BS: Cat Deterrents

Subject: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: jimlad9
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 05:14 AM

CAT LOVERS STOP READING HERE !!

Can anybody suggest a way of persuading thos most obnoxious of creatures the cat to
crap (defecate to autolycus,autocyclist or whoever else has been told by his mum that he is clever,awwwww!. I know him as moped, more pedantry) in their owners gardens and not mine

I have had limited success with small bottles of Ammonia buried about the garden....Its fun to see them get a sinus full and run like hell looking skywards, I award extra points if they then run into a tree,fence or anything solid.

A neighbour Bob*, acquired a caustic gel from his place of work and smeared it along his fences that the moggies use for access to his garden. After 10 seconds the effect is amazing. The verminous creatures can be seen trying to lift all four paws simultaneously from off the fence.Bob calls it 'Cat on the Moon'.

* Not his real name.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 05:47 AM

I find Daz to be a good cat detergent, I recommend the extra spin cycle to make sure the cat is properly done. A swift run through the mangle afterwards may be necessary too!
G ¦¬]

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: GUEST,Bainbo at work
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 05:53 AM

I can't offer any explanation for this, but a two-litre plastic lemonade bottle, half-filled with water, and laid on its side frightens them away. It sounds stupid, and it sounds like it shouldn't work, but it does.

Maybe it's the movement, or the reflection of the water, or maybe it conjures up some ancient race memory of sabre-toothed tigers being water-bombed to death. Who knows?

Good point: It's not cruel. (Although that may prove a disincentive to you, jimlad).

Bad point: You've got a two-litre plastic lemonade bottle, half-filled with water, lying on its side in your garden.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: jonm
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 06:16 AM

Having recently extended my house, I now have a patch of gravel where once there was tarmac. Next door's cats (five I believe) think it's a litter tray.

I don't mind the cats themselves - they get out of the way as I reverse and I haven't squashed one yet - but after a week there was a whole supermarket carrier of shite to clear up and gravel strewn everywhere.

I bought a bottle of smelly green gloop and spread it over the gravel once cleared and tidied. The local pet store recommended it but I cannot recall the name and have thrown away the empty bottle. So far, six days and no turds.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 06:43 AM

If you live in the UK...go to Focus or other large DIY store which covers gardening and get a tub of 'Scat-a-cat' which is a granular repellent and is safe for kids and pets.....definitely keeps the cats away....

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 07:04 AM

I've heard about the bottle of water trick before and apparently it does work although I haven't tried it myself. I've also heard something about a bit of hosepipe left on the lawn looking like a snake!!!!! I've tried the gel that is sold in pet shops - I got the strongest version to make sure and it did work; it is also not unkind to the cats. I bought my mother a battery operated device that made a high pitched sound only heard by dogs, cats, etc. although when my son visited, it had to be switched off because he could hear it!
The frustrating thing for me is that when my son was back living with me with his litter trained cat she used to come running back into the house to use the litter tray!

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: JennyO
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 08:25 AM

A few years back, the bottle of water on the lawn thing was all the rage in Sydney, but as I understood, it was supposed to keep dogs away. Never heard of it for cats. Anyway, it looked really silly, with every second house having a 2 litre bottle or two of water lying around in the front yard. But at least they all looked equally silly. At some point, the custom seemed to die out. Maybe it didn't work, or maybe people got sick of their front lawns looking silly.

We have two cats, who find a discreet corner to do their "business", then cover it up. I don't think I've ever found a cat turd lying around in the garden - not even from the occasional visiting cat. Am I just lucky?

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 08:30 AM

Maybe they use next door's dunny Jenny!
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Bee
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 08:33 AM

Probably not just lucky, but maybe it has to do with what's available. I've never had cat poo in my garden; they use the woods where there is soft material to scratch up and shelter from predators while they are personally occupied.

Jimlad, the caustic gel thing is sick. Really.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 08:41 AM

Yes, I agree about the caustic gel but there is a gel that is safe and available from petshops. It has a sort of perfumed smell and I think it may be that that puts the cats off.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: JennyO
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 08:46 AM

You might be right, Bee. There are lots of nice leafy private corners in my garden. I've actually seen the cats a few times just as they are finishing. They are very particular about the covering up process. Cats are generally very clean. That's why I was rather surprised that jimlad had a problem. Looks like he just hates cats. They probably hate him too.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Bee
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 08:49 AM

I've observed that cats will torment people who don't like them.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: JennyO
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 09:07 AM

Q.E.D.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Greg F.
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 10:24 AM

Shoot the cats. Then the owners.

Don't have to hate cats to hate cleaning up someone else's shite.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: SINSULL
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 10:39 AM

Orange peels and a large dog.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Bee
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 10:47 AM

Greg F. Couldn't you talk to the owners first?

I understand this is a mostly urban problem, but even when I lived in a city and had a garden, I didn't have much trouble. Most people kept their cats indoors.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: MaineDog
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 10:53 AM

woof!

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Sorcha
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 11:01 AM

I have been buying some granulated stuff called Ropel for the front lawn. It works. I finally read the ingredients. Clay cat litter, thyme oil and peppermint oil. Gee, why am I buying this stuff? I could make it. The oils are easy to buy and not expensive. Doesn't harm any plants or people, just makes the critters do their business elsewhere.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: terrier
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 11:05 AM

Large signs "CATS KEEP OUT", if that don't work, get a Terrier. They're quick and efficient and don't eat a lot.They'll also keep your garden free of all other rodents. Unfortunately, they dig ruddy great holes in every bit of lawn they can find. But you can't have everything going your way, can you..... *BG*

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Sorcha
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 11:13 AM

No, terrier. They just go round to the back gate where the Only Cats Can See It sign is that says:

Sucker Here. She'll feed you if you stay long enough.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Ron Davies
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 02:10 PM

Jan says that tiger or lion poo works great. Tiger is recommended by expert gardeners--so she says. Zoos will either give you or sell you a bag.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Ron Davies
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 02:20 PM

Jan says the way to do it is to put it around the perimeter of your garden or around the patch of garden to be shielded. She's done it herself-- (in Bradford on Avon)-- and it works. (She had over a dozen cats living in the house 2 doors over ---and she had tried every other so-called deterrent). She says this idea was being pushed by gardening programs, wildlife experts, and zoos. Bristol Zoo kept running out.

There was a waiting list for it.

She says Alan Titmarsh announced one spring that one of the local zoos had run out---and at the zoo there was a sign saying "No Tiger Poo Available".

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: SharonA
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 04:41 PM

Jimlad9, why shouldn't we cat lovers read your thread? It's not as if we don't have the same problem with our own pets in our own (and other people's ) gardens! We love 'em, but we know they're not perfect.

I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio) last weekend and heard a couple of tips about safe cat-repelling during a program about gardening. Of course the host reviewed the usual repellent sprays with animal uring in them, but he was rather dismissive of them. However, he had two specific recommendations:

The first suggestion was to lay chicken wire across the entire flower bed and then cover it with a THIN layer of soil. This is supposed to prevent a cat from pooping there because its instinct is to dig deeper than that in order to make a hole to poop in (and also to cover it well). The plants, of course, are supposed to come up in the holes in the wire. The disadvantage of this, according to the program's host, is that the wire eventually rusts and has to be replaced. I imagine that if you're growing a large enough plant, the size of the holes in the wire could be too restrictive.

The other suggestion had me guffawing madly! It is a product called The ScareCrow. It's a water sprinkler that's motion-activated, PLUS once it detects the movement, it actually turns itself in the direction of the moving creature and then sprays a burst of water at it! This keeps you from over-watering as you might do with a regular sprinkler... and gives you the satisfaction of watching the thing swivel around to take aim at the offending cat, and watching the cat leap vertically into the air in surprise.

Most cats have enough intelligence that they will only need to be squirted once or twice before they decide to go poop someplace else that's drier. However, you may get the occasional thick-coated cat that doesn't mind getting wet (in which case, see the chicken wire plan).

Here is a link to the product: The ScareCrow Motion-Activated Sprinkler

Good luck, Jimlad9, and thanks for being concerned enough to seek a solution to your problem that won't harm the kitties.

Sharon

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Greg F.
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 06:38 PM

Greg F. Couldn't you talk to the owners first?

No point- they're obviously irresponsible & obliovious. Do you suppose they think their cats' crap disappears into thin air?

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 06:42 PM

I'm not sure what the owners could do anyway - cats have minds of their own.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: bubblyrat
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 06:51 PM

I now have a mental image of a street,in which there are many houses and many cats .The gardens of these houses are protected, variously , by half-filled lemonade bottles,caustic jelly,subterranean chicken-wire,sonic repellors,motion -sensitive sprinklers,and liberal quantities of Tiger-Turds.........All except one,whose owners have gone abroad for 6 months. Then they come home--------

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 06:53 PM

I like it!

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Greg F.
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 10:51 PM

I'm not sure what the owners could do anyway...

Well, they could keep the damn things indoors, provide a litter box, and clean up their own shite instead of fobbing it off to be someone else's, problem, no?

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 03:13 AM

My cat too runs for the litter box when he comes inside. He was born in Juneau- where the soil is almost always wet- so maybe he is not acquainted with loose soil.

I rather like it- at least I know he's not getting into trouble with the neighbors.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: jimlad9
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 04:40 AM

A serious point folks.The shortage of birds,voles and other creatures indigenous to our country is being blamed on the immigrants from the jungles of SE Asia the cat. There was a valid purpose for keeping cats hundreds of years ago when rats and mice abounded but now?

Who would keep a selfish,disdainful,unhygenic animal like a cat. We have two Beagles,Matthew and Duncan, who seem to be in league with the neighbourhood felines and appear to encourage the buggers to shit in my garden.,but I get companionship and unswerving loyalty ( well the younger one swerves now and again ) from them

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: JennyO
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 05:54 AM

Jimlad9, how do you know that the shit you are finding belongs to cats? It might belong to your dogs.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 07:57 AM

jimlad, probably nothing is going to work.

When you come across some cat poop, do one of two things. 1) Pick it up on your trowel and heave it into the owner's yard 2)If the owner's yard is too far away, cover it with soil and let soil bacteria deal with it. That's their job, and they're good at it.

The energy you save can then be devoted to reading the artful lies in garden catalogs.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: GUEST,Bruce Michael Baillie
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 09:21 AM

...I'm not against cats meself but I always find a lustily hurled King Edward (potato, not a cigar!) makes them go away pretty sharpish, just throw it near them to frighten them (you don't have to stove the poor buggers innards in!)

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Bee
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 09:40 AM

Jimlad, I can't find the link right now, but at least one study of cat atrocities on the bird and small mammal populations was found to have been grossly exaggerated. Certainly cats, and particularly feral cats, hunt, but by far the most efficient decimators of small wild creatures are humans. Check the number of migrating birds killed by tall lit buildings, the number of small mammals and ground nesting birds killed by agriculture and forestry practices, for example - tolls far outstripping even the most exaggerated accounts of cat predation.

It's alright to dislike cats, it's understandable to get angry about cat poo in your garden, or cats hunting under your bird feeders, but let's not blame cats for all the ills of mankind.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: jimlad9
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 10:06 AM

JennyO

You don't have to be a poo-ologist to tell the difference between canine poo and feline poo.

leeneia

I have collected the debris in a bucket and taken it down to the cat-owners garden,her cat has returned and done Mega-craps here ever since.
Also the crap-happy buggers bury it and I usually find it sticking and stinking on my hands when planting and weeding.

Bee
             ................"lets not blame cats for all the ills of mankind"........Yes we can it would give the USA a rest

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Greg F.
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 10:19 AM

one study of cat atrocities on the bird and small mammal populations was found to have been grossly exaggerated

Even if true, one study being 'exaggerated' hardly means that cats have little or no impact. Most who have studied the problem agree that they certainly do.

But ya see, the "Animal Rights" crowd are interested only in the "rights"[sic] of those particular cute, furry DOMESTIC animals that they selectively deem worthy- cats, dogs, horses & the like.

They don't give a tinkers about those they deem "unworthy" or "less worthy" -e.g. rodents, most small wild animals, reptiles &c.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Bee
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 10:52 AM

Greg F., I am not an animal rights cute-fuzzy person. I am a supporter of the Canadian seal hunt, which pretty well leaves me right out of that arena. I don't like seeing critters vilified for being the small end of a problem.

When I was a kid, my grandparents' farm had a dozen or more barncats. They killed many rodents and some birds, including swallows and bobolinks, which were the most common birds on the farm. Fast forward thirty years: my grandparents stopped farming and all the cats were destroyed. The barn fell in a windstorm; no more swallows. There were still lots of Bobolinks, until the hayfields, formerly harvested once, after the bobolinks had fledged, were rented out and fertilized to get two crops a season. The bobolinks nests were destroyed by the early harvest. Haven't seen one on the property since.

Along with the bobolinks went mice, voles, snakes, etc., and that was just a small farm. Consider how much land is under the industrial plough these days and maybe you can stop worrying about the cats. Or not. I'm just sayin'.

cat friendly stats

This is a cat friendly site, but has some interesting comments, in particular regarding a study about the relative health of cat-caught birds and window-killed birds.

http://noblepower.com/reference/wind-power-statistics.html

The above link is windfarm stats, comparing bird kills on windfarms to other kills, and includes the following:

Percentage of birds killed in the US annually by housecats: 10 percent
Erickson et al., 2002, Summary of
Anthropogenic Causes of Bird Mortality.
Percentage of birds killed in the US annually by collisions with windows and buildings: 55%

I wanted to find some stats on agriculture and forestry. but if there are any, they are buried in bird flu articles, of which there are thousands.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: jimlad9
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 11:37 AM

On a lighter note,well at least from the perspective of the 'non-cat lovers lobby'.

A few years ago it was the fashion to decorate the walls of our houses with Hessian (Sackcloth) wall coverings .Friends of ours both worked and their cat had access to the house via a cat-flap. They arrived home one evening to find 'Misty' 18 inches from the hall ceiling having got it into its head to run up the hessian covered wall. Having reached it destination it then found it could not retract its claws and thus hung suspended for at least 6 hours.
I did not Laugh (Honest !)

Once again a while ago some other friends owned a Siamese tomcat. My wife and I went to dinner at their house one evening and found that the cat was lying in its basket near the fire and was moaning gently. It was explained that the poor bugger had been separated from its 'goolies' earlier that day and was not feeling too frisky, Coincidentally when my wife had me to the vets for the same procedure I lay in a basket next to the fire moaning though not gently for days .
Meanwhile later thar evening with the meal over we were sat enjoying a Bushmills or two when the cat,obviously feeling better crawled out of its basket,inspected the site where once its 'nuts' had been then proceded to start climbing over my outstretched legs. Now as luck would have it (bad luck) its claws entered an inch at least into my flesh and I reacted by involuntarily moving my feet. Sadly as I did this I caught 'Samsons' tenderest parts causing him to yell like a bloody Banshee and shoot across the room and up the curtains until his head hit the ceiling.
Once again I did not laugh( Well not until I got home any how.)

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Bee
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 12:19 PM

Jimlad, I fear I would have laughed on both occasions, given there was no lasting harm to the cat (barring loss of 'goolies'). Although if your friends have a cat with one inch long claws, they should have a licence for harbouring a cougar in their home.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: jimlad9
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 12:24 PM

Bee

I forgot to tell you it weighed 120lbs,had stripes and 6 inch long fangs.

Subject: RE: Cat Deterrents
From: Greg F.
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 06:34 PM

The barn fell in a windstorm; no more swallows... There were still lots of Bobolinks, until the ... nests were destroyed by the early harvest. Haven't seen one on the property since.

But, ya see, they weren't dead- they simply moved on to appropriate habitat elsewhere.

Yes, indeed! I agree. Farmers & humans of all types kill critters. Yes, wind farms do indeed kill birds. As do lighthouses, tornados, hawks and probably the Four Horsemen into the bargain as well.

None of the above, however, changes the documented evidence that free-ranging cats unnecessarily kill substantial numbers of critters - not only birds - and that cats are a substantual constituent part of an admittedly larger problem.

PS: I don't dislike cats. I have cats, fer chrissake. But with pets- ooops! Excuse me - COMPANION ANIMALS - also come certain responsibilities that too damn many people shirk.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: terrier
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 07:09 PM

Our she cat, Socks,named for obvious reasons,during Summer would sit on a convenient stable half door and nonchalantly pick off the swallows as they flew through the doorway to their nests inside the stables. Using her tail as a counterbalance she could easily reach up with her paw to do the dirty deed, until one day, Storm, our Irish Draft Cross was loose in the yard; seeing socks' tail waving around was too good a chance to miss. She picked Socks up by the tail and triumphantly walked off gently swaying her head from side to side. Who says equines don't have a sense of humour. Although Socks had no lasting ill affects from her ordeal, I've not seen her sitting on a stable door since. How's that for a Cat deterrent. Get a HORSE.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Bee
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 07:33 PM

Yes, Greg F. Many pet owners are assholes.
Yes, cats kill critters, and thank heavens for that, otherwise we'd be overrun with squirrels here. The two years between cats resulted in us having to re-insulate over the garage, fish a trapped weasel out of a wall, trap an endless stream of deermice and house mice, and we still have a bat problem (the cat's just six months old).


We will continue to disagree on the issue. I think cat predation is an overblown 'problem' which takes attention away from far more serious killers. You seem to think I'm an 'animal rights raver' or something (at least, you've implied it twice now), which suggests you haven't actually read my posts (re: bobolinks, for example; the first batch didn't migrate to a suitable place, (and again missing the point, there are no suitable habitats left for them in NS at least because farming practices changed), because the daft things don't: they suicide on the nest.

Perhaps we should stick to talking about music. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Gurney
Date: 19 Feb 07 - 02:29 AM

I used to work for a firm that made that granular cat repellant. Atapulgite/cat litter, Isopropyl Alcohol, and ???? What was it??


No-one will ever stop cats going where they want to. Their territory goes to where some other cat attacks them, and it does not even recognise man-made boundaries. They will shit in anything that they can use to cover up the deposit (if Mummy taught them right) and that is useful as a boundary marker.

If you don't feed them and you have no loose cover, they will just pass through without bothering you.
It is dogs that really shit all over the place. Never in the same place twice, and much more of it than a cat.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 19 Feb 07 - 03:11 AM

The 'Scat-a-cat' granular really has worked for my premises.....I was truly fed up with having to clean up after cats...now I don't have to!

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Michael
Date: 19 Feb 07 - 06:00 AM

Locally, Starbucks (Paht!)give away bags of coffee grounds which someone collects for me (it's supposed to deter slugs). I have noticed that cats keep off where I sprinkle it.

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 19 Feb 07 - 07:08 AM

Sodium Chloride (common salt) is good for slugs...it dissolves them.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: jimlad9
Date: 19 Feb 07 - 09:19 AM

FIAT built a car assembly plant near here. It had totally automated assembly line controlled by contact switches.
When the plant was up and running a fault was discovered which was instead of the components,doors in this case,arriving in sequence at the requred location the door sections arrived in multiple random numbers. It took days to locate the problem which was due to the works cat attacking the flexible extension pieces on the contact switch at the previous assembly point.

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: Greg F.
Date: 19 Feb 07 - 10:12 AM

...cats kill critters, and thank heavens for that, otherwise we'd be overrun with squirrels...

Attack of the fifty foot squirrels!! AAAIIIEEEeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
Talk about an "overblown problem". Fix the holes in your buildings and you won't have a squirrel OR a bat problem. I'd have thought you'd welcome the weasel- they eat mice, you know.

an endless stream of deermice and house mice
An indoor cat should take care of these very nicely, thank you.

You seem to think I'm an 'animal rights raver'

Fascinating- you know what I think! Ever consider joining up with the CIA's remote imaging project?

and again missing the point, there are no suitable habitats left for them in NS at least because farming practices changed

Ah, but then, you see, I don't have your gift of mind reading, and you didn't say that. (Always assuming you've surveyed all NS to identify bobolink habitat.)

And now, after a word from our sponsors,back to the music ;>)

Subject: RE: BS: Cat Deterrents
From: GUEST,karen philipp
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 12:37 PM

we have so many cats in our neighborhood that it is a constant battle keeping things cleaned up. they poop on the lawns and do not cover it.

we have a neighbor that feeds the cat and it draws more wild life too
an opossum!!!

i am at the public library i as of yet have an e-mail soon

dry horseradish then watering will set off the smell
they don't like it black pepper and red pepper flakes help too

it is the owners that need to get thier act toghther
karen