Unwelcome cats

worlds goodest teecher

I am looking for some advice. I live in a ground floor apartment which has its own external entrance. There are a few cats around that belong to other tenants. The problem that I am having is that every time I leave a window, or the front door, open there is a cat wandering around my apartment. I just moved in so I am not going to move. My wife is pregnant so I don't wants cats in the apartment and I don't want to fall other with my neighbours. The previous tenants must have allowed them in. I cannot not opening my windows so I need a solution. Any advice on how to keep them out for good?

VonVix

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/cats/cat_flaps_nets/cat_nets/cat_nets/357373

I think something like this would be your best bet!

Pumpkinseeds

I can appreciate how frustrating that must be. Some neighbour kids used to encourage 2 of our cats to go in an upstairs window and it always worried me. The simplest device I can suggest is called the SSSCat. It's basically a motion detecting aerosol that emits a blast of air and scares the cat. It's non toxic to cats and humans and you could just leave one on the window ledge. The idea is that after a while the cat sees it as a hostile area and avoids it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/PetSafe-PDT00-13914-ssscat-Spray-Deterrent/dp/B000RIA95G

Nekarsulm

Water pistol / super soaker, they should get the message pretty quickly.

Dandelion6

worlds goodest teecher wrote: »

My wife is pregnant so I don't wants cats in the apartment

Having a cat around isn't dangerous per se to pregnant women. If the cats are trained to only poo outdoors or in their litter tray, there's nothing to worry about.

L'prof

Dandelion6 wrote: »

Having a cat around isn't dangerous per se to pregnant women. If the cats are trained to only poo outdoors or in their litter tray, there's nothing to worry about.

He doesn't want them in the house. He didn't say anything about them being dangerous!

Nekarsulm

L'prof wrote: »

He doesn't want them in the house. He didn't say anything about them being dangerous!

OP probably concerned about Toxoplasmosis. If they are coming in the windows, could easily be jumping down onto counters or food prep. areas.

MrWalsh

I worry about this with one of my cats as she is so friendly and curious that she may well go into someone elses apartment - so I would appreciate being told if it was my cat.

I would advise scaring the cat out with noise - get a plastic jar and fill it with coins or stones and go towards the cat shaking it.

dr.fuzzenstein

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Water pistol / super soaker, they should get the message pretty quickly.

I can attest to that. Working in a bakery in Germany many years ago and they had a new cat. At the oven was a water spray gun (you spray water over bread when it comes out the oven to give it a nice and shiny crust) and whenever the cat looked around the corner, we gave it a quick blast.
It never went inside the bakery again after a few times of this, even if no one was around. Nothing keeps cats away like a blast of water.
Don't go overboard, don't throw buckets of water on them, a quick blast of even a small bit of water gets the message across very efficiently.
The advantage, it's non toxic, doesn't make noise and costs next to nothing.

worlds goodest teecher

Thanks for all the advice. I think I will give the water pistol idea a go first.

Are there any scents that cats do not like?

Alun

worlds goodest teecher wrote: »

Are there any scents that cats do not like?

Citrus, supposedly. One deterrent is supposed to be putting orange or lemon peel around the place but I've no idea of it works.

GrumpyMe

worlds goodest teecher wrote: »

Are there any scents that cats do not like?

Most citrus fruit smells but it will be difficult to maintain in a sufficiently concentrated form in the open air.
Some other smell might work but will probably repel/affect you and/or your neighbours!
Maybe try training a thorny rambling rose along the top of the walls as a deterrent - not to harm!

MrWalsh

worlds goodest teecher wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice. I think I will give the water pistol idea a go first.

Are there any scents that cats do not like?

The scent of another cats pee

I can sell you some, straight from the litter tray.......

Dramatik

worlds goodest teecher wrote: »

Are there any scents that cats do not like?

Mint/Menthol

sillysmiles

Coleus Canina aka Scaredy Cat Plant. Can be bought is garden centers.

worlds goodest teecher

sillysmiles wrote: »

Coleus Canina aka Scaredy Cat Plant. Can be bought is garden centers.

Just looked them up.

While scaredy cat coleus does have a distinctive skunk smell, which is worse when someone brushes up against the plant or bruises it, there’s no proof that this alone will keep any animals away from the garden. Coleus canina plant repellent is probably another old gardener’s tale that grew up from some anecdotal evidence, and now is a great advertising tool for nurseries that want to sell more of these plants.

sillysmiles

Grand.
Worked for me. I had cats pooing where I had just sown seedling and it kept them away from it.

Dandelion6

Nekarsulm wrote: »

OP probably concerned about Toxoplasmosis. If they are coming in the windows, could easily be jumping down onto counters or food prep. areas.

She's more likely to catch toxoplasmosis from undercooking her own food than from a neighbour's cat wandering into her kitchen. Transmission risks are extremely low unless you are outright handling cat faeces, which is why pregnant women are not advised to avoid cats entirely, just to either get someone else to deal with the litter tray or wear gloves and a respiratory mask if they have to do it themselves.

OP I can appreciate you would rather just avoid the extremely low risk entirely. Just saying you really shouldn't be worried if your efforts fail and the cats still get in.

dr.fuzzenstein

Dandelion6 wrote: »

She's more likely to catch toxoplasmosis from undercooking her own food than from a neighbour's cat wandering into her kitchen. Transmission risks are extremely low unless you are outright handling cat faeces, which is why pregnant women are not advised to avoid cats entirely, just to either get someone else to deal with the litter tray or wear gloves and a respiratory mask if they have to do it themselves.

OP I can appreciate you would rather just avoid the extremely low risk entirely. Just saying you really shouldn't be worried if your efforts fail and the cats still get in.

Well, a lot of people just don't like cats (crazy, I know!) and also there's a hysteria with germs in general and pregnant women and pets in particular. This leads to a lot of couples where the wife is pregnant to immediately put down all their pets (including the goldfish) or bring them to the pound. One wonders how we have managed for several hundred thousand years.
Having said that, the cats do not belong to the OP, so if he doesn't want them, that's fair enough. I also applaud the OP for trying to keep them away in non-toxic and non-harmful ways. I have absolutely no problem with that. With a super soaker and some netting, he should have no problem.
I once lived in a housing estate where someone poisoned my cats. When I went to the local Gard about it, he told me to "control my cats". He didn't care that cats by their nature do not keep to certain areas only or that putting out poison is illegal. If someone puts out poison for animals they should be made to eat it. When we started to get anonymous threatening letters about our dog (a small brillopad terrier) and a not so anonymous threatening call to our door (yeah, uh-huh, that's very nice, fcuk off, door slam), we decided to move to the country. Not a problem since, we don't have to worry about cats straying in, but your fencing has to be good, otherwise cattle will stroll in! Nothing wrecks your garden like a massive bull.

Pumpkinseeds

I'm bumping this just to show this product I found. We need something to stop ours going out the bedroom window and it looks like it'd work for keeping cats out as well. It's basically a velcro mesh screen.


http://www.flat-cats.co.uk/flat_cats_online_standard.htm