[RenW]

My husband and I just recently got a 4 month old puppy. We are trying to train her to go outside (before she had been pad trained.) It has been pretty successful.

In the process she has found for us with her little nose that something has been using the spot under the tree as a litter box. We have a tree that has dropped needles that we hadn't cleaned up and apparently that became a prime place for something to go. I think it is cats. I've sometimes seen a cat in our yard. It has to be something that is able to climb over a block fence.

The smell is distracting her from "doing her business" and on top of it she seems to think their waste is a tasty treat. Yesterday I spent a lot of time raking up the area and found a lot of waste. This must have been going on for a while.

This morning we go out and there are three little mounds again. I raked again and found more than what I would have expected for just one night. Multiple animals?

Now I considered moving the puppies designated area somewhere else, but the spot I chose is going to be absolutely best for her ultimately. We live in Phoenix and it gets crazy, wicked hot in the summer. The area is under a tree that provides shade and it is in a low traffic yard area out of the way.

I have gotten the puppy to go near the area. Now I just need to find a way to discourage the cats(?) from continuing to use our yard. I can't use anything that would discourage our puppy from going in the area.

Any ideas?

Will the cats eventually stop going there the more our puppy marks the area?
Would moving some of her waste into the specific areas they are using discourage them from going there?

For now I feel like I have a couple of cats as I'm going to have to go and clean the outside "litterbox" again.

[Ben Edward]

Hello, sorry for having to go through such inconveniences in your home. What i can say is that the puppy is the ultimate weapon to keep the cats away. The more he frequents the area, the more he'll scare the cats away, since they'll definitely note that their usual area now has another "owner" more powerful than them, and they'll eventually stop going there. Moving some of her waste may not necessarily help, since she'll also stop going to the area, cause i guess she doesn't want to always stay close to her waste materials.This shall only give the cats more freedom.

[RenW]

Thanks, Ben.

The night after I had cleaned up the cat mess it was apparent the cats came back to use the yard so I cleaned up those areas again. After cleaning it up a second time and after my new pup had used the area some more it appears the cats aren't going in that particular area anymore.

Now I noticed that they are going in another area of the yard, but since that is an area that I don't want my pup to do her business in I plan to use some pet aversion treatments such as citrus peels and coffee grounds.

There are very limited areas of the yard that have the tree needles they appear to like. I think like you said having a dog who has marked our yard herself is probably going to be the best deterrent.

[subject2change]

You mention "piles". Cat poop is in pieces similar to a small dog's poop unless the cat has diarrhea. It's also unlikely that more than one cat would be using the spot. My guess is there are raccoons sleeping in that tree at night, and it's their droppings you're finding. It is typical for raccoon droppings to be found under a tree.

[Ellwood]

I used orange peelings. Apparently cats don't like citrus smell. Worth a try and low cost.

[subject2change]

Yes, you can do image searches of various animal poop lol.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/sear...5Ixrff3&save=0

[RenW]

I think I used the term "mounds" but I didn't mean the poop. I should have been more clear. Whatever was going was mounding up the tree needles before or after they went. It was in these tree needle mounds that I initially found a lot of waste that does look similar to my own dogs. Since my little dog is only about 7 pounds I think we can assume whatever it is is about the same size? Looking at those pictures it doesn't look like raccoon waste.

There was waste in two different spots so I wondered if there was more than one cat. Though the cat could have gone in two different areas through the night.

Especially since I take Luna out more I've come to realize that there are dogs in the houses behind us and on both sides. Our yard may have become a prime area for cat(s) to go before we had a dog. I've noticed at least one cat in our yard that walks across the block fencing and is able to jump up to the top from the ground.

[PippySkiddles]

Hopefully as the pup grows older the cat(s) will be scared away. Gawd I despise irresponsible pet owners who allow cats outside.

[RenW]

We caught a grey cat in our yard while taking Luna out. I thought Luna was going to see her and make chase, but she didn't. The cat was still scared though. I think we will see less "messes" in our yard.