By Sun Davisworth

It is natural behavior for cats to dig and defecate in soft or loose soil, moss, mulch, or sand. Also, it can quite challenging to your patience when the feline chooses your garden as a bathroom.

Learning to coexist with our furry friends can be rewarding, when it comes to keeping a check on the rodent population. Alley Cat Allies offers some useful tips how to divert outdoor felines away from the garden.

• Scatter fresh orange and lemon peels, coffee grounds, pipe tobacco, lemongrass, eucalyptus leaves onto the soil. Spray citrus fragrances, vinegar, citronella, or oil of lavender.
• Plant the herb rue or sprinkle rue over the garden.
• Artfully arrange branches in a lattice-type pattern or wooden or plastic fencing material over the soil. Plant flowers and seeds in the openings.
• Buy Cat Scat, a nonchemical cat and wildlife repellent consisting of plastic mats that are cut into the smaller pieces and pressed into the soil. Each mat has flexible spikes that are harmless to cats and other animals, but discourage digging.
• Cover exposed ground in flowerbeds with large attractive rocks to prevent cats from digging. They have the added benefit of deterring weeds.
• Establish a litter box by tilling the soil or placing sand in an out-of-the-way spot in the yard. Keep it clean and free of deposits.

Sun Davisworth is a Bogalusa resident and a regular contributor of columns about cats and other furry friends.