Humanely prevent cats from crapping all over my yard

[Termite]

308 Mike's method works pretty well, and is relatively "humane".

Yogi's idea works well on a permanent level, but DO NOT leave the empty can(evidence) around, or put in your own garbage can. Dispose of far far from home.

As for Tom's Supersoaker idea, Zatarain's liquid crab boil works really well............

http://www.lacrawfish.com/Zatarains-Liq ... -P148.aspx

[Rod]

Roxie's got the duty. No more catz in the yardz.

RoxieDoggles.jpg

There was a less humane treatment applied by an old shipmate with prize rose bushes involving corncobs and turpentine applied to the catz posterior. The trick was to coax them into his garage (and out of sight of his neighbor) and leave a open door -- they beat it out of there like pants on fire.

This brought to mind one of my favorite stories. Curt Brummett is a New Mexico writer who tells about life on the ranch as he grew up. One of his stories is titled Cat Castration Company. I can't find it on the internet but it basically tells the story of him and two friends trying to make money to pay for an outhouse that was hit by lightning. Unfortunately, it was their storehouse for black powder and sundry other young boy explosive materials. Two loafers at the local domino parlor convince them to castrate all the feral toms running around the town. The boys coax 100 toms into a grain silo. Hilarity ensues.

[HTRN]

Personally, I'm in favor of a catapult (and yes, that's a pun)

[SeekHer]

We have always used a water pistol (super soaker) and ammonia and white vinegar--it forms Ammonium Acetate & Water in a stable form. Ammonium Acetate is sometimes used as a decent biodegradable de-icing agent...Squirt the cats (or dogs) themselves and the area(s) you wished preserved and the buggers won't come back...You can also add Tabasco sauce if you really want to piss the feline right off.

Do not mix vinegar with bleach EVER! You can get extremelly sick from the toxic gasses it produces...The bleach decomposes to form hydrochloric acid, which reacts with ammonia to form toxic chlorine fumes and then the ammonia and chlorine gas react to form chloramine, which is released as a vapor with a potential for hydrazine formation.

What also works is planting mothballs into the bark cover which they don't like at all--more of a lasting scent, so you don't have to stand armed guard over the flower bed to catch the littles bitches in the act so you can squirt their asses.

Don’t you have leash laws there? As fivetoes stated, you should contact the owner, regardless first in person then by registered mail and thirdly by calling the Animal Control (whatever it’s called there) people and having her cats removed at her expense.

Here any loose dogs or cats are considered feral and are taken to the pound…If they are collared or from the tattoo, the owner is contacted and to get the animal back they must pay the fine, storage and capture fees—sort of like an impounded car…$200 to $300 per animal, per time, makes people very polite.

[McClarkus]

+1 on the moth balls - works great for skunks too. Not labeled for such in CA but oh well. I was once sitting on the couch minding my own business when my Siamese went flying by at warp 9. It was just a glimpse but I thought something was chasing him. A minute later, here he comes back the other direction at warp 9.5. Turned out he had stepped on a mouse glue trap and thought the devil himself had latched onto his foot. Took about a month before the glue was gone from between his toes.

[arctictom]

This is one advantage of living in the great white north, stray cats do not live long, so most keep their cats very close.

[MarkD]

Here's what I used when I had a similar problem with neighbor's cats years ago, doing the same thing in our rose beds (and I love cats):

Get a bunch of CHEAP mouse traps (NOT rat traps). Load them (without bait), and simply cover them with the normal tree leaves and/or bush leaves which are usually littered about the area. Even if they don't get caught by one of the traps, the snapping sound will scare the hell outta' them when triggered (I didn't say crap 'cause that's kinda' the point of the traps - to NOT have their crap in your yard).

Years ago when I had to use this technique, it worked WONDERS, and I even found one or two mouse traps out in my front yard as they escaped the mouse traps clipped onto various limbs (to be honest, I tried to lighten the snap pressure to help keep the cat from getting injured and so they could escape the traps easily) as they shook them off (I actually saw one of them flipping around all over the yard trying to escape the trap until it released - I NEVER saw that cat again).

I kept count of the traps in my planter boxes and never once lost a trap (assumingly stuck to a poor, suffering cat). I suggest you do the same thing if you choose to use this technique. This way you can say NO CATS weren't able to quickly escape the traps (really - you might want to weaken the springs depending on the cats in your area - if they're a bunch of hardy, fighting TOMS, document it as such and leave the springs alone (as long they wouldn't cause damage to your own finger). After all, what you're after is enough snap to scare the crap outta' them (on their owner's property) so they don't want to trespass on your property anymore, and NOT to hurt them. Remember, I love cats, and I'd prefer you not hurt one of my favorite predators (yet I recognize they CAN be a problem/nuisance).

The results of MY using this technique were quite dramatic. The cats IMMEDIATELY stopped using our rose beds as a cat box. I also made sure to keep the rose bed covered in old rose leaves, so they would have NO idea if a trap lurked underneath!

I hope you're as successful as I was in creating your "cat-friendly" cat-box deterrent!

Good luck!

I've heard similar methods of keeping cats off indoor areas where they're not welcome, set mouse traps and cover with a piece of thick paper. Paper will keep feline appendages from getting caught in traps, but noise and motion will startle kitties and make them decide to go elsewhere.

Cayenne and/or plain old black pepper are also supposed to work well.

How about motion-sensing sprinklers?

:jacked:

I'm a long-time cat lover, and while I'm currently catless I've had as many as three at once. I've never allowed my cats outside without human supervision, and don't really understand cat people who do.

I'd never harm an animal for doing what animals do, cat dig holes to crap in, that's what they do, they just need to be taught that my flowerbed isn't an acceptable place to do so. Personally, I'd have a talk with the neighbors. If they're not sensible, then start making "official" noises, perhaps thru animal control.

[Greg]

I'm a long-time cat lover, and while I'm currently catless I've had as many as three at once. I've never allowed my cats outside without human supervision, and don't really understand cat people who do.

Same here. I've always liked cats, we generally always had at least one, but they were always indoor cats. IMO people with pet cats (as opposed to barn cats, those are *supposed* to live outside for a reason) who let them out are idiots- you're endangering your pet's life, opening a highway into your home for parasites and disease, and for what? Because you have some fetish that it's more "natural" for the cat?

I'd never harm an animal for doing what animals do, cat dig holes to crap in, that's what they do, they just need to be taught that my flowerbed isn't an acceptable place to do so. Personally, I'd have a talk with the neighbors. If they're not sensible, then start making "official" noises, perhaps thru animal control.

That's a fine policy and I try to abide by it as well, live and let live. But a hazard is still a hazard- forex, a squirrel or raccoon that gets in the attic may just be doing what animals do but they still need to be killed. A responsible person tries to avoid that kind of situation, but if it can't be avoided you do what you need to do.

So trying to 'discourage' the cats from doing nasty business on your property or getting the owner to intervene is responsible, but if neither of those works- then yeah I could see the merits of permanent removal.

[Highspeed]

IMO people with pet cats (as opposed to barn cats, those are *supposed* to live outside for a reason) who let them out are idiots- you're endangering your pet's life, opening a highway into your home for parasites and disease, and for what? Because you have some fetish that it's more "natural" for the cat?

Depends where you live I reckon. Out here in the boonies our cats go where they please.

We did permanently remove a local feral female who was spitting out kittens left right and centre, but that was done by trapping her, getting her neutered and then re-releasing her 20 miles away.

Anyone who might be thinking of killing a pet cat should ask themselves if they are ready to cope with the consequences if they get caught. One guy back in England who poisoned three of our cats found out the hard way that certain individuals take the law into their own hands when that kind of thing happens. As of last year ( just before we emigrated ) he'd still cross the street when he saw me coming - 15 years after the original run of bad luck he had, what with his car exploding for no reason and his jaw getting broken.

[arctictom]

Highspeed , in that same vein , here some sled dogs are like prize horses and quite expensive 10k or more for a proven race dog, so when dogs get poisoned or shot, the offenders some times go missing or have bad accidents.