Our neighbor’s outdoor cat has decided to use my veggie garden as a litter box. While this might be a significant source of nitrogen for the garden, it’s also pretty gross.
I love cats (we have three) and have no desire to harm this critter who is otherwise a nice animal
Has anyone tried the commercial animal repellents and found one that works well? It obviously needs to be non-toxic since we plan on eating lots of tomatoes and other goodies. Thanks
Tobasco sauce. Put it in a spray bottle. You have to re-apply it when it rains, though.
And tell your neighbors that outdoor cats are at higher risk for all sorts of problems.
Also consider a decoy. Plant catnip / catmint next to your garden and the cat will probably go there instead. It’s a nice-looking shrub, too.
You can also go to your local hunting/fishing store and pick up a bottle of red fox urine. Also works for skunks.
Very true. We have three cats, all of whom are indoor cats. I rarely have to take them to the vet (except for “annuals”), never have to treat them for fleas, and the oldest one is 15 years old and has very few problems for her age. They are also all spayed/neutered.
If I want to repel these cats, all I have to do is pull out a whistle! 
I don’t know about the quality of cat whiz as a fertilizer - my neghbor’s cat pees on the lawn right in front of my apartment (my dog and “Snowflake” have had words before) and it leaves burnt out brown spots - the grass is completely dead.
I have had cats, loved some and respected all, but for many reasons I am no fan of cats allowed to run loose. Personally, I’d consider trying to rig up something using, say, a mouse trap to trigger a small land mine.
Roger
(Cran: Just kidding!!!)
My wife (a vet) says that folks report success with Felaway</a](http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=1061&Ntt=felaway&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&N=2002&Nty=1">Felaway</a)>
But since you’d be using this outside, Your Mileage May Vary.
I’ve tried various predator urines before to deter deer and they work fairly well. However, they STINK, and I have to work in this garden. Also, I hate to think how they gather the urine: either hunt the animals, or keep them in captivity-- neither of which is a great option.
I’ve tried a few urines, and they haven’t worked for cats. I try to keep neighbors’ cats out of my yard, and my cats IN – it hasn’t worked in either direction.
Another issue with cats shitting in a vegetable garden is the transmissability of parasites – there are a few, including nasty ones, that cats can transmit to people. That’s why I’ve never composted the stuff from the litterbox. See if your neighbors will trade their cat for a rabbit – no parasite problem, best fertilizer I’ve ever found. 
If you use an irrigation system that can be manually operated (i.e. garden hose) and catch the cat in the act, you could try that. In college my cats (now long dead of old age) used to like to balance on the top edge of our drawing boards so we had cheapo squirt guns all over the house to use when they encroached. In the kitchen, we used the built in sprayer (ok I did say we were in college). They eventually got the message.
Water cannon.
That’s why I suggested the Felaway. It is just a synthetic pheramone, meant to be used indoors, so it
doesn’t reek, and synthetic = no cruelty.
with a tincture of ammonia
a motion sensor…
Take it one more step and rig the sprinkler up to a motion sensor. I think that was the remedy on “This Old House” to deter a great blue heron from eating the expensive koi in an outdoor pond.
M
(back after a work-driven hiatus)
This stuff works pretty well, from this website: http://hartz.com/Our%20Products/Browse.asp
DESCRIPTION
Hartz® LIVING™ Stay Off Training Aid™ Keeps pets away from furniture, carpets, trees, shrubs, garbage, cans/bags, and other “forbidden areas” this product repels dogs and cats for up to 24 hours. Use indoors to break your pet of undesirable habits such as sleeping on furniture and rugs or to keep out of forbidden areas. Always use with consistent training. Praise your pet for good behavior and scold your pet for bad behavior.
WHERE TO BUY
This product is available in grocery stores, mass merchandisers and major drug stores.
You’re not supposed to put it directly on food crops, but you can spray some on a piece of cloth and affix the cloth in the area to be protected. It has a faint smell, but not an unpleasent one, at least not to people. Cats don’t like it. We use it to keep new cats from going under the stairs, before they get the hang of the litter box.
Ground cayenne pepper is a fantastic deterrent (Tabasco sauce, only less expensive). When they step on it, it burns their paw pads slightly. You can sprinkle it straight (good for carpets and furniture) or whip up a solution of the stuff and spray it. Should you feel so motivated, such a concoction should perhaps include some lovely blenderized Scotch bonnets and habaneros. Your grocery may let you have some that have gotten a little old.
I think a couple-foot wide swatch all around the garden would do the trick, and you could also cover the garden completely.
We have a free-roaming cat ordinance here. I adore kitties, but believe they should be indoor pets.
The catnip around here spreads so much that you might end up having more catnip than garden though. 
Kinda like planting morning glories for flowers. I never could understand why anyone would spend money to purposley plant the them. We use to spend $$ on chemicals and lots of hours in the hot sun with a hoe keeping that out of the tobacco field. 
Applying high-nitrogen fertilizer, whether chemical or a natural-by-product, directly to green
leaves often causes a burning effect. Mixed into the soil, however, it encourages leafy green
growth. Too much nitrogen encourages leafing growth at the expense of flowering. So in
the long run the nitrogen supplements will be good for the grass, but in the short run they
burn a hole. A light rain or light watering should prevent burning in the case of a feline
directly applying a stream of natural liquid high-nitrogen fertilizer. If one is using a water
spray device (super soaker, garden hose, etc.) as a feline deterrent in any case, consider
a quick spraydown of the site of feline ‘gardening assistance’.
Cat feces (along with any other omnivore or carnivore feces) are, however, relatively poor
fertilizer, and do pose a measurable health risk, but basic care - washing hands after
gardening, washing fresh-picked vegetables - should mitigate that.
Herbivore feces generally don’t contain bacteria that are particularly harmful, hence manuring
of fields in farms, and many people compost rabbit-droppings. (Farms may just spread
stuff directly on the fields, but most people with gardens prefer a bit of composting time
first for some funny reason…)
Used coffee grounds are also an excellent source of nitrogen, and generally smell better
than some other options…
My own street is rife with indoor/outdoor cats, outdoor cats, and stray cats. I take the extra
precaution of immunization against feline leukemia (along with the usuals) for this reason.
B-B gun. Not an expensive one, one of the cheapo kids toys that they still sell. It won’t penetrate a cat’s skin, let alone fur and skin, but it stings enough to annoy the critter. It will probably take several applications to encourage the cat to stay out of your yard but they eventually learn. If you neighbor complains, tell them to keep the &^%^ pest out of your yard!
BTW, both dog and cat feces are extremely poor fertilizers because they are both carnivores and their digestive systems are very acidic.
Cat feces also carry all kinds of diseases, some of them quite dangerous to children and those with compromised immune systems.
Hey-- I like the coffee grounds idea. In addition to adding organic material to the garden, the pungent smell might be distasteful to my “visitor”
We have had some success with mothballs to repell both dogs and cats. Just spread them around the area in question.
Mike