Stray cat poos in mulch! How to stop it??

[kindergal]

We have a few stray cats running around our neighborhood...One of them has decided my mulch makes a great litter box.  Not only do I hate finding suprises when I am out watering and weeding, but my dachshund loves the cat poo!!!  YUCK!  Any suggestions on how to deter the cat from using my mulch as her personal potty?  I have sprinkled pepper and that helped a little bit, but not for long.....

[Jaybay]

We use pine bark for mulch where I live and it's never deterred the cats; however, the larger pine nuggets also used for mulch might not be as attractive.  (I hate the nuggets because they float away in any kind of a decent rain.)  

tmv - now those are some darn determined cats to poo on the doorstep!!  :-D

[tmv]

A lawn and garden expert once said to try pine needles or anything else that is not as soft and welcoming to the cats. Pine bark, too, I think. But, some cats will go anywhere. We had a neighborhood full of some that wondered around in a previous house where we lived and the darn things would literally poop on the doorstep! Yuck.

[Jaybay]

Mulch certainly does make for an attractive litter box!  Wish I could help on this one, but I've tried various commercial and homemade products over the years and none ever seemed to make much difference.  I think the most effective remedy was putting a lot of ground cayenne pepper in the area.  Of course, one rain or one session with the sprinkler gets rid of it and you have to reapply - at least it's cheap.  Too bad we aren't neighbors; my dog would be more than happy to clean out your "litter box" for free!  :-\