Have been reading some of the posts on the subject of killing cats as I have a neighbours three dreadful cats forever in my garden. Even my dog cannot deter them from keep coming back. One morning I found dozens of a seagulls feathers strewn in the garden some with blood on them but it must of got away. It did let me find one of their hide-holes which I have now filled in with two plant pots but still they come. Spoke to my neighbour and asked if he would keep them in at night as at least during the day time I have a fighting chance to chase them but definitely not at night. Said he would but I am not so sure, he did say if I had found a difference and although no dead birds have been found I did see one cat looking at my window at mid night to which he said it had jumped out of the bedroom window of his house. Wish I could find a workable deterent.
You have my sympathy Lady as i had such an awful problem regarding cats prior to moving here.
We had 7 + cats come in daily for many years.None of the owners would keep their cats in at dusk or dawn as requested because as they said, cats were cats.After many years of trying everything on the market,i ended up with prikka strips and white trellis which my OH pinned to the top of our tall fence out back.It was very expensive(over 120 ft infact OH says it was 150 ft) but did work.The cats were still able to come into my front and side garden which had a wall with wrought iron but they couldn't get to my feeding stations out back.I have always had Dobbies and Yorkies,big and small dogs so know only too well they can not deter them .Cats are so clever they knew when my dogs were behind glass and we were all going to work daily anyway and always took the dogs with us.
The cats killed but never ate or damaged the birds externally either which is quite normal as they were well fed and looked after anyway, and that is what really upsets people.
I can only wish you the best of luck.
An optimist sees the beauty of the complete rose.A pessimist sees only the thorn .
Hello Lady. I am sorry you are having this problem. It is always distressing to see birds falling victim to cats, especially when you feel a little more care might help. I have had cats for most of my life, always locked in at night and discouraged from bring in "gifts", but they all did sometimes get a bird. They also were good ratters, though, and it's not really logical to praise for rats and condemn for birds. Also, the sparrowhawks take more of our birds than cats do, and we try to accept it's nature. We enjoy seeing the sparrowhawks. More problems with logic!!
We once stayed on holiday in a cottage where they had put an electronic cat deterrent in the garden, and we certainly never saw any evidence of cats. Also I have heard that "big cat" poo works, though I'm not sure how you would get that.
You might like to correspond with Blackbird on
A new friendly Mr Blackbird in my new garden She makes angry cat noises!!
Hi Mozzie,I have done it all ha ha and even done the cat noises/big cats poo/electronic cat deterrent and the plant,hose,jetwash the list is endless.20 years is a long time and when you are desperate you will try anything and everything outside of hurting the cat which i would never do.I have 3 very friendly Blackbirds where i live now and few to no cats thank goodness.Have to agree when i yell they always scooted ha ha but then you have to be there to do it 24/7 and most of us aren't.
One of those high powered water pistol things work great . They realy dont like gettin hit with a jet of water. You can get them from Toys R us for a couple of quid. and they shoot up to 15 feet and some otheres have a higher range than that.
Hope thats a help
Cheers
AL
If its no fun Yer no doin it right!
This is always a problem for bird lovers as most cat owners don't see it the same way. I find the best way is to try and work with the neighbours. The first and the cheapest is to offer to buy the cats new collars with bells on.
A small step that shows your neighbours your reaching out to them to solve the problem.
Just an idea....
Robert
Perhaps this thread is history, but I'm chiming in only because it has been a huge issue for me and others. I've come to the conclusion there is no one solution and that I have to be vigilant, between the electric cat repellants, dousing tea bags with peppermint and camphor and placed around the garden, as well as those strips of plastic spikes -- I use all three, to be honest. I hope to god I never see a cluster of beautiful fluffy feathers in our garden again. I do talk to the neighbours, but people like to think it's natural for cats to be out and about. Maybe a few neighbours now see how much the nesting birds mean to us; I don't know.