Neighborhood cats shit right in the middle of my lawn. It stinks and the robot lawn mover makes it even worse.
I do NOT like cats, and this is not helping.
What works to keep them from shitting on my lawn?
The votes have spoken. Some people are cat lovers; thanks for the great advice from the rest of you! I will not go out of my way to accommodate other people's pets that aren't welcome on my property. My first weapon of choice will be chili because it's simple and cheap. Other ideas have been noted.
depending on your jurisdiction, but especially in rural and farm areas you may be permitted to cull feral animals on your property.
In ecologically sensitive areas, (basically Islands, the Americas, Australia) cats are a invasive species, and put local small animal species in extreme danger. There may be a government program to assist in your effort. i.e. Australia's Cat Free Kangroo Island initiative https://conservationbytes.com/2021/05/20/killing-feral-cats-quickly-and-efficiently/
kinda deranged that you want to put a family through the loss of having their pet executed because you are minorly inconvenienced but I guess you'll probably reap what you sow
And I want to cull people like you. A shame we don't always get what we want.
Cats should be kept indoors for a variety of reasons, including that they're one of the largest threats to native species in the world and that they live longer indoors anyways due to the lack of picking up parasites and are at no risk of being preyed upon by larger predators. But to say you want to murder animals en masse just because they don't understand property laws and do their business outside like... some sort of animal would is absurd, bordering on psychopathic. Might as well sit on your porch with a shotgun on your lap in case somebody's dog decides to pee on your bushes.
Check your local laws regarding your ability to cull nuisance animals on your property. If these animals are being fed by your neighbors that may cause relationship drama that is worse then a cat shitting in your lawn.
When I lived in the country side, we never had feral cat problems, if your cat ran outside, it would disappear ( probably eaten by cayotes ) in a few days.
It's pretty amazing to me how angry people get about dogs pooping in their yards and owners not picking it up when anyone with a cat who ever lets it out makes zero effort to keep that cat from pooping in other people's yards and most people don't seem to mind.
The older the cat, the less they bury their excrement. Sometimes it's just enough to obscure it so you step in it. Sometimes it's notburried at all. It's so much more offensive to me than dog poop that I have to assume there's some sort of genetic marker that some of you lack that makes me smell it as one of the most foul smells i've ever experienced. I've lived next to someone with 20 some cats and barely any yard and they made it completely impossible to enjoy my yard at all, and unlike dogs putting up a fence does nothing.