Tried-and-tested ways to keep cats out of your garden

It is an age-old problem suffered by devout gardeners, mainly as the soil in their gardens is prepared exactly how cats like it '“ soft and easy to dig in!

As a cat and a dog owner, I can tell you that, while (unlike many of our local dog owners), my husband and I fastidiously clean up after our dog. Our cats, however, are a different story.

As free-roaming creatures, which most British pet cats are, there is very little I can do to control where my cats go to relieve themselves.

Case in point, I have a litter tray in place for a new cat I have added to my household, but now he is allowed to go outside, he prefers to '˜go' the way nature intended '“ with the sun on his back and the wind in his fur.

I can offer a couple of tried-and-tested deterrents, such as removing '˜calling cards' as soon as possible to remove their familiar scent. Citrus peel, coffee grounds and lavender are scents that are reported to be deterrents to cats, so sprinkling these on the bare soil should help.

Alternatively, if you should ever catch the culprit in the act, a well-aimed squirt of clean water from an empty washing-up liquid bottle will help to discourage the cat.

If it were my pet, I would rather they returned home a little wet than injured by a disgruntled gardener.

Mrs Louisa Thompson,

Outerwyke Gardens, Felpham

Neil Davey's attempt to control where a cat goes to the toilet should be regarded with as much ridicule as needing an instruction manual to put on wellington boots.

As has been pointed out, cats are free-roaming and as such there is almost no possibility of getting a cat to go to the toilet where you want, let alone when you want.

Keeping cats indoors all the time is no option either '“ unless constant companionship can be found, you'll probably up with no furniture and a highly-neurotic animal.

If owners could be prosecuted,will Neil be camping outside 24 hours a day with high-powered telescopic lenses (complete with night vision) to try to get a name from the cat's collar (if it has one)? If so, I do hope he doesn't expect the tax payer to buy his equipment.

And who would you prosecute if it was a feral cat?

There are laws regarding dog fouling (a much more serious problem which Neil seems to have forgotten about), but people still disregard the possible fines.

If it doesn't work for dogs, then how likely would it be to prosecute cat owners?

If home owners don't like cats in their garden, the answer is really quite simple: Plant hedges with bitter leaves and smell, with a height of at least 2ft. Aside from keeping cats out, you'll be helping the environment, too.

Nicholas Kingsley, Lime Close, Chichester