this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2023
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Neighborhood cats shit right in the middle of my lawn. It stinks and the robot lawn mover makes it even worse.

I do NOT like cats, and this is not helping.

What works to keep them from shitting on my lawn?


The votes have spoken. Some people are cat lovers; thanks for the great advice from the rest of you! I will not go out of my way to accommodate other people's pets that aren't welcome on my property. My first weapon of choice will be chili because it's simple and cheap. Other ideas have been noted.

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[–] [email protected] 72 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Cats are territorial, you have to take a bigger shit on top of theirs to show dominance.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

This guy dominates.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

Drop a stinker on those 4 legged trespassers

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (5 children)

It's like an outdoor Roomba. Very common in Europe, nothing special at all.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (4 children)

"nothing special at all" he says...

I grew up using a push mower.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago (5 children)

So did I. Now I am old, and will enjoy the modern world.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Until the robot hits a cat turd you could have seen.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I feel like this can't possibly be true... The cheapest one I can find is $650. Like, these are not affordable for most folks.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

You say that like Europe isn't comprised of like 50 countries and near a billion people

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (15 children)

motion activated sprinkler

predator pee scent in your lawn

hot pepper flakes around your lawn

put trap boxes out with bait inside, catch the cat

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 year ago

A motion activated or retomely deployable sprinkler system would work wonders. No need for drenching the critter, just interrupt or annoy the cat. After a few forced baths, the cat would associate shitting on your lawn with getting wet and just move to safer grounds.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sprinkle catnip all over a neighbor you don't like (the owner?) yard.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago

Maybe that’s what the neighbour did to op lol

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Accept that animals shit outside.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Cool, Imma just let a dog shit on your lawn and when you get annoyed you can just accept that dogs shit outside.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (7 children)

@PlutoniumAcid i’m 64, i’ve lived in over a hundred different places, including rural and suburbs with lawns. literally never ever had this problem. not even when i owned cat! so it seems you’re cursed. you need to find the witch or wizard you offended and make amends.

i’m really amazed this would even happen, as cat prefer to bury their waste so they like places they can dig miles more than lawns. i wonder: did your u maybe see one cat, once, poop and now you think all poop is cat poop? because dogs are a lot more likely to be doing this regularly than cats.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

All these psychopaths saying kill the cat or catch it and relocate it are fucking deranged. Talk to the owners if you know who it is... firstly, I'm sure they would at least be receptive to the problem and if they're not then maybe look into legal outlets. If you've gone out of your way to post on lemmy you're technically savvy enough to look up local laws. people have also posted actual remediation methods that aren't terrible and could actually improve your lawn in some scenarios as well so maybe try those out if you're into them.

I'm positive that no one wants to lose a pet in any capacity. Just some simple communication with the owners could solve this, and if not, there are other options.

Sorry you're going through this though, shit sucks. Pun intended.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I can 100% guarantee you that the owners will just be extremely confused about the idea that people might not want other people's "pets" in their yard. I can 100% guarantee you that the response will just be "well it's a cat."

And it means that if something ever happens to this small animal, OP will get blamed for it if he says anything to the neighbors.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Place a box with sand near the area you want to protect. Move it further away a feet or so by day. In 10 days that cat will be shitting wherever you guided it to. Leave the box and or the sand. Done.

Low cost. Low effort. No animal cruelty. No dealing with neighbor. Effective.

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[–] recursive_recursion 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

motion detection water sprinkler?

  • might be the most harmless and probably affordable
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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Are you sure it's cats?

Have you seen the cats pooping or just sniffing the poop?

Depends where you are, but foxes would be a more likely bet. Fox poop stinks too - really foul stuff. Cat poop generally is quite inocuos once it drys out, although a lawn mowing bot slicing it up would make sense for making it worse.

I have never heard of cats pooping in the middle of a lawn before. Normally they like private and safe spaces to poop as they're vulnerable when pooping, and normally they're fastidious about burying it where possible.

iF it really is cats, then maybe get a gravel section next to your lawn that they might prefer to go in? A litter box essentially.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Go with it, not against it. Make a small sandbox. Cat would favour that as a toilet over anything else.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago

Cat shits in garden at night. Dog is in garden during day, eating and rolling in the cat shit.

Source: my dog.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

There was an old woman who purchased a dog.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Plant some lemongrass.

When that shows to only be partially effective, accept the fact that you can't control the ongoings of the world in every fashion.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (25 children)

Put in a sand pit somewhere you are ok with them shitting. Training domesticated cats is an undertaking that in my limited experience comes down to giving them an option they'd prefer over their current behavior. Trying to dissuade a feral cat from shitting where they please humanely seems like a loosing battle.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I am OK with them shitting not on my property. If I'd wanted cat shit, I'd get a cat. I don't, so I don't. These aren't feral cats.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

We bought a couple of plants that have a smell that allegedly repels cats and other animals and had good results planting them around our patches. But we also left the dog in the garden more often which might have helped even more. The plants are called plectranthus ornatus ... but there are others which might also work: https://horticulture.co.uk/cat-deterrent-plants/

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Easy. Get rid of the lawn. Animals live outside. If it's not this cat, it'll be something else.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Find the owner and tell them the cat is shitting on your property. If they tell you to pound sand, call city/county animal control to see what your options are. Alternatively, pick the shit up before your robot lawnmower runs it over.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I have a section of dirt next to my driveway. All the other suggestions here worked for a few days max, but the solution ended up being laying chickenwire fencing on the ground. Cats won't do that on ground they can't dig.

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