# Chasing cats away



## Martin (Sep 17, 2006)

Since we've moved to this rural place a year ago, we find that the neighbors' cats like to stay around our garden a lot more than we like them to. And they do leave their droppings in flowerpots and any other accessible soil, recently even on concrete, daytime and nighttime. It is getting worse, the cats are getting more, and they are getting fatter (one neighbor feeding them a lot). They also leave dead birds and dead mice around.
My wife is upset while neighbors tell us that cats are a perfectly natural phenomenon and we would have to put up with it.
Well, I believe the cats here are badly educated, a lot different from the ones on my grandfathers farm. 
So, I don't want them in our garden and tried various things to chase them away:

Smelly powder. It kept the cats away for a week, but just where I put the powder. After a week, cats were back. Another can at EUR 8 would have been needed for 25% of the garden area. Too much in the long run.

I set up a very loud ultrasonic source. Cat's immediately came looking what's going on and appeared not annoyed at all. I kept the sound on for some weeks. My neighbor had a marten visit every night, it left (later I found it had moved one house further). The women of my two neighbors complained about the ultrasonic sound, my wife too. Women apparently hear these high frequencies very well. I had to turn off the ultrasonic thing to keep the ladies happy. The noise has had no effect on the behavior of the cats. Maybe the frequency was wrong ?

I covered the heavily-frequented areas (under the trees) with sharp gravel. This indeed does work: Cats moved to other places in our garden. Well, I can't put gravel everywhere.

One cat I chased away permanently by repeatedly scoring hits with water, even hot water from the watercooker. But that was just one. There must still be 4 to 5 more of them regularly visiting.

I'm curious what suggestions you can come up with to keep cats away. Lasers ? Magnetrons ? Electric fence ? Light-barrier triggerd sprinklers ? A dog is not acceptable, by the way.
I'm trying not to injure any of the cats so that a neighbor could get upset. Frying my own family or even the postman who is bringing me flashlights should be avoided, too.


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## DonShock (Sep 17, 2006)

Have you seen this Motion Activated Sprinkler used to repel animals.


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## Martin (Sep 17, 2006)

Cool, DonShock. I wasn't aware that such a thing is readily available. Looks good to me.


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## BIGIRON (Sep 17, 2006)

The sprinkler works. I've a neighbor who kept losing his koi to cats, coons and great blue herons. The sprinkler fixed that very well. It surprised me that it worked with the coon.

You have a right to be free of the neighbors pets on your property. I support your policy of not injuring the cats. I believe you would be completely justified in asking the neighbors to restrain their cats and that if they refuse to do so, you'll live trap them and the neighbors will have to come and retreive them. If they fail to retrieve them, then have your version of animal control pick them up for whatever disposition they make.

This would be completely legal and acceptable in my area. I have no idea if it would in yours or not.

Ranging domestic cars and feral cats are the greatest destroyers of small wildlife there is. It's a real tragedy that people let their cats roam and some even feed the feral cats.

We've a number of "cat people" on the forum. I'm sure some will have some good sugggestions.

edit : yes, domestic "cars" do destroy a lot of wildlife. Ha. Recovering from eye surgery, so not proofing very well.


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## Martin (Sep 17, 2006)

Thanks for confirming this can work, BIGIRON.
My neighbors are nice guys, I won't start a war. So the sprinklers are just perfect.

Even better, these sprinklers are not available in Germany, I will be the only one to have them. Should make our garden the most cat-resistent one in the village.


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## BIGIRON (Sep 17, 2006)

Hope it works for you. Everybody wins.


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## greenlight (Sep 17, 2006)

I have a couple of neighbor cats who visit regularly. I don't plan on setting up a sprinkler to scare them away. A pressure water gun seems like a good idea.


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## Pellidon (Sep 17, 2006)

Use the motion sprinkler and move it every so often. They will remember where an unpleasant event occured and usually won't go back that way anytime soon. Crumpled tinfoil and somewhat stiff plastic crumpled wrap that will make noise when they walk on it will deter them as well. That might not be that practical if there are lots of places for kitty to play. 

The only other option is to make a trans dimensional communication device and talk to their superiors on their home planet to try to try to have them instructed to not use your yard. It is a well known fact that cats are not a product of this planet. That is why they have the attitude they are superior to everything.


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## TedTheLed (Sep 17, 2006)

Pelli is right; they did arrive here in spaceships, before they landed they checked for the presence of two things; waiters (otherwise known as humans) and mice..

seems they are all looking to your flower beds and pots as a place to dig a hole to poop in; if you provided them with a big pile of loose dirt or sand in an out of the way spot, they would probably be happy to use that instead..

I just hit on this method of taking care of my cat's morning ablutions;
I dig a deep hole with the dirt piled up alongside..kitty immediately got the idea and we walk to the dirt pile every morning together and he goes in the dirt right next to the hole..all I have to do is knock it in (hey is that a birdie?) and throw some dirt on it..


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## yuandrew (Sep 18, 2006)

I heard they do not like the smell of red pepper; makes them sneeze like crazy. There is a commercial product someone up the street from me uses to keep animals out of his front yard that I think has pepper in it. 

Try scattering some red pepper around your yard.


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## Martin (Sep 18, 2006)

Pellidon, the tinfoil is a great idea for the garden furniture. I wouldn't want to sprinkle in this area and my initial plan of putting it under high tension (steel furniture) could be a bit cruel.


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## leduk (Sep 18, 2006)

Make sure there is no visible soil. So plant things everywhere. Herbs are great.

Small bamboo skewers where you have clear soil stops the furry f*****s getting down to business.

Lion/Tiger pooh! Get to your local zoo and get some lion/tiger pooh. Leave chunks of this at strategic places. Apparently the smaller animals get the sense there is a large predator about and skidaddle.

Cheers


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## Pydpiper (Sep 18, 2006)

Cayenne pepper is the one to sprinkle, unfortunately it has to be repeated after each rain, or heavy dew. The product being referred to is "Critter Ridder"..

Consult the neighbors, let them know you are about to take action on the animals, and why. It would be most effective in a letter form, keep it generic, not accusing.
If they refuse to take responsibility for their animals then it is your choice as to what approach to take.
My suggestion is to buy or rent a live trap catch the cats one at a time, then lay it to them with the hose. They won't come back. I have a lot of respect for animals of any breed, but any animal that imposes on your property in an unwanted way elevates its self to "nuisance animal" status, and at that point anything is fair game.
Call your local humane society and run it by them, they may have better ideas. I have even heard where they supply the traps and provide removal.


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## chmsam (Sep 18, 2006)

How about telling the neighbors you'll be putting up a sign that says you'll be making fur hats and tacos?

Actually, a buddy of mine has an old propane canister that he uses for compressed air (filling tires, toys and balls for the kids, etc.). A cat in the yard gets a blast from the compressed air hose and usually doesn't come back.


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## Cliffnopus (Sep 18, 2006)

How about business cards from your local Chinese restaurant sprinkled liberally around the garden. :laughing: 

Cliff


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## BB (Sep 18, 2006)

Burying wire mesh (like what we call in the US "Chicken Wire") just under the surface of the soft soil they like to dig in can also help... The cats' claws catch on the wire as they do their "thing".

One addition to the automatic sprinkler--If there is also wild life around (like birds), they will set the sprinkler off for the water, you might wish to get a mechanical sprinkler timer to limit the amount of water if it gets too wet in your yard.

-Bill


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## Bright Scouter (Sep 18, 2006)

I am probably more out in the country than most. But most "pet" type intruders get a couple paintballs fired at them. Not lethal to most animals. Non pet types gets air guns shot at them. Also usually non lethal unless I intend it to be and use the high powered one. If you want a little less powerfull than a standard paintball gun, get an airsoft gun and use either the normal air soft pellets, or paint pellets.


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## smokinbasser (Sep 18, 2006)

I practice catch and release fishing and thought about using a paintball gun with flourescent orange paint to hunt and "tag" deer with the upside being other hunters will see blaze orange and hopefully hesitate long enough trying to decide what they are seeing to allow the deer to make good its escape.


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## IsaacHayes (Sep 18, 2006)

We had to deal with this, only it was feral cats. A neighbor was putting out her trash scraps so feral cats would eat it. Soon there was cats from miles away coming (well, far away) to eat every night. They were pooping in all of our yard, bushes/garden/etc. The smell when you walked outside into the yard was enough to make you want to puke. They were killing grey squerrils (no joke) and leaving them in our yard and driveway. Big bloody gray squriells. One we saw chewing on it's guts. Ugh.

No mistaking it, these were ferral cats. Then they had babies on the niebhors porch, two different times. She had 14 cats at one time on her porch/carport.

It is illegal to let your pets roam free here, but they only enforce it on dogs because they are easy to catch (come her boy! got ya). Yet the dogs don't cause the damage that the cats do.

The cats were out of control, and most of them were deseaised. We did not want to get on bad terms with the nieghbor by calling animal control. We tried low power bb guns shooting them in the rear thigh (multi-pump with just one pump). That didn't work. They kept coming back. Well animal control showed up at her house one day (she called them) because there was a sick racoon on her car port that ate her "cat" food she left out. No cats were around and he hauled off the racoon. There was also a opposum that fed WITH the ferral cats at night. Anyways, the animal control told her to wash everythign off as the racoon was sick and could infect her. We told her too that cat's can catch the stuff, and she seemed a little worried.

Lets just say live traps work, but you can't relocate or take the pet cats to the animal control.. It's a hard situtation, keeping on your neighbors good side but yet being firm about not having the animals tresspass. I guess you can take them to animal control, but your neighbors won't be happy when they find out you did this.

Bascially any repellent tactic does't work. The cats didn't seem to remember pain or to stay off of our property. We even used a blender to grind up onions, and harblano(sp?) peppers, and they didn't care about it!!

Thank god they are all finaly somewhere else and not bothering us, and the neighbor gave up feeing them. Now our yard smells normal and there isn't dead animals with their guts hanging out everywhere.


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## savumaki (Sep 18, 2006)

smokinbasser said:


> I practice catch and release fishing and thought about using a paintball gun with flourescent orange paint to hunt and "tag" deer with the upside being other hunters will see blaze orange and hopefully hesitate long enough trying to decide what they are seeing to allow the deer to make good its escape.



Try and get it up around the shoulder area, would you?


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## BB (Sep 18, 2006)

smokinbasser said:


> I practice catch and release fishing and thought about using a paintball gun with flourescent orange paint to hunt and "tag" deer with the upside being other hunters will see blaze orange and hopefully hesitate long enough trying to decide what they are seeing to allow the deer to make good its escape.



I would talk with your local Fish and Game / Ranger / local police... I can imagine the laws about animal cruelty--no matter your reasons--might hold some unpleasant surprises. Might treat it like hunting deer with a pellet rifle and no license and/or out of season.

-Bill


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## 3rd_shift (Sep 18, 2006)

BaROOOOOO!!!,
BARK-BARK-BARK!!

A dog can work wonders on cats trying to stray in.
"MREOOOOWWW! pFFFFT! ROWWR!
The big problem thereafter is finding more cats for them to scare off. :naughty:
 

I had a cat for 21 years, and she didn't take long to figure out where not to go in the neighborhood after she graduated from kittenhood.


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## BIGIRON (Sep 18, 2006)

Interesting point.

Texas has a fairly recent law about harrassing and interfering with legal hunting activities. I could see how a zealous GW might push the envelope on that one.

On the other hand, I think it's a great idea for cats. Certainly make their owners wonder.


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## Martin (Sep 19, 2006)

Today my wife bought 1 kg of catfood. Every neighbor she met, she explained she'd be feeding the cats on our grounds from now on. She will put the food near the spots with most droppings.
None of the neighbors was fond of this idea as the cats would probably look for a new toilet. Eventually, the one feeding the worst food (or no food) will end up with them all. I just hope we don't attract too many of the forest creatures like IsaacHayes' experienced.
Now I understand why cats around here are getting fatter every day..


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## BIGIRON (Sep 19, 2006)

Great idea Martin. Hope it works. Be interested in how long they stay away after you stop feeding. Let us know pls.


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## Martin (Sep 19, 2006)

Will do !
I secretly hope that the cats go bang from all the food. Like that guy in Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life".


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## TedTheLed (Sep 19, 2006)

just make sure the bits of food are "waffer thin..." :lol:


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## lukus (Sep 20, 2006)

When I was growing up we had a neighbor that had over 30 cats. Our place started to smell terrible, they had loud, yowling cat sex outside of my window at night, I couldn't let my cat outside without injury to her; and then one night I left my truck window open. One or more males got in and sprayed the whole interior. It even dripped from the windshield and off the dash. Unbelievable smell and tough to get rid of. Multiple steam cleanings and I still had to drive with the window open - resale value $0. That was it, I started shooting them when I saw them down near the stock pond. Nine months, and around 2 dozen cats later our place smelled like it should, we had birds, frogs, and other small animals again, and I could sleep through the night. Kind of a final option, but very effective.

I live on 17 acres in the country now, and we occasionally have problems with feral cats. I feed the wild song birds and the feral cats will collapse a local population of birds if given the chance. A .17HMR is the ticket, quick and humane. And yes, I still have a cat "Bob" that's an indoor baby. 

Do a google search on feral cats to get an idea of how destructive they can be. They are the bane of many conservation efforts.


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## TedTheLed (Sep 20, 2006)

that's why we spay and neuter our cats..


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## robinhood4x4 (Sep 20, 2006)

smokinbasser said:


> I practice catch and release fishing and thought about using a paintball gun with flourescent orange paint to hunt and "tag" deer with the upside being other hunters will see blaze orange and hopefully hesitate long enough trying to decide what they are seeing to allow the deer to make good its escape.


Interfering with legal hunting is illegal in California. If it's illegal in Ca, there's a good chance it's illegal in Tn. If I witnessed you do this I'd turn you into Fish and Game.


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## TedTheLed (Sep 20, 2006)

animal marking: 

http://www.ccac.ca/en/CCAC_Programs/Guidelines_Policies/GUIDES/ENGLISH/V2_84/CH22_2.HTM

interference with hunters:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=interfering+hunting+law&btnG=Google+Search

from the above, it would seem paintball marking, or any other marking, wouldn't come under the term "interference" --

there are some deer who come here to visit and drink regularly, they are so tame, I can often get quite close.. and I'd hate to see them killed... maybe a nice kevlar vest would look handsome on Rudolph..


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## robinhood4x4 (Sep 22, 2006)

I skimmed through the first link and didn't read much of the second so perhaps I missed something (got back late and need to get up early tomorrow). There's a big difference between scientists and F&G using a tool to study animals and blatantly shooting animals with a paint gun with the intent to prevent a lawful hunter from harvesting the animal.

This is way off the original poster's topic so if anybody would like to continue this topic, please start a new post.

To keep this on topic...What does animal control say about the cats? Who's responsibility is it? (I'm guessing it's the owners and that they can be fined). Maybe they have suggesting on keeping the cat away.


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## Martin (Oct 3, 2006)

A motion-activated sprinkler is on its way from the US to me. Let's see.


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## stevesurf (Oct 3, 2006)

Hello all...you guys are taking the direct approach; why not lure the cats away with laser pointers? They'll get conditioned quickly and go wherever the laser appears - it works!


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## Empath (Oct 4, 2006)

The posts suggesting hauling the cats off somewhere have been deleted. Let's keep this thread focused on legal and humane remedies.


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## Martin (Oct 29, 2006)

The past week, my motion-activated sprinkler has arrived from America !
It won't be before next year when I play with it. A sprinkler doesn't make much difference in this type of weather and cats now stay inside homes and barns.

Until now, irregularly placing a little cat food in front of our door has kept away any droppings from the paved area there. Some mesh on the grass along the walkway worked as well. The rest of the garden we just ignored.

In spring, I will have a go with the sprinkler and update this thread.


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## Kirk (Oct 31, 2006)

Our old dog (a labrador retriever) "adopted" a feral kitten when her mom abandoned her. We live-trapped the kitten, had her spayed, and brought her home. She hung around for a few months until other ferals started hanging around. She either was killed by coyotes, other cats, or left to join the circus. Bummer, she was a cute cat and my old dog misses her. She was not a problem. We fed her and we don't believe she hunted, as least very successfully. Now we "airsoft" the other ferals and chuck a few rocks. So far, they haven't gotten the idea to stay away. Maybe this winter, when it snows, will thin the herd. It may sound cruel that we hope these feral cats die, but they are NOT natural to "wild America". They are exotic compared to mice, birds, deer, coyotes, cougars, raccoons, skunks, and all the other "natives". We don't go out of our way to harm feral cats, but if they die off, the world would be a better place. By the way, we have 2 totally indoor cats and love them to death. They don't get outside to kill critters or get killed by something bigger.
Kirk


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