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GLT's Grow: Cat Box Or Garden?

MaxiPixel
Oh, hai...I can has your bedz for baffroom?

You call it a garden. The cat calls it the bathroom. Can they safely be both?

  • In a word, no.
  • Cats will eliminate in areas where they feel less vulnerable, so squatting behind your tomato plant is appealing to a cat that won't go in the middle of the yard.
  • If a cat has been using your planters as a privy, you're going to need to remove all the soil from the planter to remove any chance of catching a disease from what the kitty deposits.  This is especially important if the cat eliminates near plants that you're going to consume.
  • Don't let anyone who is pregnant or might get pregnant do this job to avoid the possibility of toxoplasmosis.
  • If the cat went there once, the chance are the cat will return, so reconsider materials that might retain the cat's scent -- wood, for example.
  • Add lots to mulch to discourage kitty.  Create an area that cats don't care to walk upon with beach glass, rocks and such.  Even upright sticks will discourage a cat.  
  • DO NOT harm any cat who may be utilizing your space for a litter box. NO trapping.
  • Critter   repellants are worth a try.
Reporter, content producer and former All Things Considered host, Laura Kennedy is a native of the Midwest who occasionally affects an English accent just for the heck of it. Related to two U.S. presidents, Kennedy appalled her family by going into show business.