Keeping cats out of an area

Question

A friends parking lot is regularly full of cat droppings left by numerous felines in the area. As you can imagine, it's quite a nuisance; he regularly needs to wash it to avoid ~~swimming~~ walking in the droppings.

How could he keep the cats out?

Additional info:

There are multiple parking lots in the same underground parking, but droppings are nearly exclusively in his lot. If possible, the solution should avoid just moving the problem to a new victim, but more importantly shouldn't be a nuisance to the other users of the parking.

The cats are presumably strays.

The crimes are committed at night, and he isn't ready to stay up!

How sure is your friend that its cats causing the problem? If the parking lot is a hard surface, its more likely to be some other creature - cats like to scratch and move dirt around, they only use a hard surface if they haven't a choice — Bamboo, Oct 11 '16 at 01:01
He had the same thought, but it really doesn't look like dog droppings, and there surely are many cats at around. — Yk Cheese, Oct 11 '16 at 16:13
Similar question over on mechanics.SE: http://mechanics.stackexchange.com/questions/28503/how-can-i-keep-stray-cats-off-my-car/28514#28514 — MooseLucifer, Oct 13 '16 at 20:54
Following up on @Bamboo's comment, it may be other animals like raccoons, squirrels or other "wild" animals. — BrettFromLA, Oct 13 '16 at 23:40

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 09 '16 at 17:59

1

Standard cat deterrents include chilli powder &/or lemon juice.
The latter is kinder than the former, but they don't like either.

Of course, any solution other than training them to a litter box is going to "move the problem elsewhere".

answered Oct 09 '16 at 17:59

Tetsujin

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The litterbox training isn't an option, it seems the offenders are stray cats ! – Yk Cheese Oct 09 '16 at 18:02
Then there is no solution that doesn't involve a "new victim"... short of shooting them ;) – Tetsujin Oct 09 '16 at 18:03
That's inconvenient :/ – Yk Cheese Oct 09 '16 at 18:03
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They have to 'go' somewhere :/ – Tetsujin Oct 09 '16 at 18:47

Jelman · Answer 2 · 2016-10-09T19:38:26.790

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By observing them and when they do their thing , scaring them. It works with pets at home so why won't it work in this specific situation.

Try throwing an empty plastic bottle filled with tiny rocks when they do "the thing". Never hurt them , let us be clear.

Also :

a motion-detection springler , is a great way to get rid of them and it has the advantage of not having to be there.
Sprinkling pepper on the parking lot , they hate that, many people use this trick to protect their garbagebags from beeing shredded.
ultrasonic sounds can be produced with equipement to scare them off , this can't be heard by humans.

edited Oct 09 '16 at 19:38

answered Oct 09 '16 at 19:10

Jelman

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This is impossible in his case : he never witnesses the culprits, as they commit their crimes a night. – Yk Cheese Oct 09 '16 at 19:19
Impossible? It is definitly not .. he can observe at night can he? – Jelman Oct 09 '16 at 19:21
I don't think he's ready to spend a night stalking cats, when he probably will need to do it multiple nights in a row for it to have a lasting effect... – Yk Cheese Oct 09 '16 at 19:23
Your comment is not rightful as the questioner never states he isn't ready to do that. If the problem occurs at night , the most logic way to fix it is to practice a solution at night. Throwing bottles during daytime , indeed wouldn't be a clever thing to do.. I think we all figured that out already – Jelman Oct 09 '16 at 19:26
Il edit the question. – Yk Cheese Oct 09 '16 at 19:28
I added 2 more solutions , to provide you with a valid answer. – Jelman Oct 09 '16 at 19:34
Hmm. Automate throwing stuff at them. Approved ! – Yk Cheese Oct 09 '16 at 19:35
Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Jelman Oct 09 '16 at 19:37
How sure is your friend that its cats? If the parking lot is a hard surface, its much less likely to be cats than something else, cats like to scratch and move soil around, they don't choose a hard surface if there's a choice – Bamboo Oct 11 '16 at 00:59

score -2 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 10 '16 at 13:26

A lot of people in my area fill old plastic bottles with water and position them around their gardens or driveways. The reflection of light on the bottles filled with water seems to deter cats from encroaching on their land.

We don't want to leave plastic bottles lying around so we keep a super-soaker handy so when we see an offender approaching we can fire a warning shot or two to frighten the cats away.

I'm not a lover of cats but it is important not to harm them, simply scare them away so they find an area to do their business that's less hassle for them!

Keeping cats out of an area

Additional info:

3 Answers3