Talk to your neighbors about it, if that doesn't work call animal control. I hated it when we had cats in our old house that kept pooping in the garden beds.

There's some home remedies too that you can put in your garden beds but I don't know if you'd want to go down that route.

Mothballs are a DECENT deterrent against cats pissing/pooping in your beds/pots (we used this with our own cat who had outdoor access to our courtyard which was completely surrounded in the center of the house itself - so she NEVER was outside in neighbors yards) Never the less, we did have issues with her choosing pots instead of her box so not sure where the idea came from but my mother put moth balls in the soil and she never returned . . . the smell is not so nice though!

I second the suggestion to talk to the neighbor - mention the reasons why they may want to keep them indoors ANYWAY aside from YOUR yard - IE: predators, feline diseases, hit by a car, catnapped, take to pound by a neighbor etc . . . . many ways to lose your kitty!

This is why I keep my kitties inside (although we have been "adopted" by a neutered sweet male kitty who spends his time in our yard now - but I can't say much for his piss/sh*t as I don't think he does it in MY yard)

I would NOT take someone's pet cat to the pound though, whatever the reason - as that is the nature of outdoor pet cats and would be cruel as it would most likely be put down! They move far too freely to expect someone to keep them in their yard unless the kitty is kept indoors always.

Good luck keeping them off your patio furniture too - I personally don't mind a sweet cat sitting on my patio as the dust and grime of Phoenix is FAR worse than the cat hair . . . it's outdoor furniture! Again, I don't have a problem with urine/feces though so it's a different issue.

NOW if I could do something about the neighbor's dogs who LOVE my green lawn and cause dead circles all along the street side . . . THAT is annoying. Not saying anything about those who don't pick up the poop :-(

I don't want to sit on my clean furniture that will be covered in cat fur. That's annoying. I started putting mouse traps on the seats to detour them. These people are from N. New Mexico and far as I can see they think letting their pets roam is ok. Well the coyotes will get them soon and its not the cats fault. We did have a conversation when they first moved in about their barking dog which did not go over well. So talking to them about the cats will not go well. I am willing do anything with out hurting the cats.

I have put strip of hardware cloth on the top of fence. It helped. Before I had to cover veggie beds with chicken wire when I seeded something. Later in season when plants become big enough, cats will find another place.
Water will help too: when you see cat in your yard, try to splash water on it. This cat will not come any more.

Have you tried a sign... No cats allowed' Put it next to a dog dish full of lava rocks.

brier....I had to put up the chicken wire already around the veggie beds and they are I think staying out of those. I will get a squirt bottle. What is the hardware cloth???
This morning one was sitting inches away from the pool edge looking at the water now a drowned cat would not be good.

Here in central Phoenix we have lots of loose cats, most are feral. In other places I've lived in Phoenix loose cats didn't last very long due to coyotes, owls, etc.

Cats here, and many places, are considered a free roaming animal so animal control are not allowed to do anything about cats. Cat owners can be sued for damages but I doubt a judge would see poo and walking on outdoor furniture as "damage" and good luck proving Fluffy did the damage.

IMO there's not much legally that can be done. And cats have lots of protection from harm. We've got a legal system which allows cats to do whatever they like and are effectively protected. Because of this inequitable situation people have come up with lots of illegal ways of dealing with cats. It's a shame we've come to this but that's the reality.

Speaking to the owner is the normal and reasonable approach. But in my experience that does more harm than good. The odds that a talk is going to suddenly change a person's view on letting their loved cats fend for themselves in the wild is close to zero. Mostly it just makes them mad. Now if anything happens to Fluffy in the future they're really going to blame you, because obviously meany you must be responsible. Retribution can be severe depending how self centered the neighbor. People who let cats roam are pretty self centered.

What I do is just view cats as just another wild creature. They don't do very much damage to my yard in the grand scheme of things.

There are lots of smelly chemicals you can spread all over your yard. I'd rather have the cat.

Fun things you can do:

Feed the cat really high fat food and lots of it. Once it's 30-40 pounds it won't jump up on your furniture, or anything else.

Get yourself a really big not fixed Tom cat and let the fun begin. Most dogs aren't nearly as effective. You'll still have the poo and damage but now it'll be your cat. Plus, apparently when a person becomes a cat owner they no longer can see or smell cat poo or notice any damage or understand why your neighbors are upset. So problem solved.

Get a kangaroo. Kicked Sylvester's butt.

I live in the Verde Valley and from what I understand the pound will do something about free roaming cats.
So if the squirt bottle doesn't work or the mouse traps or anything else then I guess it will be the pound. Its better than them becoming dinner.

I'm a long ways from you but our animal control will only address cats if they are hurt or ill.

Best case scenario would be if the neighbors would realize they are a problem and keep them indoors.

I've had to go the route of chicken wire laid around plants in beds to keep them from scratching. I had a solid wooden gate at my former house that they would jump up on, then over. In the process and since it rains here a lot, I was washing muddy cat prints from my beige painted gate every week, both sides. They would spray the outsides of my large deck pots, marking 'their' territory.

Boundary cat repellent in the aerosol spray helped with the gate and the pots. It looks foamy for a minute but dries clear and doesn't stain, is odorless to us after the first few minutes. A neighbor had suggested the Boundary, she was using it on her oriental rug in her dining room - to deter her own cat. Critter Ridder granules sprinkled in your garden can be helpful too (made by Havahart, the pet friendly people)

Frustrating I know to have to purchase things to protect your comfort from a neighbors pet.

We went to a 'class' on legal issues with dogs and cats a while back that was given by a local court judge. His suggestion for cats..... use a humane trap to catch them. While in the trap, give the kitty a bath with the hose, shout profanity at them, bang on the cage with a stick, then turn the cat loose. You haven't harmed the cat, just given it a reason never to return to your yard.

That's exactly what a neighbor of mine did to my cat years ago. He had desert landscaping, this in California, and cats always found his yard appealing. But he kept my cat in the trap for 2 or 3 days. She finally came home and when he told me about it, much later, he said that the cats never came back after that treatment. It does sound mean but it's much better than many alternatives.

I've tried moth balls but was not as successful as Kevin. They evaporate fairly quickly and need to be redone. We have horseshoe pits in our back yard and cats love them. I've covered them with shade cloth when we're not using them.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone...Morz... where can I purchase Boundary?

Cats roam. I tend to agree with the comment of live with it. Neighbors may never forgive harming a family member. Of course if it is a next door neighbor you could try dumping catnip seeds over their fence in a good location for it (where they cannot get their mowers). I hope the Boundary works.

Calling the pound is a government approved option. Whether they will actually do anything about a non-feral cat seems unlikely to me.

I can pretty much say once a cat roams you can never break them of the habit. They need to be kept inside their first 9 months of life to keep them from going far.

I can say that the State of Arizona has THE most draconian cruelty to animals law on the books in the nation. Convictions are often felony, and the sentence is years. So it is all well and good a judge (a JP who might not even have a law degree?) says capture and abuse someone's property, but you can bet they won't be the one you are standing in front of.

I do remember reading of a solution...if I can find it in my library I will post it, but you likely won't like it.

Now that I have found it, I am sorry to have mentioned it as it is meant for perennial beds that don't need to be tilled. Once done it is permanent and presents a recurring hazard.

So this is intended to strongly discourage gophers in the planting bed, but I'm sure it works on cats too. Spread in areas they seem to like to make their deposits and if you can tell sprinkle their path they walk through as well.

You need safety glasses, gloves and especially a dust mask.

Take a glass jar/bottle and break it up in a metal bucket. Crush the glass into tiny slivers a quarter inch or smaller (don't cheat on size). Then mix into the soil (throughout for gophers, just under the surface for cats).

source: p. 197 in below link...not sure Kourik would approve of its use directed against cats, but I see no reason it would not greatly diminish one's joyous defecation plans no matter the species.

Here is a link that might be useful: Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally

This post was edited by Fascist_Nation on Thu, Jan 29, 15 at 15:38

Sometimes it's very hard to keep a cat in the house. We had one who tried to scratch his way through a metal door, just to get out. Sure, we had the cats using our garden beds and it is annoying. We found the answer is to put sticks or plastic silverware sticking out of the soil until the growth is big enough to deter them. It doesn't have to look bad - use dark colored impediments. The sticks don't have to be very big, and just close enough together so that the cat can't squat comfortably. Every garden has sticks around, they don't cost anything. It works for us and doesn't hurt the cats.

FN, you did warn us and yes, that's a lousy remedy. And I thought trapping and water spraying was bad. Yikes.

I would get a kick out of seeing someone actually cover their yard with broken glass just to stop a few droppings.

I think the glass might be a bit much. It was mentioned in a blog a few years back when I had neighbor who thought he could put his hands on the block wall to pull himself up to look in my back yard. Some one said to put crushed glass on the top. Well for him I actually would of considered it, but not for a cat. They don't know any better, but he did.
The threat of the Marshall took care of that.

Remind them that coyotes love kitties ... for dinner.

This video was taken in north Phoenix, in our back yard, inside a 6-foot block wall.

Here is a link that might be useful: urban coyote

I have 4 cats and I let them out in the back yard occasionally. I know that only 1 of them would go into someone else's yard (the rest are too lazy to even think of jumping up on a wall). I'd ground him to the indoors for a while if I ever caught him going into someone else's yard so some of us cat owners would appreciate a heads up if you ever see them in your yard :)

Campy - PetCo, PetSmart, Amazon, often Walmart. Lots of places carry the Boundary now when it used to be only at pet supply places. Not sure, but I think I've seen the cans in the mousetrap and pest aisle of Ace Hdwr....

She put it in her car and took it to the pound? Glad my cat doesn't escape my house. There are some bad people out there (who could do that to someone's family member?).

333 when it is continuing to hang around your house, trying to get in and you have an allergy to them. I don't think she was bad, just had enough. Bad would be if she put in the car and took it out to the desert and let it go. If it was some one's family member then they should have taken better care of it and not made it her problem.

This post was edited by campv on Fri, Jan 30, 15 at 17:52

I like cats. My wife "loves" cats and have had several inside over the years. I work at home and so spent a lot of time with the cats. To be confined to a house with nothing to do for 99% of a creature's life seems cruel to me. Birds in a cage, turtle in a bowl, etc. Doesn't seem like much of a life other than measured by longevity. On the other hand getting a cat and unleashing it on neighborhood wildlife purely for the cat's entertainment also seems cruel to me. Doesn't seem like a clear cut scheme other than not having a cat.

This post was edited by waterbug_guy on Mon, Feb 2, 15 at 16:57

Hm - I don't think anyone taking a HOUSE PET cat to the POUND or ANIMAL CONTROL at all should have a settled conscience as the animal could likely end up euthanized if not retrieved by the family in time or adopted out.

Again, a non cat owner is certainly going to have a different opinion on the matter as I do myself with two cats (who are too terrified to even leave the house if the door is open!) because there are just too many risks to their lives (including less caring/patient neighbors)

I can understand the nuisance, but unless there is a cat hoarder or a large amount of un-spayed/neutered cats in your neighborhood I can't see one cat doing that much damage . . .

Smearing axle grease on the top of fences is supposed to work. I keep considering this, but haven't done it. Combined with the Boundary, might work.
I hate the smell of the poops. I have cats coming at me from all over the neighborhood.

Well I am diffidently going with the boundary and maybe some more mouse traps. I am also going to get a large squirt gun. I should not have to go through all of this. I mean these people even have a large screened in back porch. Well I give the cats about 2 more months and they will not be around any more....... Coyote dinner...done

For water squirting I know the Scarecrow Motion Activated Sprinkler works pretty good based on what others have said in pond forums. I personally don't care for such things but lots of people do.

Super soaker water pistol, cayenne pepper in beds, just sprinkle it on-heavy/ mothballs.
Chicken wire on bare dirt will not let them scratch to deposit their droppings and can be cut to fit around plants.

As a cat lover, I'd never let my cats do that to you. I didn't approve of them doing this in my OWN garden, either. (Today, because of ticks, they're strictly indoors).

When I was a kid, the guy across the street insisted on walking his dog on our side of the street. The dog would obediently do his droppings there and he'd just leave it. Mom got fed up and bought some spray to deter the dog, sprayed it that evening, and watched the next morning as the owner tried and tried to make the dog do his business there. The guy got the message, and probably walked his dog another house or two over...

I think you can do the same with similar sprays for cats. The owner won't have enough brain cells to get the message, but the cats will.

Addendum: It might not keep them away after just one spraying, but after a few, you should be able to stop using it and reclaim your garden.

This post was edited by Artemis_MA on Wed, Feb 4, 15 at 20:28

Thanks everyone for your positive thinking.
I appreciate all the info and today I put down the mothballs.
Boy those things smell. Hope they work.
All I can say is some people are so rude and disrespectable of others(they are the only-ist ones), no wonder there is so much animosity in neighborhoods.
Thanks again
Camp Verde AZ

UPDATE...The month balls did not work. glad they were only $2.00. I cleaned out so much poop after putting it down. What did seem to work so far was the similar stuff we bought to Boundery, think its the same stuff but it was expensive $18.00 @ ACE. I sprayed the wall and the stepping stones near the rose bed. Then for good measure I sprinkled cayenne pepper all over the area around the roses, boy now that did work no more cat poop. Watched the cat and the thing would not come close. Did not know that my husband last week put the cayenne on the top of the cement wall. No wonder all of a sudden they were not coming over the wall. So do not know if it was the spray or the cayenne, only time will tell. Only problem is that every year I grow my own cayenne and dry it, so in the next few month because it contains seeds I may have plants popping up every where. But hey I can transplant them into the garden for more cayenne next year. Yippy no more cats for now.

I tried the Scarecrow sprayer. I would find the cats sitting near it. No matter how much adjusting I did, they still fooled the thing.

I had a feral cat using my vegetable garden as as litter box. Ugh. Used a tried and true method of scattering orange peels around the soil. Works like a charm.

I have same problem the first yr I moved here. Try sprinkling dried chillies mixed into the soil or black pepper.