They flatten the flowers as they sneak up on the birds, but in our view their greatest sin is using the garden as a toilet, leaving unpleasant heaps, scratching up seedlings in the process, and contaminating salad plants. We don't have fish in our pond, but cats can also be a nuisance here, possibly damaging fish or the liner, and stopping birds drinking and bathing. So how do you keep cats off or out of your garden?

We've compiled a list of possible answers, but some work better for some people (and some cats) than others. We've given up on the idea of zero tolerance with our aim now being for fewer cats in the garden for less time, and therefore less fouling and less bird bullying.

Read this first!

Whatever you try, it has to be on an area that the cat hasn't visited before. The advice from Vitax is that if you're too late and a cat's already soiled an area, you should bury the mess and then remove lasting taints with a weak solution of biological detergent. Then put your off-putting strategy in place.

This could explain why some people find one deterrent really useful and others find it absolutely useless.

Barriers

Whole garden

A prickly hedge, dense at the base, will stop cats sneaking through at ground level, but if there's anywhere they can jump over or walk along or squeeze under (gate, fence, garage, shed) then they'll be in. However, you can get spiky strips (e.g. a Prikka Strip from Crocus ) to put along fence tops to stop cats walking along them, and you can also place a single strand of wire above the fence so they can't balance along the top.

Smaller areas

It's easier to use barriers to protect smaller areas or individual plants, keeping them clean/undamaged.

Grow vulnerable crops and other plants in a fruit cage, greenhouse or cold frame.

Fence garden areas with chainlink that's angled outwards so the cat has to climb at the 'wrong' angle and will give up.

Outdoor plants, seedlings, seedbeds and bare ground can be covered with netting or garden fleece.

Areas that cats might target for fouling, or skulking, can be protected with prickly prunings - rose, hawthorn, holly, gorse etc - but you'll need to wear gloves when you're weeding. You can also buy spiky pads to place on the ground.

An electric fence, such as the ones used to protect ponds from herons, might also be useful around part of your garden, not just a pond (eg from Pondkeeper).

Salad leaves, and other crops you want to eat uncooked, can be planted off the ground and out of reach (eg. large tubs, window boxes or hanging baskets), but these will need regular watering.

Cat-resistant plants

Is this possible? Some say citrus-scented lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) deters cats so we've begun to grow some as a little hedge around our veg plants. Also the curry plant (Helichrysum italicum) from Garden Centre UK - although the plant has scented leaves, it is not used to make curry - and Coleus canina (unlike the first two, is not frost hardy) are reputed to deter cats, but we haven't tried this plant yet.

Frighteners

All scaring devices need to be novel, so keep changing them or moving them to different places so the cats don't get used to them.

e.g. water-filled plastic bottle, a snake-sized piece of hosepipe, or a cat shaped cut-out with glass eyes.

There's also the interesting idea of a mirror-finish pyramid to float on a pond, with the idea that the irregular flashes of light as it bobs about. It's called the Velda Brilliant Pyramid, available from Pondkeeper.

Water

A water pistol is handy (if you find one that doesn't leak so you can keep it by the window or door, poised for action) - only useful if you're around all day and night looking at your garden and are fast enough to open a door or window, or get outside, to take fire.

An automatic water jet from a sprinkler system connected to a heat/motion sensor saves you having to guard the garden. It sends out a jet of water over a wide arc but excellent but don't get caught out yourself! It also drenches 2-legged ne'er do wells skulking around your garden. We had great success with this but found cats ran so fast that it should never be directed to frighten them towards a road. Apart from the disadvantage of getting wet yourself, it has to be disconnected from the mains supply during freezing weather to avoid damage to it, the hose and your tap. There are many variations such as Scarecrow and Jet Spray.

Ultra-sonic devices

These work by emitting a sound that's barely or completely undetectable by humans (it depends on your hearing) but cats dislike, so they will move away - not always immediately but they are uncomfortable in its range and will move off quite soon. We watched one persistent cat walk up to one of these devices and cuff it, but left soon afterwards as it couldn't win.

There are quite a few different types of ultrasonic devices. Choose one with a heat or motion sensor that will be triggered as required rather than one that is permanently switched on (these might deter hedgehogs) and remember to switch it off before going into the garden as exposure to this can damage your hearing eventually (even if you can't hear it). Catwatch is one of the best as it can be operated by mains or battery and we found it was really successful. It didn't stop cats walking by, or even going up to it and batting it with a paw, but they didn't linger for very long however much they tried to keep face.

The only problem is with deaf cats (some white cats are congenitally deaf; also cats can lose hearing with age).

Repellents/deterrent scents

You can confuse or offend a cat's sense of smell by putting down strongly scented products - natural or man-made. Often animals sniff the ground before using it as a toilet, so anything that masks old smells or deters them should work. The main problem is rain and time, as both mean that you have to replenish the deterrent.

All sorts of smelly household items (e.g. mothballs, orange peel, garlic) are suggested by people, plus lots of products, but one man's meat is another's poison so you'll probably have to experiment. Cat-owners tell us that cats hate citrus so a crushed orange works. There are citrus scented repellents made too, such as products in the Vitax's Scent Off range, and citronella-impregnated sticks from Crocus.

Bizarrely, some people find that fertiliser based on lion dung (again, from Crocus or chicken manure keeps cats away. Also urine (human). However, the smell soon goes so you need to keep topping up.

Yet another suggestion is pepper, but the effectiveness (presumably literally gets up the cat's nose) would soon be reduced in damp conditions, let alone rain.

Attract cats to one area

Instead of repelling cats, you could try keeping them in one area.

You could grow plants that attract cats e.g. Nepeta (catmint) (widely sold eg from Blooming Direct) and hopefully distract them from other parts of the garden. You could also reserve a small area of bare soil as a cat toilet - as far away from the house as possible as it will smell, although you could keep burying the mess. If one cat uses it regularly, perhaps others will stay away?

Don't

Shoot cats - they are probably someone's much loved pet, it's cruel and it's illegal.

What works for you?

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