Cats and Sandboxes

[Ceres]

My son has asked for a sandbox again this year. We got rid of the last one because no one ever remembers to put the lid back on and the cats use it as a litter box if they find it uncovered. It may be just our cats or it may be neighbourhood cats as well. Does anyone know if there is a nontoxic way to keep cats away that actually works? We have tried sprays from the pet store in the past, but they didnt work.

[Sun Sprite]

Cats love snadboxes.

It seems I remember a slightly different type of sand discussed for people who have cats, but I don't remember what.


Even though the cost of sand is sky high, how about givng the cats a tiny sandy area they can have, just for themselves?

[Ceres]

I have tried dumping the sand that the cats shat in into a corner of the yard in the hopes they would continue to use it instead of the new stuff I put into the sandbox, but they prefer to clean sand....grrrr I will ask at the hardware store if there is a kind of sand cats dont like - thanks for the idea.

[Shadow Angel]

ok ok this is gonna sound a little crazy, but do you have any citrus?

this is what my mum used to do, wash down the sandpit box with a strong citric scent, place the sand in when the sandbox is still wet, some of the sand will stick to the side, but it doesnt matter, -the sand will absorb the scent, and voilla!

[Ceres]

ok ok this is gonna sound a little crazy, but do you have any citrus?



This is worth a try. What did she use? Oranges, lemons, limes or grapefruit?

[Brightshores]

You could also try placing some of those plastic carpet runners upside down (with the little spikes facing up) around the area where the sandbox will be placed. Cats hate walking on things like that.. they might then avoid the sandbox.

[Shanti]

You could also try placing some of those plastic carpet runners upside down (with the little spikes facing up) around the area where the sandbox will be placed. Cats hate walking on things like that.. they might then avoid the sandbox.
That would stop my kids from playing in the sandbox too since they keep their shoes off in summer when they are playing outside. :lol:

The only way I have found to 100% keep cats out is to faithfully cover the sandbox every night.

I tried scents in the past and the weather just washes and wears it all away to quick to be beneficial as a cat deterrent.

[SphinYote]

Cats tend to be persistent when they know they're not wanted in a certain area (I say this as a cat person:))

When I was a kid we had a problem with the neighbor's dog using my sandbox (we know it was him because we caught him once, but thereafter we only found "Evidence" of his visits). Problem is, the first evidence I found, I was only four or five at the time, I thought was mud, and played with it for a while before the smell alerted me to what it was....:awilly: I remember being rather traumatized by the realization that I was playing in poo. What can I say, there was no lining at the bottom of the box, and I'd often either dug that deep or brought mud in from elsewhere to play with in the sand, so I didn't have any reason to think it was anything else...

Anyway, I don't know about outdoors, because yes, scents do tend to wash away. On the other hand, a longer term possibility might be to look and see if there are any herbs you can grow around it that are harmless to children, yet natural cat deterrents

Alternatively you could try the "other sandbox" idea that the other poster mentioned, and grow catnip near, but not quite adjacent to that area. The only reason why I suspect it would be a bad idea to grow it too close is that if a cat is drawn to an area as a place for food, they tend to avoid soiling it. Presumably it would be the same for something like catnip. Hmm, if you wanted to gamble, I suppose then catnip might be a possibility to get the cat to stop using it as a litterbox. I don't know though, this is just guessing on my part.

Experiment before you get an actual sandbox maybe. Put a small box out and try something like putting dried catnip in it. At best you might have a solution, at worst the cat might still try to use it as a litterbox, but you might be entertained by his antics in the meantime...:hahugh:

Eh, if we all had the money to go high tech, maybe a motion detector that your child could deactivate but would let off a high pitched loud noise when the cat came by....but then when I was a kid, I would have probably had far too much fun setting off a device like that on my own...and if I didn't, just like putting the lid back on the box, I'd forget to turn it back on when I left...

If you want to try the scents thing, I'd suggest peppermint oil in the vincinity of the sandbox (in the sand would be a bad idea as it could be a skin and eye irritant for your son). I've had success with strong perfume indoors to repel cats from areas where their not wanted, but that's punishment for me, too....apple-cider vinegar has worked well, though it needs to be renewed frequently. Clove and cinnamon powder, though again you have to carefully consider where to put it so you won't be driving your son off as well as the cat...

Or....tie a person with cat allergies down a small distance away and the cat will be too occupied with the joy of trying to make friends with the person with allergies to even consider using the sandbox....(apologies to anyone with cat allergies, it can be hell, but we all know how cats seem to be drawn to the one person in the room who is allergic).

SphinYote