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Get rid of unwanted cats in your garden

If you are troubled with unwanted cats in your garden or yard. It is said that it you cut a few lengths of black garden hose and place them around the garden the cats will stay away.

Well I am not to sure but give it a go.

See also
Wandering cats
Legal way to get rid of cats

Visitors comments

cat vigilante Comments By: who cares on 2011-05-28 wouldn't be nice to have a roaming cat vigilante group that will eliminate street cats in the night( catch it and move them in a secret location...or simply )and the longer they do it secretly the cleaner the gardens will be of their poop!   Never to return Comments By: Cats, Mans Best Friend on 2011-06-04 Best solution for you, the owner (if it has one) and the cat! 1. Buy a Cat Trap and bait. 2. Set Trap and catch cat. 3. Scare the daylights out of it all around your property for short spells over a couple of hours (while it is still in Trap, preferably during the day). 4.Release cat unharmed but lightly mentally scarred. Note: Most cats hate water, being growled and hissed at and being trapped. Please be humane, try to judge its stress levels so that you don’t over do it, remember that the cat doesn’t understand the problem but will catch on pretty quickly.   Best cat cure Comments By: Happygardens on 2011-06-05 Your own Urine left for two/four weeks in a closed jar with a few kidney beans then mixed with 1/4 malt vinagar and shaken well. Pour on the soil you want to protect. Your hate making it so much you will understand why it stops cats ever comming back. Infact you will find the offending neighbour will sell up and move as well   Maybe this helps... Comments By: mishki on 2011-06-08 I find what works best is to keep a thick pair of gardening gloves around and sneak up on the cats. Some are so cocky and smug that they don't run away. I either give them a lashing with said glove or put on the glove, pick up the cat, shake it a bit and fling it. Problem solved. It's kinda fun to measure how far you can slingshot these foul beasts of hell. They suffer nothing more than confusion and bruised ego (don't throw them at walls or fences; they have to land on their feet)and toddle off in a daze. I may or may not have thrown a plastic deck chair at a cat while drunk, but that doesn't really work.   Is it really that hard to just talk to people? Comments By: Tammy on 2011-06-11 If a cat is tearing up your yard and you know who the owner is, couldn't you at least talk to your neighbor before doing something drastic? Everyone on my street has cats and most also have gardens, but none of us have ever had a problem like this. However, if someone told me my cat was messing something up I would take responsibility for it. I would also work on fixing the animal's behavior if someone actually came to me and said the cat (or dog for that matter) was bothering them. I mean I understand calling animal control if no one knows who the cat's owner is or if the owner simply does not care after you tell them your concerns. But if my cat was taken and no one even bothered to talk to me about it beforehand I would seriously be upset. If you're neighbor doesn't know what to do when you talk to them, suggest neutering. It's the tom cats that make that awful smell (not to mention they are more agressive and mischievous) but neutering will help that a lot. You could also keep a spray bottle handy (set it to the stream setting to give it some power) and just give the cat a good squirt when you see them near your garden. Plain water works just fine on my cats, plus if you yell at them as you spray them they will most likely run away. Cats generally do not like confrontation or being sprayed so it's likely they will find a new, quieter place to do their business. Just keep it up for a few days and be consistent. If you don't want them in your yard at all you could always just make a lot of noise when you see them to scare them off. Cats absolutely hate loud sounds. Stomp, clap your hands, yell at them, or come out of the house banging on pots and pans if you have to. Just be humane to the animals and have at least one talk with the owner is all I ask.   I hate cats Comments By: Cat Terminator on 2011-06-12 These unwanted and uninvited stinking little beasts are a pest. We are investing a lot of our time in keeping up the garden and backyard and to make it feel like home. We have now managed to keep the cats at a safe distance from our property. The solution is simple and inexpensive: a slingshot and chickpeas. Its amazing to hear the cat crying when hit. Even when I miss and hit the fence, the cats are running away quickly, as if the devil was after them. And they remember very well a backyard that is not safe to shit in because there will be punishment.   Sue Them.... Comments By: A serious person on 2011-06-13 If you guys are continuously out there buying products ($$$$) because your neighbor's cat keeps destroying your property you have to sue them. It only costs 150 dollars in some states to start a cause of action against them. Do your research. If the cat has scratched your kids you can sue them for strict liability. They are liable for any injuries their animals inflict on another human being. If they are destroying your property and they know it, then sue them for that. You don't have to hire an attorney, just go to your local small claims court and a court clerk will be there and should help you get the ball rolling. It's as simple as going in and asking a few questions. Do your research first. But once you do that, they will tell you what form to fill out and you should be set. These people do not care. This is not a matter of whether you get a lot of money or even win. It's about letting them know you are serious and what they are doing IS ILLEGAL. They cannot allow their cats to trespass on your property. A lot of people don't know this, but you can sue them for this sort of behavior. It is well worth the money to give you peace of mind. There are some people who have been captive in their own home for YEARS. That is unfair. Do something about it, there are legal ways of dealing with the OWNER not just the cat.   HOW IS IT FAIR!! Comments By: Niknak on 2011-06-14 How is it fair that my little cat can't go into our garden because of a nasty mix bred cat!! it stalks him,it sits and watches the house waits for me to open the door and just blatently goes in and attacks out cat , I leave a window open in the kitchen so our cat can go out if he needs to.The cat has come in and attacked my daughter in her bed , she has scars!! I went and spoke to the owner and was told shut your f*****g window then !!! Why should i have to keep my windows shut to keep her cat out , I am at my wits end with this cat now and need a proper solution !!   Help with pesty cats! Comments By: Jen on 2011-06-16 Bitter apple works great to get a cat to stop scratching anything like furniture a shed or a porch. You just spray it on and off they go. Only problem if it is outside you may be spraying a lot due to weather conditions. But the cat usually remembers the spot and won't return. As for a garden if you have planters fill them up with pine cones. Cats hate pine cones and won't use the planter as a toilet. Otherwise I suppose you could get a dog that would help emmensely. :)   TIME FOR ACTION Comments By: sandie on 2011-06-19 Just spent ages reading years of comments about cat s***t I too am plagued by these bloody pests. Why do people want a pet that they can feed, stroke and love but let it do its toilet wherever the cocky little shit wants. I pick up around 5 or 6 dollops of this a day despite yoghurt pots with Jeyes etc etc. Why dont we ask for the government to get owners to be responsible for their pets by getting them to own a licence and then when we once again have to don trowel and peg for nose we can go and get the owner to clean it up but of course we will probably get the usual denial.   The cat trapper speaks once more! Comments By: Kevin Lewis on 2011-06-20 Hello everyone. Not having visited this site for a while, I thought I'd drop in with the vain hope that this thread would have begun to dry up by now; how sadly mistaken was I? So many posters appear to be ignorant of my previous cast-iron, harmless cure that I'll not bother reiterating, only to suggest clicking Edit, Find, and typing "Kevin" into the search box to glean the almost priceless advice proffered by me with regard to keeping your gardens cat-free, and your collective sanity intact. In a time of national financial austerity, at least we can keep the feral cat management industry afloat, whilst raising the happiness quotient of the "plagued by cats" section of the country! Please give my cure a whirl; I promise you'll not regret it. As I've got the floor, I'd also like to touch upon a few of the points raised by the less rational cat defending members on this forum. As I've previously made plain, I'd never advocate harming any living creature; I'm an animal-loving vegetarian after all. But to equate those misguided souls, who through desperation, have mooted the possibility of injuring or killing miscreant felines with injuring or killing errant children is infantile. If next-door's children were climbing my fence to defecate in my back-garden, I believe that video footage confirming the fact together with a call to the proper authority would result in said children being rightly taken into care, and likely prosecution of the parents would surely follow. No such system is in place for the owners of cats that freely roam and vandalise property of neighbours. Similarly, if a wild animal, whether it be a fox, badger, or hedgehog enters my garden and behaves in a manner that I find anti-social, then I'm afraid that's the natural world at work, and I've little choice but to accept that by owning a garden I'm tacitly impinging on a wild animal's freedom to roam in search of food, or a mate etc. That is wholly different to someone choosing to own a domesticated pet, but eschewing the responsibilities entailed by that choice. Cat's are more or less wild animals that return to an owner's home because they receive regular food; there's not the loyalty that a dog demonstrates with its unconditional devotion to a pack-leader, and the fact that a cat may be more anthropomorphically intelligent to our human-centric values, is neither here nor there. Essentially, when any animal is taken under the roof of a human, they become pets, and their owner acquires certain responsibilities for the care of the aforementioned creature. One of which is to care for them at all times, as you should a child. It's intellectually unsustainable to compare cats with children if in the next sentence you freely admit that your cat should be left to roam all day and night, and to fend for itself, then to expect others to indirectly care for it. If you cared that much you'd keep them indoors where they don't run the gauntlet of cars, dogs, foxes, other cats, and I'm ashamed to say, spiteful humans driven to distraction by the anti-social habits of your rarely seen, rarely cared for pets. For goodness sake just get a chinchilla, or a rabbit, anything that doesn't hunt for sport and prevented birds landing in my garden for years. Anything with the temerity to spend any time in my back yard was immediately set upon by a pride (trust me it is appropriate) of cats from next door. Birds, frogs, mice, hedgehogs, nothing was safe from an hour or so of torture from these supreme hunters, until I heard their distress calls and shooed away their tormentors. Luckily, my cat problem has evaporated since I instigated my bait/cage/urinate method, (see above) but I'm sure that when the next litter is unleashed upon the wider world, I'll have to start all over again. If I bought a tiger, and it hopped over the fence, killed all of your cats and then shat a four-pounder on your lawn, would you really accept my plea that it was only doing what comes naturally? I think not. As I've said, I'd never harm any living creature, from ants up to elephants, but when some of you wish harm on some of the contributors to this forum, you lose the moral high-ground so quickly that I can almost hear the thud as you hit the bottom of the barrel (please forgive my metaphor mixing). Please take good care of the animals in your lives, and never hurt them intentionally; they deserve our love. Just take care in the animals you choose as pets, because some creatures aren't suited to domestication and cats would be at the top of that list if I wrote it. I'm sorry to be so serious for once, but I'm truly troubled by the entrenched views espoused by both sides and realise that the gauche stabs at humour in my previous posts have been worthless to the mirthless. (I've still got it when I need it though!) With love, yours truly, as above.   Cat Lovers Are NOT Animal Lovers Comments By: Woodsman on 2011-06-25 Don't, for even one moment, fall for the song and dance about cat-lovers being animal-lovers, they are anything but that. They don't have ONE concern about any other animals nor even other humans. Cat-lovers are just like cats, the only thing they care about are themselves. Their TNR (trap, neuter, release) programs are a dismal failure too. A smokescreen and time and money waster. Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise. Do a search online for the truth about all TNR failures. Cats are an invasive species. Bred by man for man’s purposes through selective-breeding, a form of genetic engineering. They are NOT an indigenous species anywhere on the planet today and have NO PLACE in nature. They have NO natural predators due to their bold patterns in their coats. Bold stripes and patterns are a universal symbol to all wildlife EVERYWHERE, from insects, to all life in the ocean, to all life on land, that that animal is toxic or uses other hidden defense mechanisms. Wildlife won't go near them, even if starving. Cats have no more right to be out in the natural world than some genetically engineered insect that, if released out into nature, would destroy all wildlife. JUST AS CATS DO. A cat destroying wildlife is NO MORE NATURAL than if someone was raising piranha for pets and then dumping a tank of them into your bath with you in it, or in local swimming areas, or in your backyard pools. Piranha as pets deserve the same freedoms as cats, don't they? In fact, this would be even more natural than putting cats everywhere--the piranha haven't been genetically engineered through selective breeding to make them unique from all other fishes. These invasive-species cats that are released outdoors will still be decimating the food-chain for all native wildlife. If you feed a TNR cat-colony they kill even more wildlife. A well-fed cat kills more animals than a starving one. They don't stop killing other animals just because they're no longer hungry. The healthier they are the more they kill. It's what they do, it's what they are. Lousy little killing machines, nothing more. It's not just the loss of bird populations either. Feral cats and farmers that let theirs roam free have decimated the natural food-chain in my woods. The resident foxes, owls, and other predator animals no longer had a food source. The feral cats maimed and mauled all the smaller animals for use as live play-toys, all dying a slow agonizing death, senselessly destroying all animals that other native wildlife depended on as a food source. The native species all starved to death. That's what cats do to ALL native animals. There has also been research done to prove that cats are now spreading their potentially deadly Toxoplasma gondii parasite-disease to wildlife even in remote areas. http://www.labspaces.net/view_news_comments.php?newsID=110760 When disposing of cat carcasses now, be sure to bury them deeply enough or incinerate them so no other wildlife can become infected by them from eating the cat-meat. Wear gloves while doing so to protect yourself as well. Women who are pregnant can have their child born with severe neural birth defects (microcephaly or hydrocephaly) or miscarry or be still-born; or those with compromised immune systems (taking anti-rejection medication for transplants and skin-grafts at ANY time during your lifetime) can be deadly if you have contracted this disease. People with HIV may not be able to be kept alive by drugs if they contract this cats' disease. I live where it is perfectly legal to defend your property and animals from destruction by others' animals. I lost count after dispatching the first 20 vermin with a good .22, outfitted with laser-sight and zoom rifle-scope. I didn't have to waste even one bullet, making this solution highly economical as well. 5000 rounds of .22's on sale for $15, that's 3 dead cats per penny! No further costs, ever. Think of how many dollars and hours of your lives that you have spent trapping, transporting, calling, complaining, restoring damaged property, et.al. ... and still all the problems that these useless cat-lovers have caused remains. If your aim is good this is far more humane than methods that "humane" societies use. Instead of dying a slow death by animal-shelter methods they don't even know they've been shot. It is now the preferred method for disposing of feral cats in many states. (In fact, shooting is too good for them. By all rights, to make things perfectly even, they should be made to starve a slow death, just like they caused to all the predator wildlife. Or maimed with entrails hanging out to die a slow death, just like they did to all the prey they destroyed and never ate. But I'm not as inhumane as cat-lovers and their cats are.) It's time to give cats and cat-lovers the same consideration and respect that they have for all humans and all wildlife--that means NONE. Don't waste your time arguing with disrespectful, inconsiderate, and ignorant cat-lovers either, as I stupidly tried to do for years. Just do what needs to be done and there'll be nothing to argue about. This year owls and foxes have returned to my woods. Through a large effort of my own, including raising and releasing native mice and voles to help repopulate some of the species that their useless cats destroyed. Their lousy cats are finally gone. But I'll shoot again on first-sight the first chance I get. The rewards for ridding one's land of ALL cats and restoring the native wildlife population are far too great. If you don't have approval from your local law enforcement to shoot them like I did then you might be interested in a far more effective cat management program than TNR. It's called SSS -- for Shoot, Shovel, & Shut-up. It's now popular worldwide and "legal" everywhere. It may be the only thing that saves us from this ecological disaster that all the spineless and ecologically-ignorant law-makers have created. The drastic problems that cat-lovers have created by their blatant disrespect and lack of consideration for their environment, all other humans, and all animals now requires drastic actions by all those who actually care. It takes real strength of heart to do the right thing. If you don't live in an area where a firearm can be used legally (or you don't feel comfortable using the popular country-wide SSS program--Shoot, Shovel, Shut-up, this beats TNR all to hell in effectiveness) then I offer another humane method to counter the myriad problems that disrespectful and inconsiderate cat-lovers cause for everyone and all wildlife. Google for: pot mod laser. Get these blue or green lasers for about 5$-$10 off of ebay. You can easily increase their output to 100mw or more. I find that filing a small hole in the side of the barrel makes it easier to reach the potentiometer than disassembly and risking ruining it. I also found the blue lasers are more powerful than the green ones when pot-modded, lighting a match much more quickly. Anytime you see a cat off of an owner's property use a pot-modded laser on it. If you blind a cat in one eye they'll lose their depth perception, unable to hunt as effectively. If you blind them in both eyes they'll stay home near their food dish. This is instant and painless. It's even more humane than declawing. Plus the cat owner can still lavish all the attention it wants on the cat, even more now that it's staying home destroying the owner's property instead of yours. This method is also anonymous. In daytime nobody will even know it happened or who did it -- for those of you who don't want to confront the inconsiderate cat-lovers. Just treat that laser carefully at all other times so you don't harm the vision of any other life out there or yourself. (Google for high-power laser precautions.) I keep one in my pocket for those cats that are too difficult to shoot cleanly with a .22. I don't like to see any animal suffer. If I can't get a clean shot then they get blinded. Though to be perfectly honest, just blinding them will not solve the problem with them still over-breeding nor spreading their diseases through their feces on everyone's yards and gardens. However, blinding a difficult-to-shoot cat can make it easier to get nearer to them for getting rid of them permanently. So this method can still be part of your arsenal of tools to get the job done right. Here's a little insight to help you further understand the root-cause of the problem. Now you'll know EXACTLY why cat-lovers do what they do. It really has nothing at all to do with their concern for cats, nor even the lives of anyone nor anything else, quite the opposite. Human Territorial Behavior By Expendable Proxy I have come to the inexorable conclusion that the vast majority of cat-lovers and cat-owners that let their destructive invasive-species roam free, and especially those that defend the rights of feral cats to overtake public property and wildlife areas, are only (cowardly) using cats as a proxy for their own territorial behavior. Not unlike uneducated inner-city youth that will disrespectfully and inconsiderately use loud music to stake-out a territory for themselves. As long as they can have one of their possessions defecate in another's yard or destroy their property, animals, and wildlife, and the yard-owner not have any recourse; the cat-owner owns that territory. It's time to put a stop to them using their "cute kitty" excuse for usurping and stealing others' property. If they want territory they can buy it just like anyone else. Instead they're using underhanded, disrespectful, and manipulative means. By putting (and sacrificing) live animals in the path of their envy and greed. Again proving why they don't care about cats nor anyone else at all. Cat-lovers only really want your lawn, yard, or forest while making all others and all other animals suffer for what they can't have nor own. Bottom line--they want to control you and your property. That's ALL that "cat-lovers" are really after. It's why they don't care at all if their cat nor any other animals, nor even other humans, get harmed by their goals and (lack of) values in life.   talk to the owner Comments By: anon on 2011-06-26 the best way to stop cats crapping in your garden is to get one yourself. cats WILL NOT crap in their own yard and if you get a tom cat and get him spayed it keeps other cats away. Reading the comments on here is disturbing. Cats are protected by law and it is illegal to scare harm poison etc one. If you are having problems with cats in your yard speak to the owner, most owners will appriciate your concerns. You can buy sensors that deter the animals, and i suggest if you have potted plants put plastic netting (available from garden centres) over your soil as cats dont like things diggin into their feet, and they do not like wet soil. Im one of the understanding owners, i own a cat that used to go outside along with about 20 cats who live in our area and my neighbour told me she thought mine was using her garden as a loo to which i told her to tell me if she saw my cat and i would clean it up and i gave her a spare poop scooper incase i was not in. my cat no longer goes outside since she had an accident and as it turns out it wasnt my cat crapping in her garden but thats besides the point. Carpet rods do not work. Its illegal to put glass or sharp objects in your soil or walls, its illegal to shoot a cat. its illegal to poison a cat and as a owner im not about to mention things that will kill a cat as i know what will since mine has been to the vets for a similar problem when the house was being done. some of you may hate cats but remember some people hate kids and dogs. for example there are a lot of dog owners who let their dogs crap in the street and dont clean it up and people stand in it. it isnt only cat crap that can cause diseases. Lots of things work to deter cats but like us humans every cat will react to it differently. some cats hate orange/lemon peels or anything citrus and some will like it. some cats like water and others will stay away from the water bottles some people put in their soil. there r plenty of humane ways to deter cats and for the idiots who say they would trap a cat then drive it 50 miles away from their garden how would u feel if someone did that to your dog or child.For those of you who have dogs you'll understand how much we love our pets so next time you want to "kill" a cat think how you would feel and i suggest before you try anything drastic you look into the legal ramifications. Oh also there r some plants that cats just love so try and not put them in your garden, try spikey palms or plants instead as they still flower and cats wont sit on something spikey (would you?) and a word of warning. if you speak to the owner and they want to be a prick about it under no circumstances threaten to hurt/kill/poison their cat as you can and will be arrested for criminal damage with intent as a cat is that persons property and if they report you t the police they will come and arrest you. they no longer caution you under equal rights. good luck with your fight against cat poo and i hope you succeed withou having to harm the animal.   talk to the owner cont Comments By: anon on 2011-06-26 oh and before any of you start on me, i am a responsible owner of a cat, both have been spayed/neautered. both stay inside. i actually redid my garden last yr and put planters full of compost out with no plants to deter cats from my neighbours part of the garden into mine which seems to have actually workedn and i just change the compost every few months. i fully understand y you get annoyed by cats if you dont have one as i have the same problem with a dog in our street who is let off the lead on walks n craps in my front garden, ive spoken to the owner and got told t sod off n clean it myself, so its not just cat owners who can be irrsponsible. i hate spiders but even thou there r several hundred spcies tht can kill you i dont kill them i catch them in a glass and put them outside. oh also are any of you aware that it could also be a urban fox doing it so if you see crap thats biger than most and above soil it may be a fox. i do agree that all cats should be neutered and that owners should be responsible for them but unfortunately like some dog owners this is never going to be a resolved issue. some people just shoukdnt have any pets.   CAT-CARETAKERS ARE CRIMINALLY IRRESPONSIBLE Comments By: Woodsman on 2011-06-27 Oh, and one other thing that I need to ask all TNR advocates and feral-cat caretakers ... (though they never answer these questions, for ANYONE). Don't be shy, TNR people, any of you are free to answer any of these questions for once in your lives ... Once you have claimed ownership of these cats through your actions, do you carry enough liability-insurance for all the damages YOUR CATS will do when you release them? Or for all the health-care costs YOUR CATS will cause to all humans with all the diseases YOUR CATS now carry? Like Toxoplasma gondii, which becomes a lifelong illness once YOUR CATS infect a human with it. Or, should one of YOUR CATS contract rabies during its lifetime because you were unable to trap it again to vaccinate it. How many $MILLIONS in liability insurance do you carry if one of YOUR RABID CATS should bite a human? How about anyone who has lost business due to YOUR CATS running off customers because of the diseases they spread everywhere? Like what happened in Miami where YOUR CATS spread hookworm on all the beaches where YOUR CATS defecated. Can you repay everyone for their $MILLIONS, if not $BILLIONS, in losses of health, life, business, and property? Are you doing all of this completely irresponsibly without regard to the health and welfare of any other animal nor human life? Do you even know what the charge is if YOUR CATS are found destroying endangered plant or animal species? If so, have you considered you could be thrown in prison for a long long time for all of this criminally irresponsible behavior of yours? You might want to start thinking about these things. Your actions DO have consequences, and those are consequences that you may not enjoy ... for the rest of your miserable, unthinking, uncaring, inconsiderate, and wholly disrespectful cat-loving lives.   Cat Poo remedy Comments By: neighbors need manners on 2011-06-29 I've found that just keeping the garden wet keeps them away-they like to scratch in dry sand and dirt and the mud deters them. Moth balls are also mentioned as a remedy and they also help keep rodents away. It would be nice if people left posts on how to curb the behavior instead of hateful comments about animals in general. It's not the cats fault-it's your jerk neighbors who are at fault for not taking proper care of their animals.   kepping cats of your garden Comments By: martin flann on 2011-07-10 i went to the local garden center and got a plant cauled a scardy cat plant it does work and not had any cats on my garden for 2 to 3 wks now thank you. http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=scardy+cat+plant << previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 next >>>