... there, I've said it and I'm sorry you had to read that word. Get yourself a stiff brandy and settle down before reading my heartrending crie de coure.
Are you sitting comfortably? then I'll begin ...
Before I start, let me state my position. I have nothing against cats, but then I have no particular love of them either. Or dogs. Or animals of any sort, come to that.
My various neighbours are different though, and they seem to have a whole menagerie of feline pests.
Specifically, there is a marmalade example of the breed which has taken to prowling round my garden scaring off the birds. Such is its enthusiasm for its self-alloted task that it seems to be there 25 hours a day, 8 days a week.
I have employed heavy artillery in my battle:
1) water - but the thing is too quick for me and by the time the water has left the bowl the cat is somewhere south of Cairo;
2) cat pellets - fine until it rains and, you may find this hard to believe, it rains occasionally near Manchester;
3) a sonic device controlled by a motion sensor - I've tested this myself and, unless the cat is moving at approximately 123.456 mph the detector doesn't react;
4) a dog - asI said, I have nothing against cats, but then I have no particular love of them either. Or dogs. Or animals of any sort, come to that. So, a pet would not be welcome at Chateau iBozz.
5) a Kalashnikov AK-47- my eldest, a PC Plod, vetoed this idea and he was quite right, I hadn't thought the Health and Safety implications through. Apparently, if I fire a Kalashnikov AK-47 at a cat, there is a real and present danger that a bullet might ricochet off an armadillo and kill a passing albatross which could then fall onto a sloping roof, crash down onto a washing line and cause a peg to fall on the toe of a young mother who would then sue the manufacturers of her washing machine for serious damages to her feelings - not to mention the post traumatic stress. I confess that I hadn't foreseen this inevitable course of events. Aren't we lucky that these Effin Safety Loonies are here to protect us from our own staggering folly and allow us not to be responsible for anything?
But I digress.
What can I do about these bl**dy cats?
The only thing that worked for me was the Jackdaws turning the tables on one of the damned things and chasing it across several gardens!
You could try putting sharp stones around the border of your garden as they have sensitive paws, planting prickly hedges, spreading cuttings from prickly hedges under your feeders/cat entrance/exit routes...
You could try prikka strips too, though I think you have to put a warning up if you have that around your fence (if your garden if fenced).
Millie & Fly the Border Collies
Hi iBozz,
All I can say Is I know how you feel,I wrote a post on the very subject in The Tearooms yesterday,under heading Cat eating mealworms!
Littleowl
Perhaps no help but we had a pet Mallard duck that would not let anything come on her patch.
I have a video clip somewhere of my two magpies terrorizing next doors cat by repeatedly pecking its tail. Quite funny actually (don't think the cat saw it that way0 I however, have a dog so therefore no problems with cats!
Sarah
I've learned that I still have a lot to learn...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bramble67/
Hi Brambles,
Iv'e seen a magpie do that to a cat,It was climbing up a big tree at the time and the magpie kept swooping down on it.Silly cat still climbs the tree.
I do sympathise as I have contemplated the Taser or an Exocet missile myself in the past. Then I got a squirrel and the problem has been resolved. My semi-resident grey is extremely useful in keeping the neighbourhood cats active. And before you groan, he has his own squirrel box and his own food and he knows not to eat the birds' food. Anyway, take today:- Squirrel was eating his food, birds were eating theirs, all quite happily tucking in together. Along came next door's cat. Squirrel sprang into action. Cat was sitting on the brick wall of one raised flower bed. Squirrel arrived, as if by magic, on the wall of the other raised bed. With nothing but a flight of three steps up to the patio between them squirrel merrily sat on haunches, waved his tail and blatantly "baited" cat. Cat stood up, squirrel took off up the 100 foot garden at much the same speed as the aforementioned Exocet missile. At the top of the garden squirrel shinned up the fence dividing the two gardens and scampered back down towards the feeders, passing aforementioned cat, still going up the garden, at roughly the half-way stage. Cat collapsed, gasping for breath, at the top of the garden, squirrel returned to his feeder, birds all applauded.
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!
Lovely story squirrel. That would have amused me greatly to watch. I have only had a few visits from a squirrel and don't know where he came from as very few trees near me. Have not seen him since before Christmas though.
Hi Squirrel,
Sounds as if you have a very good Squirrel and a lucky one at that with it's own box and food. lol :-)
You might want to take a look at some of the deterrents linked on our website here
The prickly shrubs idea is a good one, cats tend to avoid areas with spiny vegetation; gooseberry, berberris and pyracantha are all good plants for this purpose. You might be able to encourage the cat owner to plant some catmint in their own garden, cats are drawn to this plant and it should keep them amused for a considerable amount of time. You could try to plant some citrus smelling plants or Coleus canina which cats do not like to be around, its a more permanent deterrent than the pellets or powder.
Failing that, some of the new high powered water pistols are able to shoot water very quickly over considerable distance. A bit of water won't harm them at all but it will make them leave very quickly!
Warden Intern at Otmoor.