Cats. Those bloody cats!!!

Ta me anseo

I have a really frustrating problem with cats in my back garden. They have always been fond of it and have been regularly crapping and digging and so on for ages. I have tried everything you can buy in the garden centre to keep them away but to no avail. I have spent well in excess of 200 euro on various bits and pieces. Now, I have recently redone the whole garden and will shortly sow a new lawn and have also put in a fairly big vegetable/herb garden too.

Just 2 days after levelling the lawn area it is completely dug up with scratch marks and poo everywhere. The veggie garden is the same.

Can anyone please tell me how best to keep them out?

There are three cats that regularly visit us. I know the owners of one but the other two are mysteries, so talking to the owners isn't an option. No doubt it would do nothing anyway.

I am thinking of adding little nails or something like that on the top of the garden fence (fence is like a picket fence) all around the perimeter to see if that will stop them getting in, but being crafty cats I'm sure they'll find a way!

Please help!

northdublin

plain and simple ........get a dog. i too have tried many ways of ridding my front garden of cats but to no avail. my dogs are kept in the back garden and its cat free. i wish they were classed as rodents as it would be ok(legal) to trap and dispose of them. there are many urban myths but none seem to work in the long run.

niceirishfella

get one of these..............

http://www.deteracat.co.uk/ultrasonic_cat_deterrent_system.htm

just plug this baby in...............and Bye Bye Pussies........!:p

Dizzyblonde

Buy lots of white pepper and sprinkle it where they usually dig and poo. It'll make them sneeze and put them off. I did this years ago and it worked.
You could also try putting a sprinkler in your garden and turning it on whenever the cats come in - eventually they'll go somewhere else.

TequilaMockingBird

If you can be bothered, a watergun (the kids type) will scare the life out of them. (And is great craic - in a totally cat friendly way of course:D)

Ta me anseo

I wish the dog option was a runner. Although a garden full of dog poo would give me as much trouble as the cats. The veggie garden is my big concern. There is no way we can be using vegetable or herbs that have been regularly pooed and peed on by cats inparticular.

I'll try the ultrasonic thingy. I have one already although it's a different brand. When I put that one in my front garden, one cat was sniffing it and sussing it out within an hour or so. I think it is actually deaf as if she is not facing you, she does not hear you coming. Which is great when you have the hose in your hand!

I have always tried to shoo them away whenever I can, but since the house is empty for large parts of the day, it doesn't seem to make any difference. We are probably disturbing them 1 in every 25 visits, so they'll keep coming.

I read last night that lemon and orange peeling are supposed to annoy them. Anyone have any experience of that??

bauderline

Do you live in an estate ?

If so your back garden is likely enclosed by a wooden fence. It might be possible for you to tack an electric fence circuit along the top of the wooden fence and hook it up to a battery. You should be able to get this from an agricultural store.. maybe a weekend trip to the country ?

If your back garden is enclosed in this way and you have a solid gate and no hedges the cats will need to hop onto or walk along the fence to get into your back garden. With the top of the fence electrified they will stop visiting your back garden fairly promptly...

Bobby04

Place bottles (clear glass or clear plastic, no labels etc) filled with water around the garden. This should keep dogs away also. Apparently, when the animal looks at the bottle, they see a somewhat distorted image of themselves, which scares them off. I know this has worked for me in small flower bed areas. I'm just not sure how effective it would be if it's a large area you have to try to protect. But at least it's a very cheap option worth trying.

Ta me anseo

The electric fence idea sound very interesting. My garden is completely surrounded by fencing and I would just need to fill in the area under the side passage gate to ensure they need to go up and over in order to get in. This morning I have started the hammer 2" panel pins along the top of the fence. The top of the fence kind of looks like this:

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Since they use the top of each pointy bit to walk along, I have put one nail on each bit to see if that will keep them off. However, they do occassionally use my neighbours garden shed as a launch pad. The electric fence may well help stop that problem!

Re the water bottles. Being the cheapest option it was the one I used first!! No luck!

Gyck

I tried the nails on the top of the fence idea and it doesn't really work; I've seen cats sitting on them. Weirdos.

I was thinking of trying the spikes used to keep pigeons off roofs and gutters. The guys who provide the ultrasoic device in the link provided by niceirishfella do them. They might work along the top of a wooden fence http://www.birdspikesonline.co.uk/Bird-Spikes/photos.aspx. Othewise I think the watergun is a good idea and that's something I'm going to try myself.

Water pistols. Seriously, our cat kept digging up our neighbours garden and we gave her a water pistol to keep him out, worked a treat, doesn't harm him at all and cats hate water. She has a cat poo free garden now and the cat knows where he stands!

Ta me anseo

Loubytee wrote: »

Water pistols. Seriously, our cat kept digging up our neighbours garden and we gave her a water pistol to keep him out, worked a treat, doesn't harm him at all and cats hate water. She has a cat poo free garden now and the cat knows where he stands!

The problem is that we are only home in the evenings. These cats are allowed to roam free 24 hours a day, so we only be available for water pistol duties for an hour or two in the evening. If the cat has spent the entire day digging and crXXXing in our garden I wouldn't expect the odd squirt would do much good. Plus there are at least three cats causing us trouble.

Mind you I would love to hit them with a fire hose. Even if they kept coming back it would be worth it!

Ta me anseo

Gyck wrote: »

I tried the nails on the top of the fence idea and it doesn't really work; I've seen cats sitting on them. Weirdos.

I was thinking of trying the spikes used to keep pigeons off roofs and gutters. The guys who provide the ultrasoic device in the link provided by niceirishfella do them. They might work along the top of a wooden fence http://www.birdspikesonline.co.uk/Bird-Spikes/photos.aspx. Othewise I think the watergun is a good idea and that's something I'm going to try myself.

Wow, those spikes look great! Might make my garden look a little military though! Definitely going to look into them.

Titainus

http://www.nextag.com/motion-sprinkler/search-html
this will work

Just The One

Ta me anseo wrote: »

Wow, those spikes look great! Might make my garden look a little military though! Definitely going to look into them.

You could try some plants that cats hate such as Coleus canina.

http://www.gardenersclub.co.uk/qandasnew/pdw/cats.asp

bauderline

Motion sprinkler ! Priceless ! Must Have One !

I am thinking it may be effective on door to door sales, tv license inspectors and local politicians... An array of 10 should deter even the most battle hardened sales guy......

nice find !

baud.

Ta me anseo

Well, war has officially been declared now.

I have nails along the fence, chicken wire in the corners of the garden where they were managing to get over the fence and avoid the nails and an ultrasonic cat scarer thingy too. My veggie garden is now completely dug up again, with c**p everywhere, this time right in front of the ultrasonic yoke. What a waste of money!

I think an electric fence is the only option now. I feel like telling my bloody ignorant, selfish ar**hole neighbours that they can bloody well pay for it! :mad:

The infrared sprinklers are only partially effective I believe. I have been told that they squirt water when they detect motion, but they do not actually squirt the water in the direction of the motion itself. So, a cat may come into the sensors field of view, but is unlikely to get a squirt of water at all. If they get wise to this, then you get a dug up garden that is soaking wet to boot!

I am so p***ed off that people can be soooo selfish and not give a toss where their pets may crap just as long as it's not in their own back yard!

ARRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

bmaxi

If you cover newly dug earth with chicken wire this will discourage cats from digging, also, if you can get hold of rose prunings or bramble branches, spread them around the plot, cats won't walk on them. If that doesn't work, feed them slugs, preferably .22 calibre.

Ta me anseo

bmaxi wrote: »

If that doesn't work, feed them slugs, preferably .22 calibre.

Ha ha!

I'm off to buy chicken wire today. In fact, I spotted some garden netting the other day. It's labelled as heavy duty, although I'm sure that only means it protects plants from big moths as opposed to little ones. Do you think this would be enough to keep the moggies at bay? If they find it tough to scratch around with netting down, will they just pee off? Or would plastic netting be ripped to shreds by their claws? I could always de-claw them......

Just wondering because this netting was substantially than chicken wire. And easier to get home too!

bmaxi

If the netting you speak of is the type used to keep birds off fruit then no, I wouldn't use that, they'd only play with it. Chicken wire is relatively inexpensive in the farmers co-ops and if you get a wide gauge you could actually sow your plants through it and remove it before they get too big. The theory is, Tom gets disheartened and finds somewhere else to crap, hopefully his owner's flower pots, and being territorial, will return there each time nature calls.
Another idea is to make a small, self contained bed and plant catmint, this will attract the cat to that location to poop (and also make it easier to target with the.22). One word of caution though, catmint, like all mints, is very invasive and if you allow it to escape you could end up with a health spa for all the local moggies.

.243

try some lion or tiger manure on your plant beds its a while since ive seen it done,apparently whatever scent it gives off it tells the other cats that this territory belongs to a larger cat.

ircoha

electric fence,wired as follows:

The usual way they are wired to save on wire is to run the positive only and allow the ground to earth the device, I run 2 or 4 strands vertically the full length of the garden, about 4 or 5 inches apart on insulated rods, every second one being pos, the others being neg back to power unit.
u can buy rolls of orange twine with the wire included so easy to do, just wind around the rods

Works really well if it is wet as the cats coat will be a bit damp.

anything plastic such as garden hose over a bit of rebar will do as the insulated rods

bauderline

How are the cats still getting into your garden ?! Are they avoiding the nails ?

b.

Ta me anseo

bauderline wrote: »

How are the cats still getting into your garden ?! Are they avoiding the nails ?

b.

They're walking on them! I wanted to hammer nails in the wrong way around so the pointy bit was pointing upwards. In the end this was too difficult to manage and still keep the nails secure so they wouldn't fall out. Instead, I have used 1 3/4" panel pins which have a head diameter of about 2mm. I've hamered them in about a third of the way so that there is an inch or more protruding above the top of the fence. I had hoped this would make it sufficiently awkward for them that they would feck off!

Yesterday I added some wire mesh (originally bought to stop them using my willow tree in the front garden as a scratching post) to the fence at the corners of the garden. This seemed to be where they were using one of the concrete posts between the fence panels to avoid the nails and get to and from my neighbours shed roof. Today, so far, there has been no sign of them, so fingers crossed (across the trigger of my double barrell....)

itsmedee

Bobby04 wrote: »

Place bottles (clear glass or clear plastic, no labels etc) filled with water around the garden. This should keep dogs away also. Apparently, when the animal looks at the bottle, they see a somewhat distorted image of themselves, which scares them off. I know this has worked for me in small flower bed areas. I'm just not sure how effective it would be if it's a large area you have to try to protect. But at least it's a very cheap option worth trying.

Bobby04 is correct this works. But it can be unsightly with bottles everywhere in your garden. Find the cats access point and put small mirrors around that area.

demanufactured

seriously try the water pistol idea, if you get them a few times with it it WLL deter them....and if you're thinking about shooting them, then expect to get arrested for animal cruelty.

denashpot

get a shotgun. does the job fine and its fun!

Ta me anseo

demanufactured wrote: »

seriously try the water pistol idea, if you get them a few times with it it WLL deter them....and if you're thinking about shooting them, then expect to get arrested for animal cruelty.

With regard to the shooting idea. I promise I'll be as humane as possible. It'll be quick and clean. :rolleyes:

kerrysgold

If they are strays, see if you're local SPCA will take them in and borrow a (humane) trap to capture them in. I doubt you're interested but if you don't want even more kittens/cat's around in a few month's it'd be nice of you to trap them, get them neutered and then maybe hand them over to the SPCA. There's no harm in asking.

greglo23

soak a sponge or cloth in white vinegar and place it in your garden. cats hate it !

Ballyman

I have heard that if you put some cat food in a bowl along with a dash of brake fluid it can help get rid of them permanently.

I had the exact same problem as you.