Cats can be a nuisance in the garden, but there are a number of ways to deter them from using your flower beds as a toilet
Angela Patrone Senior Lifestyle Reporter and Ellen Jenne U35 Spare Time Writer
09:44, 18 Nov 2025
Cats can be a nuisance in the garden, but there are a number of ways to deter them from using your flower beds as a toilet(Image: Photosampler via Getty Images)
Cats adore exploring outdoors and frequently view meticulously planted flower beds and pristine lawns as ideal locations to urinate or defecate. While this behaviour can prove irritating for garden enthusiasts, it’s merely part of feline instinct, reports the Express.
They’re not deliberately being troublesome by damaging your cherished plants. Whether the cats belong to you or a neighbour, each feline is unique.
Certain techniques may prove more successful than others. Horticulture expert Linda Ly shared on her Garden Betty blog one of her “favourite ways to safely and humanely keep unwelcome cats out” that “works long term”.
Whilst fragrances can help repel cats from gardens, this approach doesn’t always deliver enduring outcomes, but something that does involves creating barriers that make cats feel “uncomfortable”.
Felines prefer conducting their business on solid, level ground, so Linda suggested employing plastic mesh or chicken wire around garden beds to establish a “weird and uncomfortable surface,” one that “cats will avoid since they don’t like the feeling of mesh under their feet”.
Use plastic fencing or chicken wire around your garden beds to stop cats pooing on them(Image: Getty)
She noted: “They also try to stay away from gravel and any areas covered in stone and pebbles.”
The variety of plastic mesh she favours is UV-resistant hexagonal netting or square mesh material.
She explained: “The flexible material is easy to cut and move around. With any leftover fencing, you can use it to create an effective barrier around saplings, seedlings, and delicate plants to protect against other pests as well.”
But does it actually work? Linda explained: “It works as a good, long-term solution. Instead of using your fencing vertically, cut your fencing to size and lay it flat in your garden beds.
“The plants can grow up and around it, and the fence can be removed or rearranged when necessary.”
For more clearly defined beds, consider edging the borders with pea gravel or chunky stones, or incorporate ornamental features such as ceramic fragments and shells across the soil to “make the ground less hospitable to cats”.
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