Container Garden War

I've been waging war with squirrels and at least one cat over my container garden. Squirrels kept digging through my pots and I lost 2 cucumber seedlings. I won the battle against them by sprinkling cayenne pepper all around and on the pots. 

The cat presented a much greater adversary. This cat kept pooping in my pots and I lost 4 more cucumber seedling. The cat did not care about the cayenne. I tried strips of aluminum foil. That didn't stop it either. Finally, I got the recommendation to try kebab skewers and the battle appears to have been won.