Gardeners toil away to make an oasis at home, but cats can torpedo all that hard work by turning backyards into toilets.
Troublesome feline trespassers - both strays and pets - have a legal right to roam and wander into your garden, according to the SSPCA. Unfortunately, that means cats are free to do their business in your vegetable plot and dig up lovingly manicured flower beds.
It's important to note that cats are protected animals according to Scottish law. The good news is that these furry menaces can be repelled with a humane method that only costs 30p - unless you already have some citrus fruit at home.
Under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, it is an offence to cause harm "unnecessary suffering" to protected animals or if you knew - or "ought reasonably to have known" an act would have caused suffering or be likely to have done so.
Sick and tired of a cat making a mess of the flower beds in her front garden, one woman took to the Gardening UK Facebook group to ask for help, reports the Express.
She wrote: "What do people do/use to stop cats digging up flower beds and pooping in their garden? I’ve just recently done a new flower bed out the front of my house and every night a cat has come and dug some of it up and used it as a toilet."
Whilst the smell of citrus is refreshing to us humans, some gardeners chimed in to say cats are repelled by their scent - and specifically orange peels.
A fellow gardener suggested: "Try citrus fruits. Use orange peel as cats don't like the smell of them."
One commented: “Orange peels have worked for me in the past. Put them down daily. It broke the cat’s habit and it stopped coming for its daily poo quite quickly.”
A second wrote: “Sliced of citrus fruits all along your border. I also use small wind chimes."
Purchased as a pack of five, oranges cost just £1.49 from Morrisons or £1.50 from Tesco - making the DIY repellant cost just 30p.
"I struggled with this problem when my neighbours owned a cat. It helped when I added orange and lemon peels around my plants," a third replied.
"I use oranges and orange peels, they are fantastic! I’m a cat owner and we’ve had to do that on occasions to stop the cat going for the corner of the wall etc," wrote a gardener and cat owner.
"They simply won’t go near it as they don’t like the smell. Not that any of these suggestions are cruel, but they’ll take one sniff at orange peels and walk off. Won’t harm them or bother them at all."
Olbas was another suggested repellant alongside peppermint oil.
One woman commented: "Lovely garden. The only thing I’ve found works and is quite cheap too is a few drops of olbas oil. Just keep adding to them every couple of days or if it rains. Good luck.”
Another commenter called Stacey said: “They hate olbas oil, I dilute it and water my gravel stops them and even my own cat.” Rowena Melville responded: "I use peppermint oil, much cheaper than the branded olbas oil and it works.
To which a group member replied: "I spray diluted on the paths they use to pass through and on the areas that they've used before. You have to do it again after it has rained a lot but as Stacey said, it breaks the habit eventually."
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - sign up to our daily newsletter here.
