Our cat makes her home here with us and thankfully we have a fair-sized garden which is her territory. She has a cat-flap so she decides whether to be indoors or outside. She always digs and covers, all the cats I've lived with have done the same. She does bring in the odd 'friend' to play with (rarely kills them) but I usually find them and set them free when they're feeing recovered enough. This morning there was a shrew in one of my trainers, he was very happy to go back outside.

I see what a problem it can be for folks though, especially if the cats aren't trained well or if there's a stray or feral community. From the informative posts here it sounds like the citrus peel is the best method. Would advise against toxic mothballs and was about to suggest pepper around the yard but noticed a mention to Cayenne which obviously works well too.

Are dogs allowed to roam free in the USA? Here in the UK they should be on a lead when out mostly.