One deterrent we have used is chili powder. We dust areas around and under our house with chili powder, cats always smell an area before they use the restroom. It's cheap but only lasts until it rains. Moth balls also work, just toss them around where the cats frequent. I don't know which smell I hate more though, moth balls or cat urine...

Moth balls are toxic and can harm children and pets as well as contaminating garden soil and water run-off. Please don't use them as cat deterrent. Here's a good resource listing plenty of safe cat deterrents.

I second Jennifer's concern about moth balls: these tiny balls of pesticides are a proven carcinogen and will kill cats, dogs, raccoons, opossums, rabbits, owls, small children and any other creature who puts one in his or her mouth. Mothballs have been banned in Europe since 2003 because of their severe toxicity.

Cat droppings carry a disease that causes severe birth defects / brain damage and vision loss. Share this real concern with your neighbors.

I can understand that you want to avoid sour neighbour relations, especially as this is the only issue, but even though they may be set in their ways, if they are such nice women, they'd probably be considerate. it may be that they currently assume everyone is ok with such behaviour as they would be, but if you politely explained why this is an inconvenience to you, they may at least consider litter trays.
unfortunately, I don't think there's much you can do about them killing wild birds, though they're domestic cats, nature is nature
if you decide to do this, and have no positive results, consider litter-training them yourself. you'd still be cleaning up after them, but in a more organised, hygienic and less destructive way to your garden.
I'm not sure sprinklers will help. After the first few shocks if gives them, the effect can easily wear off. If you decide to go this route,

Scoop it up (after dark if you don't want them to see) and toss it in their yards. Also, if the one watched her dog go in your yard they're not that considerate.

(sorry that didn't post completely)
of you decide to go this route, take care to position them in a way that kids, guests, etc don't get inadvertently sprayed.
good luck

if they seem to go in a certain area, like a flower bed or garden, putting chicken wire down in that area might help. they don't like walking on it and cannot dig or cover their job. shouldn't take to long for them to look for another place. learned this trick from an aunt and used it when our neighbors cats liked the area under our bedroom window. you will see it but not from a distance, plants will grow through it. and can be removed when they stop using that area.

Heck with their being in their 80's. Just because they are inconsiderate bags doesn't mean you have to put up with shxx. You pay city taxes, too.

A few ideas...next time you see cat poop in your yard, scoop it up and put it directly on their stairs or in their yard. Without a bag. If they step in it? Oops. Don't worry if they see you or not. All the better if they do.

If you really want to get technical, send a sample of the poop for a DNA sample. Keep the report and document each day and time you see a cat of theirs (or any cat) pooping and snap a photo of the cat. Use that as proof for your complaint.

Get a large dog that definitely hates cats and let it have free access to your yard for a week. Borrow one or dog-sit.

If the cats don't have a license and it's a requirement in your city, feel free to call animal control and by-laws first thing Monday morning.

Don't keep tabs on their cats. You aren't obligated to answer about their cats' whereabouts. Stop answering your phone after 8PM and tell them in advance not to call you unless they absolutely need an ambulance or immediate emergency help. They may test you a few times in a row. Let the phone ring and don't feel guilty.

Let them absolutely chase after their own cats. They are from a generation where they grew up with feral cats, barn cats, and cats allowed to "roam." They aren't privileged in 2016 just because they aren't still on the farm or in the boonies.

So let them lose their cats to nature if it comes to that. It has its own laws. People have theirs. Screw the cats. They aren't paying the bills. You are. People are higher than animals.

And being "nice" isn't a virtue. Kindness is. There's a big difference. Learn it. Or keep letting people (and cats) walk all over you.

Good luck.

Scorched Earth tactics are not a good look, even if used *only* on those specific neighbors - who are in their 80's and aren't going to be around forever - the rest of the neighborhood, plus those who move there and talk to the families and individuals still there and remember "the one neighbor who declared war on two elderly widows over a couple of silly cats", so there's that.

There's being nice, being kind, and being diplomatic. They aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, but people are kind of funny about how they define the first two...the third, everyone can recognize - the intent and the effort at least.

Lime is supposed to be a deterrent, but don't use near lime hating plants.

Cats visit my place to try to fight with my cats. I run at them shouting GERROFF!!!! Or something similar, and they run away. If that doesn't work I throw water in their direction. We see them less and less now. One recalcitrant big male wouldn't take my sweet subtle hints ;) so I went to speak to the owners.

The males (sometimes even when neutered!) tend to have a bigger territorial range and are "lookin' for some ladies to love. (but the desperate and not too picky might mistake a 100% indoors neutered fella as a potential romance from time to time)."

Tribble...I hope you're not burying anyone in the backyard. That's always what I think of when there's a mention of using "lime". I might need to watch crime doc/Investigation Discovery channel programming...

Hehe! When we were making an oval shaped garden bed in the middle of the front yard, a passer by wanted to know who we had buried under the dirt!

I can't imagine letting my cats go outside. Indoor cats are protected from traffic, coyotes, evil children, parasites, and people like Lisa G who would trap a cat with a home and take it to a shelter.

I agree with the others on this post who say put it in their yard. I can understand that you do not want to ring their bell(in more ways than one), but, giving them back their belongings after dark is so sweet.

we have a few feral cats around and they use my yard often. I just clean it up and when I see the cats with a large rat in their mouth, I thank them. In the end it is easier and wiser to just clean it up.

If these neighbors are in their 80s they may find letting the cats out a whole lot easier than scooping litter boxes at their age. To those who think the neighbors' age is irrelevant, you are a good example of what has gone wrong with this country - a lack of respect for others, especially older people. What goes around, comes around.

It would likely help out the elderly neighbors and stop the cats from burying their business in your garden if you provided a designated cat toilet. A litter box with a 3-sided plywood box over it should do the trick, encourage its use by depositing some droppings in it. You will need to clean it regularly, but you are already cleaning after them anyway, and this should protect your yard. Paint it nice so it is not an eyesore. Maybe offer to put it in the neighbors' yard and clean it there. I bet they would appreciate the help and kindness.

And take some soup or something to your elderly neighbors. What goes around, comes around.

@Tribble

Oh, burying bodies in the front yard is *much* better. Preferably if done in broad daylight on days when many neighbors are out and about. Definitely helps the police solve murders. ;) The exception for in-laws might apply, but it's best to research the laws in your jurisdiction before digging a hole pre-emptively or buying any other 'special supplies' (bleach, lime, lots and lots of trash bags...) ahead of the in-laws next visit. :)

Oh, we escaped from them. No Thanksgiving in Aus, too!

I don't let my cat outside, and it drives me nuts when people do, but that's besides the point. Cats won't dig in bark. All our flower beds are covered in bark and I never find droppings in there. I did find a dead bunny once.....my neighbor let his dogs out and he killed the bunny that was living in my yard and buried it in the bark. Nice. :>(

Can't make anyone respect someone; you can demand, you can decry the lack of, might even simply forget because life gets busy and it's not you and yours so -meh- which is going to put many in an interesting predicament when they get to be in a vulnerable demographic again (the very young and the very old are at the mercy of those who are somewhere in the journey through that expanse of years through the middle).

I was 9-10 when I got my first cat, and there were many things that I didn't get a say on which were directly tied to the cause of things which necessitated being kind and unselfish - and a shorter life for her. With my second cat I still lived at home but older, more insistent, stubborn and willing to have the litter box in my bedroom with the door closed all the time just to ensure that I never had to experience that heartbreaking loss to preventable things again, and I got 16 amazing years and was there at home with her when she breathed her last breath. While it still makes me sad it is nothing compared to everything that led up to the vet trip I ran the 3 miles back home from the first time around, and the feelings tied up in that experience. I didn't know or couldn't do things a better way back then, but I can look at what i did for the next and feel good about having gotten it right.

**I won't deny that the air quality of our environment didn't improve when we moved to my current home in '02 and had substantially more space instead of one small bedroom which always had to have the door closed.

Why is it rude to not want someone's pet to mess in my yard? I personally don't have pets so why should/would I clean up after someone's cats? If there are so many reasons why you don't want to offend your neighbors then deal with cleaning up. I personally would talk to them nicely. If that didn't work I'd spray them (cats not neighbors), put vinegar on my plants, and lastly trap them and send them to the scpa. I try to respect everyone but I deserve the same respect.

Write them each a note (no confrontation) and say, I really enjoy you as my neighbor and I value your friendship, but I am having problems with your cats using my yard as their toilet and I my physician is concerned about disease since I am cleaning it up while we are trying to get pregnant (or whatever else you can come up with). I would really appreciate your help and assistance with this issue. Many thanks..........

I'm the original questioner here and wow, this came alive after quite a pause. Just to respond to a few pertinent comments: We have taken food over to the lady next door for years, my husband has helped her with little odd jobs, etc. He has been awesome and done things her own sons haven't done, and yet she knows her cats are going in our yard and simply says that's the way cats are. So, we don't push the issue. As people get older (she's in my parent's generation) it doesn't mean they should be disrespectful of others. She has children my age immediately across the street, about 5 minutes away, in a nearby neighborhood who could clean her cat litter boxes (if she had them) since they are there on an almost daily basis to visit her (wonderful they way they do this!). This is not a life and death situation; just a simple question I had posted to try to avoid problems and thank you to everyone who gave good suggestions. In fact, I have used several of them, and rarely find a pile anymore. Someone said they do't go in bark--they go in bark here, in fact, seem to prefer bark. They hate gravel, so we now have lots and lots of gravel with planting beds planted densely enough so that they avoid them. Some things that have worked: Keep areas they enjoy going in damp, spraying water on shrubbery they get into the yard through morning and night, as they don't like to go through wet things. Yelling at them to 'shoo' when I'm in the yard and they are in the process of or coming into my yard to do jobs, running out into the yard and shoo'ing when I see them coming through the window. In general now, they seem to avoid our yard, which is a happy ending. I'd never maintain a litter box in my yard--that would be an open invitation and don't care to clean a litter box or I'd get a cat myself. The smell of cat feces is one of the most awful smells and I just don't want to deal with it. When we had our little dog who lived to almost 18, I kept him out of people's yards and told him not to bark. People that have pets really do need to take care of them and not bother their neighbors. It's just common sense and respectful, whatever age you are. As far as thanking the cats and putting up with their defecation for taking care of the rats...rats come around dirty environments with food scraps and garbage. Keeping your home and yard clean and making sure there aren't entrances or situations that draw rats is much preferable to me over putting up with cat feces all over the yard and it's just a very unacceptable trade-off to ask people to put up with that, in my opinion. We don't want your cats to defecate in our yards. Please don't let them and take care of them adequately at home; for your cats' sake if you don't care about your neighbors. Thanks again everyone. :) Adding a photo of our 'new' and (almost) cat-proof back yard...lots of gravel, river rocks, potted plants.

You have a very lovely yard, enjoy it!

Nicely done yard. Let's hope your roaming feline problems become zero! Good luck, and happy relaxing!

Buy 2 large black cement mixing tubs from Lowes or HomeDepot( not much $) and 2 litter scoopers put one set in your yard and one set in her yard fill them with dirt from where they are already going so it smells like their poop, this way poop&pee will be concentrated to pan not all over yard and gardens or in grass and much easier to clean up. Put chicken/stucco wire on top of garden beds cover with dirt do this in mulch and gravel areas too.Plants will grow thru wire and cats cannot dig and they do not want to walk on it. Get a product called"Stinkers" (Amazon) and spray every where you want to be rid of smell either from pee or poop. Some of the previous comments were really mean and scary, yikes you are mean people! One person wrote about diseases from cat poop,bird poop has many more types of harmful bacteria.I am stunned a few of you wrote to sic dogs on the cats that is really terrible can't imagine that it would be OK to have a dog maul anything.

The problem has gone to almost zero with the steps in my last post. Also, I have blocked their normal entries with twig branches from weeping bottlebrush, which is easy to humans to step on/over, but cats not. Just a proviso to anyone with this problem...if you have even a foot square patch you forgot anywhere, they will find it...and the smell will lead you to it.

Update: I said 'hi' to my neighbor as she walked by the other day. She had been crying and told me something had attacked and killed her cat that morning (app. 2 weeks ago). That morning, I had seen a large coyote walk through our back yard. Her beloved old cat she had had for many years is now dead and died brutally. So, did that make her friend on the other side of me (or her with her other cats) change? No, the cats are still allowed to roam loose. l still pick up the occasional pile and, just a few days ago, went to pick up a little bit of loose brush, not really mounded, and got a handful with cat poo in it. Shaking my head.

Some people never learn. That poor kitty. This is why they do NOT belong outside!!!!!! Irresponsible pet owners make me want to scream.

Well its sounds like things are better, I thought the sprinklers were a great idea, would keep other undesirables out as well.

Pets are four legged children that need proper supervision. I had a neighbor who was walking her small dog on a leash when a coyote came rushing by and grabbed her dog. She chased after the coyote and he eventually dropped her dog, but the poor thing was seriously hurt. And this is no longer an issue in the country - coyotes live in downtown Chicago! While no owner can completely protect against everything, if coyotes are killing your animals then you need to take steps to protect your pets.

Moth balls in your garden.

@ bellburgmaggie You would think so, wouldn't you? But no. I saw a dog once while sitting in a vet's waiting room who had been attacked by a coyote and was rushed in as an emergency. They apparently grab the animal, then flip it over and rip open its' belly. This little Jack Russell's eyes were glazed and popping out of his head and his owner was hysterical. I told this story hoping maybe a few cat owners who let their cats roam and defecate in others' yards would be scared enough of what could happen they would, unlike my neighbors, keep their cats inside, where they belong, and clean up after them themselves by using a cat box and the many types of clumping, easy to deal with, litter on the market. I have been a cat janitor for many years here. And now one of them died a horrible death because these owners believe 'it's natural' for cats to roam free.

Coyotes have increasingly been a visible issue in urban/suburban settings but they have always been there. In the country they have to work harder and in the same territorial range of other predators - so coyotes prefer to skirt along the edges take routes where humans are less likely to visit regularly (flood control channels for rivers that are concreted over and directed towards lakes or the sea, through cemeteries and railway networks no longer in use which are often grown over by weeds or turned into green ways, etc). People who might mean well encourage coyotes to lose their fear of humans by leaving food out, programs allowing the killing/hunting of coyotes only leads to larger litters of pups and groups from other areas moving into a newly-opened territory. We make the problem worse with our typical responses to the matter, and need to think outside of the box for solutions (other than protecting pets by keeping them indoors).

btw, coyotes can get over an up to 8 foot tall fence if it isn't 'coyote proof' and at least in Southern California, have attacked children in recent years in parks, neighborhoods, one was inside her home even.

They can also get through wrought iron fences. The coycote I saw looked almost the size of a German Shepherd, and he went through a wrought iron fence, so they must have the ability to squeeze through very small/narrow spaces.

Anyone reading this (now or in the future) -- you do not have to solidly cover an area with gravel or make paths, to discourage digging and burying -- find PEA GRAVEL at the hardware (yes, about the size of small peas), and sprinkle it so it is about 1" between the pieces (more or less). When a cat goes to dig (which they do both before and after their business) the little stones get between their toes which is uncomfortable enough they go away. After a while, cultivating your garden, disturbed soil, getting covered with other mulch, etc, will mean you have to re-do the scattering of pea gravel, but in between it is quite a relief!

I came to like the look of some light buff gravel I had found, so I did mulch my front borders about an inch deep with it. Which also worked fine!

Crazily enough they're fairly adept climbers when it comes to chain link fencing even. We have a pack that serenades my gated HOA nightly with their session of howling and yipping to each other - the back lawn of a cemetery is located across a creek bed running behind us.

This guy and his side kick are all I need to keep others cats at bay. They get a long well with my indoor kitty but keep all others away.
I sit on 1.5 acres and don't worry about poopies as much. The big guy has a designated area in the far back corner he likes while the little gal poops just about anywhere. "Oh you're walking there...let me leave you a present first..." Drives me nuts.

My comment was simply that a one cannot leave animals out to fend for themselves and that even a good pet owner demonstrating responsible behavior can get attacked by coyotes. I know of an inconsiderate neighbor who had his Great Dane deposit all over a prize winning garden. The neighbors fed up with repeated pleas to pick up after his large dog pitched in and had the zoo deliver several tons of elephant dung - dumped in the offenders driveway. The problem stopped.

There is also a website devoted to this topic. http://www.neighborhoodcats.org/how-to-tnr/colony-care/keeping-cats-out-of-gardens-and-yards-2

Apparently you can purchase infrared sensing sprinklers that will go off when the cat enters the yard. Sounds pretty humane to me.

bellburgmaggie, this is not a cats vs. dogs or cat lovers vs. dog lovers discussion for me. It is what I've been dealing with personally for years and now a cat is dead. I don't intend to spend money on infrared sensing sprinklers or anything else. I just want pet owners period to keep their animals in their own yards or in their own houses, if not because I'm really tired of cleaning up after them, because coyotes can kill them, they can be hit by cars, etc. Be responsible all pet owners is the message here.

I am a dog/cat owner. Indoor cats except most recent addition is goes out a couple of times a day - visit neighbors. I have 2 outside litter boxes & surprisingly - they are used by a few of the neighborhood "ferals". My neighbor had a problem on the other side of his home - so I put a box over there & sure enough it gets used now instead of his yard. Just make sure to put NON-CLUMPING litter! I forgot-put out the other-it rained & I had 1 very large clump! The non clumping is cheap. As an afterthought - the stray that moved in & goes out a couple of times a day - actually comes back in - yells at door - goes potty in the indoor litter box - then goes back out. I realize you shouldn't have to do anything-your neighbor should take care of it themselves, but the way I look at it - there are so many in the world.........

Trap the cats and drop them off at the animal shelter.

I recommend the following.Buy a 12 bore and use it. Stops most animals you do not want.

Yupp🤔...black pepper!!... Black pepper sprinkled on poop spots mix into dirt💪 a lil cats will poop somewhere else so buy lots o pepper 😆 try it my ex taught me this for dogs digging to many holes in yard n it worked. We have FERAL CATS in Tucson, Arizona n it's way outta hand w ammonia smelling!! dirt around us city does nothing yet it's TOXIC SOILS from 15 cats Animal Control doesn't answer phones here just a message machine. Try black pepper sprinkled on the dirt, mix in about 2 inches or so deep cats will look elsewhere for pooping in your yard too move👍 so have extra pepper it doesn't harm them. Just lil butt burn or sneezing 🤣 Good luck folks👍

Maybe just accept nature's calling for what it is. It's a yard, not an inside bathroom.

Chicken wire. They hate it.

i was also going to suggest chicken wire