Cats make a toilet in my flower box

im looking for some help, I have adopted 2 feral cats that have started visiting the garden since my Tigger died earlier this year, I’ve been feeding them it helps with keeping any mice or rats populations down. Big downside is they have taken a shine to my raised flower bed as a toilet, I spent an hour last Saturday digging out all their faeces and replacing it with fresh topsoil. I also put some chicken wire in on top and just pressed it down onto the bed thinking that they wouldn’t get under it because of its wiry nature. Big mistake they got into the tunnel formed by the wire and used it without digging the usual hole wit her telltale mound of earth beside it. Looks like I have another hour or two today clearing it all again. 

Has anyone any suggestions of what I could put into the bed to put them off, I really don’t want to net the box off completely as I have honeysuckle and jasmine creepers planted in it along with daff bulbs and a few other plants and shrubs.

   
   
   

Don’t know if it would work but could you put a litter tray/ big seed tray filled with compost/soil in your flower bed so they just use the one spot. Easy to clean out then.
Never had a cat problem so don’t really know.

They don’t like the smell of citrus so half lemons or oranges will discourage them, you can squeeze them first for the juice it’s the skins that smell strongest.

I found that a mulch of well rotted farmyard manure keeps cats off for the length of time it takes to get worked into the soil.

A friend with the same problem chops thorny blackberry stems into short lengths and lays them over the soil. His plants seem to grow in the gaps. A neighbours fence used to be very popular with local cats and squirrels. He attached the plastic spiky topping to it. Although I have seen the odd squirrel picking it's way across I have never seen a cat on there since.

We have much the same problem with next door's cat. Nextdoor have, by necessity, let their own garden go to pot an thet have no freshly tilled soil patches, so cat comes over to ours. I've tried with varying success the holly, blackberry, rose clippings but will give the citrus and manure a try too. Thanks team.

Could you use fishing line around the bed - as you might do to keep birds off peas?

I don't have a cat problem either - 3 dogs help.

I use thorny rose or bramble prunings to keep my cat off my veg plots.

CanTman you've said you don't want to net but I've found that the only thing that worked for me, its doesn't look pretty but it does keep them of.

Thanks everybody I’ll try the citrus I heard they also don’t like onion either so I might put the root end off the onion in as well