Will cats poop in pea gravel just as much as they do in sand? Rubber playground "mulch?" Plain old dirt? I really don't know much about cats other than they poop in my kids' sand box!
My neighbors' cats come in our yard all the time and if we ever forget to put the lid on the sand box, they poop in it. I'm having my 6th kid in October so occasionally, the lid gets left off the sand box! Really though, we are pretty good about keeping it covered and the cats still poop in it. My kids really need a place to dig and scoop--it's one of the only things they consistently play with and play together well. I'm willing to spend the money on pea gravel if it'll be less attractive to cats. We are also getting a new 8' fence around the entire back yard--will that help deter the cats? And, as a side note, does anyone else find it frustrating that cats are allowed to roam and poop in other people's yards? I would never knowingly allow one of my animals to go poop in someone else's yard. Why is this okay? I know there's not much I can do about it--just want to vent and know if anyone else shares my frustration.
Just a thought...the pea gravel will wind up in the little one's noses and ears. Yes, I'm speaking from experience;)
Keep the sandbox covered - make it one of the older kids chores.
Fences don't stop cats - they jump and they can jump high.
Get a Have-a-heart trap, bait it with a tin of tuna and take the cat(s) to the pound.
People who let cats roam leave the animal open to being shot at, run over, poisoned, attacked by other animals, etc.
If it/they come onto your property, you have every right to trap it/them.
If people want pets, they need to step up and keep the animals on their property or in their house.
I hate that some people allow their cats to roam. I love my cats and fear for them if they sneak out and do everything I can to get them back immediately. The longest they ahve been gone is maybe an hour or so and gone a few houses away. Home scared and filthy.
I do home daycare and when my daughter was littel (before I started DC when she was 3) we had a small snadbox as part of her playground set), there was a neighborhood roamer, and in the end we eliminated the box by covering it to make a platform. My kids miss it. We did have a very large Giant Breed dog for 10 years so that helped some, but the cat came at night.
I have playground certified woodchips in my playground area. It is an approved fall zone ground cover (mine is about 6-8 inches thick as I have a tall slide and several swings). Every few years I have to add more. We just re-did the whole thing by raking and shoveling it all out to add new landscape fabric under it and 20 yards of the woodschips.
We no longer have the roamer. But I am going to have my hubby make some sand boxes that are differnt for my daycare kids. I saw the idea at the Mpls Home and Garden show a few years ago. Ideas for small yards and such. They were basically planter boxes kids could stand next to, rather than sit in, that had a platform built into them, then filled with several inches of playground sand. So they could stand at them and play with buckets and shovels and smaller cars and such. I can have them built in the shade of my patio under our big arbor (we dont have shade trees established in the yard after all this time), and hubby can make lightweight covers for them if we feel its needed. Easier to manage.
Pea Gravel is not recommended in daycare or home daycares as kids get it (shove it!) into noses and ears and mouths and it can be dangerous. The size of it just poses issues.
Good luck with your issue!
The cats will still poop & pee in it. The sand is actually better because you can see the mess and scoop it out more easily. An 8' fence will absolutely not deter cats. People don't "allow" their cats to poop in other people's yards. Cats go where they want to go. My outside cats were always provided with a litter box, and they used it, but I'm sure they also went elsewhere on occasion. It's not okay, but not much to do about it. Sorry, good luck!
Sadly, I have tried everything from mutch to large rocks to cover my flower beds & yes the roaming cats still use them as bathrooms... which really sucked when I was expecting because I couldn't do any gardening since cat's poop carries things that can harm the unborn baby, plus elderly, young children & people with other health issues.
A high fence may help - as long as there are not small opening or trees close to the fence since cats can climb. We have started trapping the roaming cats in a "Have a Heart" trap using tuna as bait & taking them to the pound... we have caught 4 cats, a raccoon & a groundhog in just about a month. It was well worth the $24 to buy it.
I do agree - it is messed up that people let their cats just roam & use other's yards as a bathroom... in the city I live there are ordenices aginst it, but sadly they don't enforce them and I have tried to get them to since we have a rental that has a addition on it with an opening area under it, which the cats go under to get out of the weather - they sprayed under there before we got the place & it took us nearly a year to get the smell out of the addition. We closed it up & a tenant reopened it cause she feed the "stray" cats and they needed somewhere to leave... so now we have to get the smell out of the addition AGAIN.
I have been told there are sprays you can use to help teach them to stay away, but I don't know if they are good to use around kids. Maybe your local pet or garden shop might have some ideas for you.
Good luck! Let us know if you find anything that helps - PLEASE!!! :)
Just remember, it's not just cats you have to worry about. There are many varieties of wild animals that use "sand, dirt, or gravel" for a rest-stop too. So I don't think the type of sand you use will make a difference in that department.
We are in a fairly wooded suburban area, and have to contend with squirrels, raccoons, foxes, rabbits, Canada geese, ducks, and other critters happy to leave their "packages" on the lawn etc. We have found, the best way to ensure the sandbox stays clean, is to keep it covered when the kids are not in it. So you're not stuck doing it all the time, tell the kids they won't get to use it if they forget to replace and secure the cover before coming inside.
If you have a lid that comes off too easy, most hardware stores carry sandbox covers and tarps that can be secured to the sandbox. The nice thing about the covers is they also keep out rain, snow, pine cones and leaves too...so the sandbox is ready to go all year round. Since the covers are strapped down tightly, nothing can get in, and they don't blow off.
On another note, you may want the pea gravel for your child's lung health. Most playground grade sand has silicone in it that your child can breath in. In years past, various brands of playground sand had been recalled as a cancer risk to children. If you can't find sand that is guaranteed safe (it's really expensive but it will be labled silicone-free), pea gravel is a cheaper alternative.
However, we found out the hard way, the kids don't like it as much as traditional sand, since it doesn't stick together so it can't be molded into castles etc. It's only good for pushing and scooping. If you have boys, you might want to keep that in mind. We went the pea gravel route a couple of years ago and our boys rebelled...throwing it everywhere because they were "bored" since they couldn't build ditches and castles anymore. We broke down and bought the safe playsand in the end. And we do keep the box covered when they're not playing in the sand box and haven't had problems with cats or wild-life critters.
Here's a tip about the playground mulch: we have playground mulch (recycled tire rubber) around the jungle gym sets. It is very rubbery but sharp! The kids don't like it all and it seems to absorb the day's heat too, so it can get hot. No one has gotten burned, but they do get fine scratches and cuts from it if they're rough housing on the ground. We purchased it at Home Depot, so I don't remember the brand name, only that it was recycled tires. It was too much of a pain to bring in, and isn't breaking down or blowing away like mulch so we're stuck. If I could, I'd go back to mulch cedar chips.
For info on silica dangers and playsand see:
did you know that cats wont jump over a 45 degree angle? if you're putting up a new fence, put a topper on it (garden mesh will work) at a 45 degree angle. watch the show "My cat from hell" he does this on a porch to keep a cat from jumping onto the neighbors patio. good luck!
That's terrible! There are some potentially harmful bacteria in feline feces....you need to get rid of that sand asap...if the cats are pooping in there, they are also peeing in there. Unfortunately, the cats are now programmed to use that area as a toilet, and will likely continue to do so, no matter what material you put down. The fence should help though. I'd get rid of the sand area completely for now, put up the fence and wait awhile to see if they can find a way in. If not, new sand area!
I feel your pain! I have a flower bed right under my front living room windows that some stray cats use for a litter box and my grandchildren love to play in that area when they are here, but I can't let them now. I have to clean it daily or when I open my windows, the smell is horrible. I have tried everything I can think of to deter them. Red pepper, black pepper, garlic, vinegar, ammonia, but nothing works. Someone suggested moth balls, but that smell is as bad as cat poop. A friend suggested setting rat traps and if they start getting in them, they will quit coming. lol. I haven't done it, but am VERY tempted. I don't even have a cat, but I am having to clean up after others. And as you said, it happens at night, so we can't catch them. If you find a solution to stop them, let us know.
We actually replaced our sand with pea grave about three years ago l for this very reason. I believe that and our lovely dog (he barks at cats and squirrels) have really helped curb the cat dung and we NEVER cover ours. Try the pea gravel and see. I like it from a clean up standpoint, too. So much easier to sweep and shake out rocks before laundry than sand:)
In child care the extra person always went out right before play time and scooped the playground. The weekend was especially hard since neighborhood kids would often come and play on the equipment and leave trash all around.
It only takes a minute. There may be something you can sprinkle around in your yard that would discourage the cat from venturing into it. I'd call some local vets to find out if they sell something or if they know of anything that is safe for kids and animals.
BTW, sand is sooooooo much easier to scoop than pea gravel. Plus it is more fun to play in. It allows the creativity like playing on the beach. Pea gravel is just not even close to the same feel. Our kids at pre-school don't even try to play in the sand box anymore. The kids at Head Start dig to China every day because it is still sand.
The best way to deter cats and other animals from sandboxes, flower beds and gardens is to cut up citrus fruit (lemons, limes, oranges or grapefruit) into small pieces and place around the area. Citrus burns the cat's nose without harming the animals or children, smells good, inexpensive and decomposes naturally. I used this when feral cats were spraying my windows and flower beds. The cats stayed away for close to a year. This can also be used inside a home by placing the citrus fruit in a tupperware container to deter a cat from urinating in an inappropriate area. It is best to remove any sand in the box, thoroughly clean the box, place citrus in the box for a week then replace with fresh sand. Good luck.
