My Garden is a Litter Tray!

[residualheat]

BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!

<cat leaps off fence into neighbouring garden>



Heh...

[Corky]

Wow, this one could run and run!

The cats who use my garden leave light coloured, pretty runny, stinky packets of, well, you know. I watched one do it on my lawn this afternoon. She made a half-hearted attempt to paw mid air at her rear and then walked off majestically. The guy surveying my house later stood in it - great! I had to give him towel roll to clean his shoe. While he worked I watched the villain and her 'brother' dancing in the snow shower. They sure seem to like MY garden!

When I get a minute I am going to order one of those noise emitting gadgets. Apparently there is one by the RSPB that is really good - anyone tried that one?

Corky

[CLKD]

If the cat is leaving sticky mess poos then there is a feeding problem, I would find out whose cat it is and be knocking on their door.  I have a pile of sick with worms in on the path delivered by one of the visiting cats, I think the grey tabby ; so have to print off notices to see if I can find the owner who can then wallop a tablet down it's throat ....... 

[viv]

Moth balls are good as is any thing that rustles. Plastic bottles half full of water or pebbles sometimes work too.
Anything with camphor in it or on it. The only trouble is it keeps me out of the garden too 

Viv

Dont envy you the job of tracking down the owner of a sicky cat YUK

[ariadne]

I guess one major difference is that cats can't be taken out for long walks on a lead and so you can't control where they poo like you can with dogs. If you did try to take a cat out on a lead, you would end up tangled up, wrapped round a tree, chased by dogs and the cat would simply refuse to poo on command.
If dogs were let out on their own, they too would be pooing wherever the fancy took them. I don't see how you could make cat owners responsible for their pets poo. Once a cat gets outside, it can leap over and under fences, up trees and far away. There's no way an owner can follow it with a plastic bag!

My own cat has a litter tray but she only likes to wee in it. Even if I locked her in till her belly was bursting, she would still poo outside.  She doesn't know everyone hates her for it, she thinks she is being a good girl and behaving as she should.

She was kicked in the mouth once by someone who saw her digging in their garden. She was bleeding when she came to me and spat out a tooth. I had to take her to the vet. She was also shot with a pellet gun once. I hope it wasn't for the same reason. She is a sweet and gentle cat, now very nervous.

I don't know what the answer is but cruelty is definitely not it.

moo

[Corky]

Oh Moo, so sorry to hear about what happened to your poor girl. I feel sure none of us on here would hurt an animal. Animal cruelty horrifies me. I felt tearful at the station this morning because I saw a pigeon limping badly and I feared he might not be able to perform a take off.

I used to own dogs and, like you, I would get really defensive if people moaned about the mess on the pavements (not that my boys ever did that.) "What about the men who spit everywhere, spreading T.B!" I would rant (there's a lot of that in my area - it's gross.)

Anyway, I hope your cat stays safe. Don't take our ranting too seriously; cats are making a real mess of my garden at the moment, but I would never hurt one!

Corky x

[CLKD]

I used to walk my 2 cats round the garden at the same time, yep leads tangled everywhere  ....... one would back out of the harness and run towards the road  don't know what the neighbours thought 

[rower]

Hi all
iwe have had the same problem with next doors 4 cats, they stay out all night 52 weeks of the year, they use our garden as a litter tray why, cause there garden is graveled and decked, ive tried everything have to be careful as we have a cat, but most of the time she is indoors and uses a litter tray, last year 2 of next door cats died, apparently they licked some antifreeze, and no it wasnt me couldnt do that, even though they are a pest, so that means they had 2 cats left great i thought but no they went and got 2 more toms and yes they stay out too, whats the point of having cats if you dont let them in, beats me, im thinking of putting some anti buglary paint on the fence, its suppose to stay slippery, and they get covered in it, there paws and then if one does go in the house it will leave maks everywhere, snd its not tasty to lick it off, but will that stop them ?. they also use the front garden, we had that done with gravel and raised beds, still they do it on the gravel, tried putting jeyes fluid down that kept them away for a while until the smell disapppeared, doesnt smell nice have to admit.Barbed wire will do the job but its illegal.

[CLKD]

The burgler repellant stuff we used does not stay damp but is sticky so cats would get stuck ...... nasty.  They may well rip off their pads ....... and it won't walk into the carpets ..........

We have visiting cats who do not use our garden very often as we have a dog.  Borrow one perhaps?

[Deefor]

I've had cats dumping in the garden too and hate coming across their smelly mess. When we had a dog, one of his jobs was to keep cats out of the garden and, as we paid him per cat, he was very diligent about it. He never hurt one, but he certainly had them running! Cat chasing was one of his favourite things and as soon as you said the word, he'd come thundering down the stairs and rush straight out of the door. The cat was gone in seconds and then he'd come for his pay, a biscuit and some praise. He always looked so pleased with himself, you could almost see his chest swell with pride.

He's no longer with us, unfortunately, so now I have to find other ways. Stems of Berberis and Pyracantha laid over the soil, old tea bags with Olbas oil on them, which cats hate, and keeping the beds densely planted all seem to help. When I sow seed in situ, I push a lot twigs into the ground, so the cats can't get in position, and that works well too.

I thought about the lion's roar stuff and looked into it but, whilst it works in some situations, there seems to be the issue of some animals taking it as a challenge and then the situation gets even worse. Think I'd be tempted to go for the more up-market noise-making device.

I've got three terriers, and they've been trained to keep cats out, too.  They enjoy their work!    The neighbourhood cats very quickly learned to avoid our garden.  Now and again we get a newcomer, but it doesn't often repeat its mistake.

The dogs are getting old and slow now, but their reputation seems to precede them!

[CLKD]

I'd like to borrow the terriers to chase the grey squirrels .............

[Deefor]

I'd like to borrow the terriers to chase the grey squirrels .............

Oh, yes, they'd do that too - with pleasure!

[CLKD]

My wee JR was pts in June so we no longer have a squirrel deterrant  unless I'm quick enough - funny how they only appear when I'm naked in the kitchen making my first cuppa 

[Deefor]

My wee JR was pts in June so we no longer have a squirrel deterrant  unless I'm quick enough - funny how they only appear when I'm naked in the kitchen making my first cuppa 

 

That reminds me of something that happened when we lived in Scotland.  We'd decided we'd make ourselves a vegetable patch in our back garden, which our kitchen window looked on to, and the neighbourhood cats descended on the newly dug and raked soil with glee (you can imagine, can't you?)  We put some netting over it, and one day I was washing up when I saw a cat walk on to the middle of the netting and squat.  I was in such a hurry to get out of the door and chase it off, I broke the glass I was holding against the tap as I turned, and ran up the garden shouting terrible things at this cat.

The cat duly scarpered, and as I turned to walk back to the kitchen, I saw my neighbour's white, wide-eyed face at her window.  I suddenly realised that all she'd seen was me charging up the garden screaming imprecations and brandishing a broken glass - it must have looked as though I was about to glass the cat!!

[viv]

My neighbour came out of her house just in time to see me turn the hose on her cat and almost blow it into the next street. I just smiled sweetly and went back to washing the car. Bloody thing still came back though. Nothing seems to work 

Viv