Hedgehog or Rats or something else?

TrapperChamonix

I recently put down bark chipping on my flowerbeds. Every morning (particularly after a damp or wet evening) I find the bark moved from the flowerbeds on to the lawn or path. My assumption is that something is looking for slugs and is scraping away the bark to find them. Additionally I can sometimes find the outline of a small animial in the bark, as if they had being lying there.
My thoughts are that it is either a rat or a hedgehog in the gaden. But I havn't seen either in the garden. While the spreading of the bark is irritating, I could live with it if it was a hedgehog but if its a rat, I would probably be thinking about laying some poision.

Has anyone any suggestions as to how I discover who is my noctinaral visitor? Or any other advice?

thanks in advacne

Beruthiel

This happens in my garden all the time. Cats. I hate them.

NickTellis

Yep, almost certainly cats. Unfortunately bark chippings are a perfect place for them to drop a load - try rummaging around where the chippings have been disturbed and you'll find your answer

beolight

kebab sticks strategically placed

water soaker spray

lemon scented teabags

[edit]**suggestion not permitted please see post #6 - Majd**[/edit]

lion pooh

water bottles half filled

mirrors

sonic repellents

water gun on a sensor

any other suggestions???

TrapperChamonix

Cats would make sense as there are any number about.

They must have an awful lot of c**P :eek: as they rake out a lot of the bark from all over the gardern

Could I have unwittingly created the largest feline public loo in the area:mad:


Beolight thanks for suggestions. Just off to Dublin Zoo for the Lion Poo.

All other suggestions welcome..................

The Sweeper

Speak to your neighbours and tell them to keep their pets under control.

If it's feral, call the ISPCA or cat protection league or whoever's close to you, and ask to put a trap out for it and they'll take it away and either rehome it or euthanise it or send it to live its days out in a no-kill shelter.

Mulch with straw instead of bark chippings.

Citrus oil or lavander puts them off.


****I WILL IMMEDIATELY BAN ANYONE WHO SUGGESTS POISONING OR ANY OTHER BRAINLESS ANIMAL CRUELTY SOLUTION TO CATS IN THE GARDEN****

NickTellis

I put bark around the border of my deck and since then it's become the toilet for a family of cats - a mother and 3 kittens. It's nice to have the cats around especially as it means other vermin stay away but at the same time I'm concerned about the health risks as I have 3 kids who also like to play around the deck...

beolight

god points raised by mod certainly not going to get drawn into ethics here

to the last poster i would not be as flippant with your childrens health you need to address this issue straight away


having a 2 year old myself who loves helping in the garden which essentially means dirty hands/nails .... hand wipes eye, finger picks nose, thumb sucked, scrathes.... think about it


also pregenent woman need to warned of the dangers too


i have gone the route of using chicken wire on my flower beds and planting through it cats are essentially lazy and the poor mites do not like hurting their paws ....anywhere else i have gone teabag route i.e dropping citrus oil onto teabags and scattering them about the place, i have also tried to make their navigation accross fence more difficult by putting up flimsy trellis

if these do not work i will order the water sensor sprinkler system


google lion pooh......there are commercial products available that use this in pellet form:) no need to go to dublin zoo however if you do you may find there is a waiting list for this much sought after product

bear this in mind next time the circus(animal variety) is in town

NickTellis

Believe me I wasn't being flippant about the health risks. I've a 4 year old, a 3 year and a 1 month old and I am well aware of the danger from toxoplasmosis. I've been thinking about making some sort of sand/pea gravel pit away from the main garden which the cats can use but would like ideas on how to get them to go there (and nowhere else) to do their damage...

10-10-20

Blackbirds used to move my grass mulch from around plants to 1 foot away. Caught them at it early one morning - moving the grass, that is.

beolight

@nicktellis didnt mean to offend

yes definetely that would work so long as that area is out of bounds for the kids

you could just buy a sandpit and cover the other area with chicken wire, the cats will figure out quick enough

again cats are lazy and they will always sek out freshly dug soft soil or bark

another idea would be to gather some prickly pines and mix them in with bark

if sandpit has cover you just can put cover on it when kids are in garden

other option would be get your own cat he will see off neighbouring cats and if provided with a cat litter will pooh there if not your neighbours will have another pest to deal with

just wish all the cat owners and lovers will sit up and read this thread and realise they have responsibilities here

luckat

Chicken wire under the mulch is the stuff - cats hate to get their claws caught in it as they cover their poop, and they'll quickly abandon that particular toilet.

snellers

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

Speak to your neighbours and tell them to keep their pets under control.

.....just wondering how do you keep a 'cat under control' (other than not allowing it to go outside which if an outdoor cat isn't practical or kind to the animal.

I have cats, with a litter tray inside and a purpose built soil patch at the bottom of the garden for them - that's not to say they don't go to the loo in other people's gardens though which I'm sure they do...

If there is a practical and humane way to do it please let me know - other than that I don't see how that point can be made

The Sweeper

snellers it's not accurate to presume that it's unkind to your cats not to let them out.

Cats need: food, shelter, a clean water source, some entertainment, somewhere to scratch their claws, somewhere to use as a litter tray.

If you keep them indoors and provide food, a clean water source, I recommend pingpong balls for entertainment, a scratching post and a litter tray that stays in the same place and isn't moved about, you will have perfectly happy cats.

A cat is not the same pet as a dog. It doesn't need outdoor exercise to get the work-out it requires every day. It can get that workout indoors if you provide a proper facility. Cats spend more of their time asleep each day than dogs do. They expend their energy in short bursts (cat owners will often describe "mad half hour").

If you allow it out, unlike your dog, it cannot be confined to your own garden. If you allow cats free access to outdoors, you expose them to: being hit by cars, being tortured by people who don't like cats, being poisoned or otherwise injured by your frustrated neighbours who have boobytrapped their garden in trying to keep your cat from crapping in their flowerbeds, getting into fights with other cats, sustaining injury while exploring areas that you don't know its gotten into, and if it gets into trouble, becomes trapped or impaled or otherwise stuck, you don't know where it is and you can't rescue it.

Your neighbours need to either keep their cats indoors, or facilitate them with a specially constructed 'cat run' outdoors where they get fresh air but can't get out into mischief.

Trust me, I own three cats. I started out believing it was cruel to keep them indoors. When they were younger, they got a lot of outdoor time, though I always brought them in at night. They didn't roam far because they were young, but as they got older, they started to go further afield. We're on an acre of land, back onto 12 acres of bushland and front onto a nature reserve that stretches as far as the eye can see. Our left hand neighbour is on 1.5 acres, our right hand neighbour is on a hectare.

Sounds ideal for cats eh?

In the last 12 months, one's been hit by a car and I paid $700 to have his jaw wired. (Around six cars go past this property in an hour. He managed to wait for one and run right in front of it.) Another got bitten by a tiger snake ($1,800). They spent a month transferring an upper respiratory tract infection between them, one they had caught from a neighbour's cat. (Circa $250.) Another had a log from the wood pile roll while she was standing on it, and she cut her rather personal back-end bits and tore her cruciate ligament ($75 for antibiotic cream and six weeks healing while confined in a dog-sized transport crate because she's not permitted to jump).

They are now 100% 24-hour-a-day indoor cats. It takes around 5-7 days for your "outdoor" cat to adjust to being indoors and lose interest in going outdoors. You just have to be consistent - don't cave on day three and let them out for 10 minutes or something, you'll set yourself back to square one.

Something to eat, something to drink, somewhere to crap, something to scratch, somewhere to sleep and something to play with. That's all you need to prevent your cats tormenting your neighbours.

It's harder to adjust your own attitude than it is to make your pets and your neighbours happy.

snellers

Thanks for coming back and I am sorry to hear your misfortune......that's not to say I agree with you...but hey, each to their own.

In my personal opinion cats are a territorial animal and deserve to live their life outside enjoying their 'instincts'. IMO by keeping them inside, yes after a period of time they forget the need to go out but at the same time can you not see from my opinion that you are merely suppressing their desires, not changing their attitudes...which I think is a selfish attitude. (couldn't think of another way to put it but not meaning to offend!)

Cats I agree are lethargic at times but from my limited experience of 'indoor cats' (2 different ones) they are even more lethargic, eat, sleep, eat, eat with little or no interest in play. Yes you can buy them table tennis balls, scratching posts..etc (which I have done for my 'outdoor cats' as well when they are inside the house) but they simply do not replace the experience of outside.

We run the risk of the animals getting hurt or worse but equally we could get hit by a bus tomorrow (touch wood we don't!)

I respect your opinion but think we must agree to disagree...hope your cats are well!! :-)

The Sweeper

Oh trust me, I've found it hard to deny my cats the pleasure of playing chasing in the sunshine across the expansive front garden of the property. However I've also sat with them when sedated, cleaned wounds and stitches, liquidised food for the one with the broken jaw and tried to make the six week confinement as easy as possible for the one with the cruciate ligament. Cats don't take as well to injury and illness as dogs. The vet is always a stressful experience, and no amount of cuddles and treats offsets that. The car on the way to the vet is a stressful experience.

And honestly, I think my cats are lucky to be so unlucky but still be owned by myself and my husband, who feel like we've single-handedly funded the local vet practice this year to date.

When our own house is built in November this year himself and myself will be topping the fence with cat-proof wire, so ours can go outside but be restricted to our own garden, unable to get at the road or at other cats. They'll have 23 square metres of outside to play in, without being able to roam. I think that's the happiest compromise - fresh air and sunshine, but no lethal adventures.

We'll agree to disagree on this one, because I really do see your point of view, but there's no way in any good conscience that nearly $3,000 and weeks of stress - for them, let alone me - and combined months of recuperation time later, I could open my front door and let my cats out, thinking "Oh this is better for them".

And hey, crapping in other people's flower beds isn't even the problem!

(PS: They don't get bored inside if someone's there. Yesterday I spent a half an hour teaching my cat to sit on command. I strongly doubt he'll ever do it without the treats packet in evidence, but he currently sits on command.)

TrapperChamonix

As per Luckat and Beolight, I think I'll try the chicken wire under the mulch. Sounds effective eithout cruelity


I'll let you know in due course how I get on .

Minder

Thanks for the chicken wire tip. I have a new raised bed for blueberries and other ericaceous plants. I top dressed it with pine bark and now find it disturbed every morning. Originally thought it was squirrels, either way, the chicken wire will stop the problem. Good tip.:D

TequilaMockingBird

Slightly off-topic, but if you do have a cat indoors, I can recommend tin-foil to cover the soil on house plants. Even with a litter tray available, our new kitten just loved the plants. Tin foil works a treat.

bbam

Hi..
We had problems with local cats "toileting" near our children's play equipment :eek: . We invested in an ultrasonic deterent. It works a treat. 9V battery so I've moved it into the border beds and the cats moved their toilet habits somewhere else...
Its a great portable solution yet the cats stay around and keep the mice under control...;)

http://www.mrmiddleton.com/shop/product.php?productid=306&cat=110&page=1



€70, It was a bit cheaper when we got it but it was a great investment, ...

TrapperChamonix

Quick Update.

I used the chicken wire on a small section of the flower beds to test whether it works. I put the mesh at the edge of the bed as this is the area of most problem. So far so good and it seems to work.

I now need to complete for the rest of the garden. One decision I have to make it whether to cover the whole flower beds or just the edges.

Anyway thanks to everyone for all the advice. I've only just found this website and already have found solutions to 2 important questions I have had