Feral Cat Troubles...

Help! I have feral cats, not mine .... They have decided that my yard is their toilet. I have been using chicken wire, I put it down last year out of desperation... no easy task either! However, now a year has come, and gone so I have to go out there and pull up the chicken wire and rake off the wire so they will stop using the spot under my bedroom window - ugh... so bad I cannot even open the window up due to the aroma!

Now along with that spot, they are starting to use my raised beds and my flower gardens for their business.. Does anyone have any solutions? I am contemplating a dog that hopefully hates cats! Short of that does anyone have any solutions? I am so frustrated! I thought about getting one of those scarecrow sprinklers, however, that is out of my budget range at the moment... As well as the cat hating dog for now. I won’t own an animal unless, I can properly provide for it. I hope this is the right area for this post?? I do have a cat/small animal humane trap, but for whatever reasons, they seem to be wary of it and are not falling for that idea either... +sigh+

I am not willing to give up the veggie garden! I am at war with these cats. The trouble is I am failing so miserably at it..... I am open to suggestions!

bgrow_gardens

I don't have a lot of experience with feral cats, although my daughter had them around her apartment. However she wasn't gardening so she found them funny to watch.
Not funny when they go in your garden though.
First I would call the humane society and see what the policy is for removing them, either you or them.
I would ask neighbors not to leave pet food outside, that is the number one attractant for unwanted wildlife.
There are spiky things that you can buy mail order or online that you place under mulch that will make them think twice before stepping in your beds.
Perhaps a different mulch than what you use now might also be a deterrent.
Good luck.
Rhonda Hayes

Good suggestions about animal control... I'll have to investigate that further... My neighbors on the other hand all feel for the cats and leave food out around the clock. So I don't think I'll have much luck there.
I'm going to put out the trap for a few days and see if I might catch a cat for now.. They have not seen it in awhile. So maybe if the food is tempting enough. I might get lucky.
Changing the compost only seems to encourage them more.. +argh+ . . I am beginning to think that short of a cat hating dog at the moment I may be really out of luck... I am going to look into those spike things you mentioned... do you have a better name for them?? I would be interested... Other than that I'm still open to any and all suggestions...!
bgrow_gardens

They are available in the Gardeners Supply catalog, they are called Cat Scat, they're aren't cheap, but the idea is that they don't have to cover the area, just get the cat thinking they could be anywhere it steps. You might try other sources too. Good luck.

Hi bgrow_gardens,

we had a company called contech provide prizes for a photo contest we had a couple of years ago. They have a product called cat stop you can find it here www.contech-inc.com/products/catstop/ . I think it works by triggering ultrasonic sound or something like that.

I can't vouch for the effectiveness, but it's another option.

My neighbor used to rescue injured birds and had a whole Aviary in their backyard for their rehabilitation, so they really didn't want the neighborhood cats cruising around. They tried putting pvc pipe on their fence tops, they tried chicken wire and I'm sure a number of things I never heard about.

I don't think they tried the cat stop or cat scat, but I DO know how it ended up, they got a dog...

Thanks for joining the Mulch and participating!
Mitch

Well I think what i may end up with is a dog
I do miss having one. I have not had a dog in years.
I may resort to getting one myself.

Although, I am intrigued by the electronic gadget with the ultra sound noise... However, I guess my question to the maker's of this product would be. Since I have such a high trafficked yard by the multitudes of cats....Wouldn't they simply get used to it and ignore it after a while? I mean if I was only dealing with one or two cats I could see it probably working..

However, with a neighborhood of cats such as mine I think that they would eventually develop an indifference to it because I am sure that with all the cats around it would be continuously going off...

I unfortunately live somewhat close to an a small apartment complex virtually right next door. My side fence runs right along their parking lot.. Everybody's cat is over here eventually at one time ot another....

I am thinking that a dog that hates cats just maybe the proper choice around here. At least I won't have to worry about kitty's tearing up my newly planted seedlings and burying they're land mines for me to find argh!

bgrow_gardens