affected. But like you I had to go out and scoop every morning.

Although it was a bit of an annoyance I did not mind the poo on the lawn that much, as it was easy to scoop it into plastic bags. But my cat also peed on the lawn too and this did far more damage to the grass over time.

I assume your cat has access to your back garden? If so you could provide a couple of out door litter trays for her e.g.

Product Search - Over 7.000 Products

You'd need to site them in a quiet sheltered area, and be rigorous about scooping them and topping up just as often as indoor trays, or your cat will soon go elsewhere to toilet.

Or you can make her an outdoor toilet area in your back garden using sand, & planks of wood to mark out the area. I did this at a previous house and it worked well. Again, you do need to scoop often and top up with fresh sand.

But you will need to try and persuade her to use the trays. e.g. place some of the poo you have scooped off the lawn in the new tray, and gently show her the tray in situ.

The most effective way to stop her using the front lawn is to have a water spray that is activated by a sensor. However this does mean that any human walking near the sensor would also get sprayed with water.  Perhaps the humans could learn to avoid the sensor.

Or you could buy a small water pistol and wait in hiding for your cat to go to the front lawn, then squirt her with a couple of jets of water on a few separate occasions. BUT, with this method it is really important she does NOT see you spraying the water on her, or it won't act as a deterrent and you will make her fearful of you. She needs to associate the squirts of water with her stepping onto the lawn, not with you.


----------



## bobthebadger (Jun 10, 2012)

chillminx said:


> I believe what OliviaRussian means is does the Norwegian have her OWN litter tray? (as you mentioned having one tray for the Birman).
> 
> The thing is once cats start going outdoors they often prefer to toilet outside even though there are litter trays provided indoors.
> 
> ...


Truly many thanks in taking the time out to reply so comprehensively. I agree with the yard spray idea unfortunately I do not have plumbing near the front of the house and my foundations are solid concrete. The additional outdoor tray might work, but seems a lot of effort and I am not around in the evenings much during the week.

Think I am going to give this a go. A different brand of sonic scarer to the one I have tried, and as it has a 30 day moneyback hopefully it will not cost me anything if it fails. My Norwegien occasionally does use the tray, so maybe this will persuade her to frequent it more often.


----------



## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

Apparently, plastic drink bottles filled with water and placed around can put cats off - they don't like the light reflections they give off.


----------



## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

bobthebadger, let's just hope she doesn't go off and poo on an adjacent lawn instead!  As I'm sure that would not go down too well with your neighbours. 

Good Luck!


----------



## jodiej1987 (Mar 16, 2014)

I too have this problem, except my garden is gravel and im coming to the point where theres going to be none left due to me scooping poop everyday or two. will be following to see if anyone has any ideas.

out of interest, what do you do with the litter tray outside when its raining? we used to have one but it filled with water


----------



## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

Lion poo - sounds odd but apparently it works  you can buy it online


----------



## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

jodiej1987 said:


> > what do you do with the litter tray outside when its raining? we used to have one but it filled with water
> 
> 
> If you used one intended for outdoor use it shouldn't have filled with water, as there's no way for the water to get it, unless you left it outside in a flood! Here's one that I know is OK outdoors.
> ...


----------



## jessica93 (Mar 21, 2014)

Freddie does this too, my dad's just done the garden up and Freddie never used to toilet outside. He used to come in and use the toilet. At first he started weeing in our garden dad didn't mind this but then Freddie started ripping the plants up and pooing on them. I thought cats didn't do mess in there own yard? Freddie still uses the litter tray but will happily mess in the garden aswell. If he Did it in my neighbours yard and they could prove it was Freddie then I'd happily pick it up but he's only doing it in our yard.


----------

