Cats can pop out of anywhere, and if you’re not careful, they might also start gathering around your place. When one comes, more are sure to follow, and when this happens, you need to know how to keep stray cats out of your yard.
It’s all a matter of making the environment in your yard uncomfy to lounge inside. The best way is to target the cats’ senses by putting unpleasant smells, rough rocks, or loud noises, and soon they’ll find it inconvenient to hang around.
Table of Contents
Ways to Get Rid of Stray Cats in Your Yard
1. Keep your yard free of food
Cats are natural scavengers and are likely to gather where they can eat. If they’re gathering in your yard, food scraps might be hidden. So, clean up any left-over food and scrub your grills clean to keep stray cats away.
2. Gear up your fence
Keep cats out of the fenced yard by enhancing your fence. If they’re still lounging about, that means the wall is too easy an obstacle for them. So, gear it up by adding some spikes or bars.
3. Prevent potential housing
The stray cats might gather in your yard because they’ve made their home nearby. Look for any place that can become their shelter, like burrows or holes that lead into sheds or from your porch, and cover them up.
4. Territorial urine of other animals
If other methods are still failing, you can try taking a step further by marking your yard with the urine of other animals. The most effective would be the urine of predatory animals like coyotes or foxes to get rid of stray cats naturally.
5. Make your yard uncomfy to gather in
The cats would need somewhere to relax if they want to stay in your yard, so make it difficult for them. Find soft and comfy spots like flower beds and cover them with rough rocks or barbed wires to get cats out of your yard.
6. Remove their territorial marks
The cats might have already claimed your yard as their territory. Once the cats have claimed it, they’ll keep coming back. They mark their territory through pee, so you’ll have to find their marks and wash them down to prevent this.
Removing their feces and territorial marks can answer the question of “keep cats from pooping in my yard” since it stops them from finding their favorite places to release.
7. Watch out for your female cats
If you have a female cat, she might be why there are so many cats. Cats that aren’t spayed will go into heat and attract many male cats. So, if your female cats aren’t fixed, keeping them inside the house when they’re going through their cycle is best.
8. Use unpleasant smells
Cats, like many animals, are sensitive to smells. Add on to their discomfort by spraying your available commercial repellents. You can use natural alternatives like citrus peels, cayenne pepper, and even moth balls keep cats away.
9. Scare them away
Alarm the cats and make them afraid of your yard. The easiest and harm-free way to do this is by targeting their sensitive eyes and ears. Utilize sirens, honks, or bright flashlights to ward them away when they start hopping into your yard.
It’s even better when you have a dog since they deter cats from yards, but be careful. We don’t want any harm to come to the cats.
10. Trap and release
Find safe traps you can use to capture the cats and bait them with treats or food. Once you’ve caught them, you can bring them to the nearest pet adoption center, look for their owner, or try the trap-neuter-return method with the community’s help.
When doing TNR, you can get advice from online communities like Reddit. Participate in the conversation at this link:
Advice on how to deter neighborhood cats/strays from using my little garden bed as a litter box without ruining aesthetic appearance. I have nothing against kitties, but it does get frustrating waking up to dug up mounds, mulch scattered and having to scoop out large turds every week 😬
byu/LeyzeeD ingardening
Complete Anti-stray Cat Makeover
What to Prepare:
- Fence and wall spikes
- Anti-cat mat stimulation strips
- Cat repellent (natural or commercial)
- A sack of rough rocks
- Humane catch and release animal traps
- Water and commercial soap
- Basic woodworking tools
You can follow these steps to keep stray cats away:
Step 1: Start with landscaping
Make your yard uncomfortable by removing soft surfaces you think cats will like to sleep in and replacing them with rougher terrain like small, rough rocks.
Step 2: Fixing openings
Find any areas from burrows and holes that give cats opportunities to sneak in and form their home. When you’ve found them, proceed to close them up to your liking.
Step 3: Washing
You can do it by simply washing water over sites you think they’ve urinated on, or you can take the extra step by scrubbing them with soap.
Step 4: Scenting
You can buy a commercial cat deterrent for yards or try home remedies to keep cats away by scattering natural cat repellants like citrus peels, coffee grounds, essential oils, and water-mixed vinegar.
Step 5: Fortifying
Fortify your fences with fence and wall spikes to stop them from coming in. If places aren’t rough, skip the landscaping and add anti-cat mat stimulation strips. When all is done, you got yourself a cat-repellent yard.
FAQs
What can you sprinkle to keep cats away?
You can sprinkle commercial repellent or natural cat deterrents that can be found in your kitchen. Examples would be citrus peels, coffee grounds, and pipe tobacco.
How do I stop cats from peeing and pooping in my yard?
Clean it up and make sure to scrub out the smell. Take note of the areas where they frequently leave their feces and place preventive measures like spikes or reflective light.
What are cats afraid of the most?
Unfamiliar things like a change in scenery or strangers, predatory animals, and things that disrupt their acute senses can scare cats away.
Conclusion
Even if you’re someone who completely adores cats, sometimes having strays gather in your yard can be too much. So, it’s only natural that you’d want to keep them away, and in the most harmless way possible.
If you want the answer to how to keep stray cats out of your yard, the answer is to make things uncomfortable for them! Cats will be permanently avoiding your yard
I am Amy Sawy, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) graduate from the University of Kansas. y husband, Dr. Plummer, and I own a veterinary clinic in Phillipsburg, Kansas. In addition to my professional background, I am a devoted pet owner myself, with a household that includes dogs, rodents, and most notably, cats – a total of five felines in my home.
In 2020, I joined an organization as a professional writer, leveraging my experience and collaborating with my team to deliver the most valuable information for your cat’s care.
