Menopause Matters Forum
General Discussion => This 'n' That => Topic started by: honeybun on June 25, 2013, 07:32:02 PM
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Now I know lots of you ladies love your cat's so I am asking your advise.
How do I stop them pooing in my garden.....in a nice way.
Is there anything I can do/ buy that will discourage them.
My dog has had two upset stomach episodes after cats have been in the garden doing huge duties. Both times it has cost me forty quid and to say I am less than pleased is an understatement. She has had vet treatment both times. I have three regular visitors. Dealing with them in the day is fine. The dog chases them. At night is a different matter. Now before I let the dog out in the morning I am out with a pooper scooper bag clearing up. I doubt my neighbours to whom the cats belong would be quite so understanding if my dog was using their garden as a toilet.
What can I do....at my wits end with this. I have not said anything to the cat owners but would like to try and solve this problem.
Any ideas ladies.....I am sure there is an answer to this that does not involve land mines.
Honeyb
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Do the cat owners know about their pets habits, in your garden?
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Hi honeybun,
I've had this problem too. There is a spray that you can buy from pets at home (meno brain won't let me remember the name). It solved the problem for me.
My mil rubbed fresh lemon juice all around the top of her fencing (the local vet advised this) and believe it or not it really worked. Apparently cats find the smell of citrus totally repulsive. She does it once a month or so and hasn't had kitty poop since.
Hope this helps. I know how frustrating it can be.
Claire x
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Oh I could try the lemon juice and lemon bits....Good idea thanks.
The owners don't know. I really have not got a clue how they would take it is I mentioned it. I really don't want to cause any problems but I do know who the culprits are and who they belong to. My daughter saw one of them last night. She was leaning out her loft window.....Don't ask. ::) and saw,one of them leaving its calling card. I would not mind so much if the dog did not go sniffing
and licking and then gets really ill. She was as the vets on Saturday.....two injections later I am 40 pounds worse off.
I need to keep them out.
I really object to the fact that dog owners are fined and cats get to roam.
My hubby is less understanding and is muttering about all sorts which I would rather avoid if I can.
Honeyb
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My hubby was ready to "have a quiet word" with our neighbours too :) but like you I didn't want to cause any friction.
The vet told my mil that anything citrusy would put them off. Citronella candles are pretty good too.
Fingers crossed for you x
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I get on well with my neighbours and don't quite know how to raise the subject. Even if I did what could they do.
Not being a cat owner my understanding is unless they are kept in they just wander and go where they want unlike dogs who go in their own gardens.
Bit unfair to be honest.
Honeyb
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Off to chop up all lemon and put it out.
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I'm a cat owner but, thankfully, so are most of my neighbours so this problem hasn't arisen as we are all in the same boat so to speak. However, I really don't think there is much you can do about it apart from the citrus idea. I know friends keep all their orange peel and scatter that around the garden. My cats hate the smell of oranges - wont even come into the room if I am eating one.
Good luck with it Honeybun.
Taz x :hug:
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I was actually thinking you would have the answers for me Taz.
Thought you were the cat lady. Now I think there is no easy answer to this one.
Off to tell my hubby he must not use the machine gun.
If one of you cat owners were approached by a neighbour about this problem what would you do to help?
Honeyb
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If your neighbours let the cats out at night then you are on a hiding to nothing. I have the same problem with strange cats except I have cats who don't get out! And one of my neighbours cats does it on the lawn!!!! Grrr! I did try sonic cat repellors and they kinda worked but expensive.
Sorry!
Bramble
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HB, we have the same problem. Our dog goes out in the morning, sniffs it out & eats it. It makes me want to be sick.
Hubby has threatened to get a catapult but I have refused him permission.
We will give the citrus suggestion a try.
Cazi xx
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I am The Cat Lady ;D but I don't believe there is an answer to this problem save putting a ten foot fence around your garden. Although it is unfair it is not illegal to let your cat roam and so they do visit other gardens. I'm sorry not to be of more help. How many cats are visiting? My son is having the same problem with a cat in his garden too. I will try to find out if there is any deterrent that actually works apart from the orange peel.
My cat has just gone out......
As for dogs eating the cat poo - do they eat other poo too? A friends red setter was dreadful at doing this - other dogs poo, cat poo, cow poo, sheep poo, hedgehog poo - you name it he ate it.
Taz x
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Apparently dogs eat other dogs poo to supplement a lacking of something in their own diet (sorry that sounds a bit vague).
I'm sure I've heard that from Cesar Milan or Victoria Stillwell :-\ :-\
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I hate the way they eat the poo and then come and pant in your face....
There's a bit here about dogs eating poo (or poop) and why they might do it http://dogtrainer.quickanddirtytips.com/why-do-dogs-eat-poop.aspx
Taz x
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It's the eating of the poo that has made her so ill. £80 worth of ill, not to mention the stains on my carpet. It's the only poo she will go for.
I have one neighbour at the back who has two cats and one at the side that has another. H
I have put bamboo canes out tonight stuck in the ground where the normally go and in between the canes there is now a chopped up lemon.
Hubby is muttering about an air gun and barbed wire....all just talk of course but it is very annoying.
What makes this acceptable to cat owners. If my dog wandered off and had a poo in a neighbours garden I would be really embarrassed.
Honeyb
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I hate the way they eat the poo and then come and pant in your face....
Taz x
My dog has bad breath to start off with Taz. >:( >:(
We give her charcoal granules but it doesn't make much difference, the vet has checked her out & can't find anything wrong
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I have 2 cats and they come and go as they please, I wouldn't keep them in as they are used to going out when they like.
You can buy fake cats that you can stick in your garden, a friend had a few around her garden and it kept cats away!!!
I do understand how horrid and expensive it is, but a difficult one. I hope the citrus fruit works!
Ann
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I would suggest toothpaste but they are normally beef flavoured. ;D
It's not a nice habit but it reminds you they are just dogs and don't know any better.
Heck was mine sick though....and then three days of the runs.....bl***dy cats.
Honeyb
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Oh dear - this thread has made me alternately laugh, disgust me and confirm I never want a dog! Sorry honeybun! I sympathise with the illness and vet bill though.
Being a cat person - yes they are free to roam - we can have no jurisdiction over what they do or not do elsewhere, unpleasant though that may be. Mind you our cats poohed everywhere too (on our land), including the grass, especially when old and we spent our time shovelling it up....
This is the end of Rudyard Kipling's "The Cat Who Walks By Himself" . I love the piece. It really sums up cats....
He will kill mice and he will be kind to babies when he is in the house, just as long as they do not pull his tail too hard..... but when he has done that, and between times, and when the moon gets up and night comes,
He is the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to him.
Then he goes into the Wet Wild Woods
Or up the Wet Wild Trees
Or on the Wet Wilds Roofs
Waving his wild tail
And walking by his wild lone.
Hope the lemon works!!
Hurdity x
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... and after he's walked in the Wet Wild Woods and climbed the Wet Wild Trees he makes his way across the Wet Wild Roof silently slides through my open bedroom window and puts his Wet Wild and Muddy paws all across my snowy white newly washed bedding....
Taz x
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Lion poo! You can buy it from some garden centres and on-line - it's sold as 'Silent Roar' and is marketed as a plant food/fertiliser as the EU testing rules mean it can't be openly sold as a cat repellant, but if you check out the website, that's it's primary purpose! It's made from real lion poo, but is totally safe and sterile - it smells of big cat, so makes small cats (ie - domestic cats!) think twice about using your garden as a toilet ... they think a cat rather bigger and fiercer than them already has it as territory! It costs about £10, so has got to be worth a try?
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I think it depends on how brave the cats are. One friend had success with it but her friends didn't - she then found out that the cat in question had moved away ;D
You can read about the lion poo here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1909229.stm
It must be worth a try - you may have wimpy cats visiting you Honeybun!
Taz x
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My neighbour moved and took her 2 cats with her (thankfully!) a few months ago. She'd only had them about a year and this last winter I had SO few birds in my garden thanks to them. Bags of seed and suet just hung there forlornly but within days of them moving, all the birds were back. I was so pleased.
There is a potion I used several years ago and it works. It's a mixture of detergent and castor oil and you water it around your garden to keep cats away. It worked for us on fresh gravel when holly, bleach, pepper and 101 expensive potions from pet shop failed. I will see if I still have the correct "mix" somewhere. :)
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This looks very similar to what I used
http://www.ehow.com/how_4825029_own-natural-cats-repellant.html
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http://www.wilko.com/pests-control/defenders-cat-repellent-500ml/invt/0299829?VBMST=&VBMTC=6cb77b9189b0241fe70aa8eff117f366
You spray it in the place they keeping 'going' until they get out of the habit of going there.
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This has reminded me... I once had a neighbour who owned a cat and she used the cat repellents in her own garden and then complained when they didn't work ;D
Taz x
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Think I will stick to youtube cats ;D ;D
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NO dog should have bad breath >:( - lack of oral hygine. My spaniel ate raw carrots several times daily. I threw the first one on the floor which the cat sniffed, no way was she allowing the cat to have anything she might eat - from that day, aged 7 months, she had raw carrots as well as anything that DH was preparing - cabbage stalks, brocolli heads, garlic ........... she also had what I termed as 'bricks': very large, 4" x 4" hard dog biscuits which would take her about half an hour to get throw whereas I couldn't even break one!
Cats are free roaming 'wild' animals and not covered by many UK Laws. What I have done in the past is to put a filled litter tray into one corner of the garden, particularly in snowy weather or when the ground is hard due to drought. Cats eat meat-based grub, either caught or from a tin. Because most are fed from tins then there is a lot of 'waste' matter to pass as even with cat 'crunchies' they don't absorb much of what they are given. No fur, bones, innards to help digestion. Dogs will eat rubbish, it's how they are 'built'. Savanges. Cat pooh is the least of what they will swallow down!
Another way is to have a spray of cold water .......... but don't let them see you aiming at them. A quick burst several times will stop them in their tracks ;)
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My dog loves horse poo ::)
The cats round her poo in the front garden so luckily I dont have the problem of dog eating it, but as an ex-cat owner I can see both sides of this problem.
Fake cats, orange peel, lion poo, the stuff from Pets at Home. All worth a try I guess. Several houses round my way have the fake cats. I did ask whether they worked and they THOUGHT that they did but I did see one of the local cats saunter straight past one once.. :o
We have an awful lot of cats in this road. My OH hates them with a vengeance...it's a bone of contention as he would happily kill the lot of them with his bare hands >:(
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I bought the castor oil and made up the spray mix. I have had a good spray round. Hope it works.
I did think of lion poo but I suspect my little monster would eat that too.
My hubby hates cats and would happily hatch nasty plans if I would let him.
My dog also eats carrots and apples and has never had bad breath. She also has dental chewy sticks which keep her teeth clean. She is ten now and her teeth are great.
Honeyb
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I give my dog Logic Oral gel, have done since she was a puppy. She is 5 and has good teeth which the vet always seems surprised about!
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If ever mine required a GA I asked for her teeth to be cleaned before the surgery took place. The Vet wasn't keen after any wound stitching because the mouth is such a dirty place and the spray from the cleaning might have caused infection.
Reminds me - dentist tomorrow >:(
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Who for, you or.......?
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;D ;D
Honeyb
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;D the dog ;)
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Oh dear, I am a cat lover and I get upset to read about people wanting to harm them (or harm any animal for any reason come to that) because they poo in their gardens. Why does the cat deserve to be shot because it is pooing! We all have to poo after all. Someone shot my previous cat with a pellet gun - I will never forget her bewilderment and distress when she came home.
I know it's nasty but heck, where can they go? Cats are not dogs - you can't take them for long walks on a lead, I personally think it's cruel to keep a cat indoors unless there is a very good reason. When I see my little tail-less, broken hipped rescue cat sunning herself and rolling happily on the lawn, I have a lovely warm feeling about the fact that she is alive and enjoying a life that she could so easily have been denied (I mean she would have been euthanased)
You simply can't follow a cat around. I do keep my cat in at night and she does have a litter tray at all times, however she rarely uses it.
I think the idea of an outdoor cat litter area is a good one, but again, you can't make the cat use it. My mother in law used to save rose prunings and place them around the garden - the thorns put the cats off digging there.
ariadne xx
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Oh ariadne....My hubby would never harm any animal, he just has a bit of a mutter when he comes across another calling card.
I just want to find a way of keeping them out of my garden as my little dog was so unwell.
I know you are a cat lover but you don't have to worry about any harm coming to the wandering cats in our garden. The worse thing my hubby with shoot them with is the garden hose.
Here is hoping my new spray works.
Honeyb
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Phew, relieved HB :) There's cat poo in my garden too but I bet it's not all from my cat! I tend to just flick it to the back of the border but then, I don't have a dog who might see it as a special treat :sick02:
How about some of that rubber spiky stuff you can fit to the top of fences?
ariadne xx
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It is difficult with cats, aiming a water hose at them seems a good idea.
It won't kill them, but it will deter them.
My problem is we put food out for the wild birds.
At this time of year there are lots of fledglings who are not very quick.
I like cats, but if we see any we just yell at them till they go.
In many ways it's counter intuitive for me, but it has to be done to keep them away from the birds
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Well no little visitor's in the night. It has been raining all day so no doubt I will have to go and respray.
During the day is easy....the dog chases them although if they were to stand their ground she would run away from them. ::)
I used to squirt them with a big water pistol, now I keep the hose handy.
It's the night visits.....they sneak in , poop and sneak out again.
They have a favourite route in and we have planted raspberry plants there and they are very jaggy so hopefully that will also put them off.
Honeyb
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I adore cats but am allergic to them big time, that's why I stick to youtube ones and pics on my desktop.
When I was younger and before I realised it was my two cats that were causing quite serious symptoms of wheezing, swollen eyes, and blocked nose My GP at the time sent me hospital to have my nose cauterised, I remember them soaking some cotton wool in morphine and stuffing it up each nostril, taking it out and then cauterising, by then they could have chopped my legs off I was so high on the morphine. ::)
Of cause it did not work and it was only after an allergy test at Holland&Barrett that I was told I had a allergy to cats and a slight allergy to dogs.
Shortly after that I left my ex husband and the symptoms ceased, but I really did miss my cats so much.. probably was a combination of him and the cats ;D
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I have an allergy to pet dander. My allerghic rhinitis improved a lot when we no longer owned cats/dog. I'm afraid that if a dog finds something tasty, only a muzzle will stop them munching - our sheep dog would scope/scoop up sheep turds as she was running through the lanes ::)
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I am very allergic to cats too.
In fact they make me quite ill as I can't breath very well. Can't even go in a house that has a cat because the hairs they leave behind start me off. It's led to some embarrassing moments. If we are asked to someone's house that we don't know that well then I have to ask if they have cats. I am sure some people think I am exaggerating. Better to make excuses than to be ill.
I also have the same problem with goats and slightly with horses but am fine with dogs.
A consultant I once saw for allergies told me that almost everyone that he had treated for the things that set me off have asthma.
Honeyb
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Anal glands in cats? I've been left caring for an elderly for 2 weeks who is constantly cleaning above her tail. She's also not interested in cat food or scrambled egg, she will eat ham but that has too much salt in to sustain her. The owners thought she was off colour on Sat. morning, they went away yesterday with no instructions even when I mentioned I would take her to the Vet. if necessary.
Kidneys, anal glands, teeth ……….
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My niece has a beagle. She Youtubed how to do anal glands and does her dog herself. Don't know if you would consider that CLKD but there are instructions out there.
I know nothing about cats but I do know that dogs don't go off food because of full anal glands.
Perhaps there is something else going on. Fur balls or just a bit of a bug.
Do you have the owners permission to get treatment or tests done. Tricky one if they haven't left instructions.
Honeyb
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Anyone ever smelt the stuff that comes out of a dogs anal glands ?
It has to be the very worst smell in the world :sick02: :sick02:
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I've had this before CLKD and it has always been caused by a flea infestation. I would suspect this especially if the cat has been treated with Frontline which no longer seems to work in a lot of cases.
Taz x
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Unfortunately yes I have ellie. My vet is one of my friends and she and her colleagues have a chart that keeps a note of the smelliest dogs. Mine is up there with the best/ worst ;D.
It's straight home and into the bath.....the dog not me, and even then I can still smell it.
Now I have a dog groomer that does glands and nails before the bath and cut. Works a treat.
Honeyb
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:thankyou:
The smell never bothered me. Made the dog yelp a bit though. Our Vet did it, then I found out later that she was newly pregnant but she never flinched :o ::)
Fleas did cross my mind too. I've shut her on her own with a bowl of food and another of water so that I can see if she vomits in the night and whether she eats much. Then I'll decide ……..
I did look on U-tube ……… but she isn't my cat so I don't know how she would react if I started jabbing about round there. She's not a lap cat so difficult to hold still for long.