Stray Cats, Feral Cats, and Gardens

Gardens attract wildlife—especially if we’ve set some space aside for them. Wildlife, safe spaces, and potential sources of food and water can all attract stray or feral cats to our gardens. Depending on the style of garden you have, the plants you’re growing, and your feelings about cats this may or may not be an issue. Personally we think cats are a welcome addition to any garden; they help out in all sorts of ways and can be pleasant company even at a distance. However, some folks prefer to deter strays and feral cats from coming into their garden spaces. It’s a delicate issue, but we’ll do our best to give you some guidance about managing your garden and the stray, feral, or neighborhood cats that may find their way into it.

It’s Not the Cats’ Fault

Let’s make something clear right off the bat: none of this is the fault of the animals involved. Cats were introduced to the Americas by European settlers and quickly became feral in many places. They feed on rodents, birds, and other small creatures as well as on scavenged food from human homes. They didn’t ask for any of this, and abuse or violence against any animal is a horrible thing to do. If you’d like to remove a given cat from your property or neighborhood, please contact your local animal control authority, animal rescue, or no-kill shelter rather than doing something unkind.

Deterring Cats from Garden Spaces

Fortunately there are some peaceful, humane ways to keep cats out of your garden. Not everything on this list is going to work for every cat or every garden situation, but that’s the nature of both gardens and cats. Experiment, adapt these approaches to meet your needs, and be patient with the process—another key part of gardening.

• Use smells to keep cats away: Like most animals, cats have a more sensitive sense of smell than humans do and we can use that to humanely deter cats from exploring our garden spaces. Common herbs like rosemary, Russian sage, lemon thyme, and rue repel many cats, as do prickly textured plants like squashes and zucchinis, decorative thistles, and holly can all help convince cats to go elsewhere. Some gardeners swear by powered chili or coffee grounds spread around the garden as an animal deterrent and it may be worth a try.

• Give cats a place to go: If you have a larger outdoor space, consider giving cats a space, similar to what we recommend for local wildlife. A small corner of the garden with exposed sand or a sandbox for the cats to do their business in and some catnip as a treat can help keep them away from the rest of your plants, or at least limit the time they spend in other parts of your garden.
• Install some physical barriers:These don’t need to be huge; a low fence or garden netting around a garden bed or a collection of potted plants can be enough to keep cats away from places you don’t want them. A privacy fence around your entire yard can be really effective in keeping all sorts of critters out, but that’s a much bigger investment of time and money.

• Control mice and rats to control cats: Mice, rats, and other rodents are frequent and often-unwanted garden guests. Cats hunt these critters—that’s why we domesticated them—and while cats are still useful in that role if you keep prey out of your garden spaces the cats may go elsewhere. We’ve written about how to do just that, so give this blog a read for some ideas.
• Cats like to use the bathroom on soft soil and other comfortable surfaces, so by using prickly mulch like pine straw or gravel surfaces you’ll help send them elsewhere. Done correctly, this can help make your garden more maintenance-free overall so everyone wins.
• Embrace and support your local strays and ferals:As a final suggestion, you can just embrace the fact that local cats like your garden and work around it. Provide shelters, food and water, and make your garden a haven for local cats. They’ll repay you by helping to keep pests away, adding some additional personality to your garden, and giving you the good feeling that comes from a humane deed. We do recommend getting in touch with a local trap/neuter/release agency to help avoid creating more feral cats, but those organizations can help you through that process too.

Managing cats is always a difficult matter; it isn’t just one of your holiday games. But this holiday season we’ll hope you’ll take some steps to make life a bit safer and more comfortable for all the creatures living in and around your garden, including the stray and feral kitties who may stop by.