problem cats

[crazygirly]

i have a concreted area to the front of my house and cats seem to use it as their dumping ground literally. How can i stop cats leaving their faeces and urine on my property.

[andy-hughes]

This is a territory problem - one cat 'marks' the area, the rest 'overwrite' the area with their scent, so you need to break the circle.

Remove all faeces, and wash the whole area down with a very strong solution of bleach and boiling water. Rinse with clear water, repeat, and rinse again. Now scatter the area with mothballs, and place some balls on any nearly arial access the cats may use - fences, low walls and so on.

It will work - but if one of them is persistant, simply repeat the process - they'll soon be off marking elsewhere.

[crazygirly]

thanks for the advice. It just so happens my has given me some mothballs. i will try this method at the weekend.

[andy-hughes]

You're welcome.

Don't foget the hot water wash-down first - it's vital to remove any lingering odours because that is what makes a new visitor leave a 'message' - to mark its territory, and so it goes on. Blast the smell, put them off, and bingo!

[gregwithnail]

I advise researching what stuff to use for cleaning. I'm sure I read somewhere that some household cleaners (perhaps bleach, though I'm not sure) have an odour which - to cats - says "TOILET".

[gelda]

Yes it's bleach, it's got ammonia in it which cats have in their pee so if the cats smell bleach they will continue to pee there.