Grow Your Own Magazine

I have just read an article about the demise of birds within the garden. Well I know why around my area it is Cats. There is over 15 of them, all fighting for territory and seems sometimes my garden is the focus.

The problem I have though is not the Cats as I like them, but its the owners. just counted how many passed through the garden this morning. 8 all trying to do their business among my herb raised bed, so much for smells putting the off. But taking all the cats in question and their owners there is a glaring commonality to it all.

'THEY HAVE ALL GONE TO WORK!!!!!!!'

So where does looking after them come into the question, where is the duty of care, it seems my garden has become a cat creche.

I think it is time to be tough, make cat owners follow their cats and pick up their mess just like dog owners have to. Lets have fairness, also you can not own a cat if they are to be left alone for anything longer than 2 hours. 1 hour if left outside, radical I know but I have had enough of Cat poo and dead birds.

Wow, I have said it and I should be feeling better, but I do not as I still can not do anything about it all!

NOTE: Oh by the way, I have tried all sorts from sirens, secret alarms, bottles of water, mirrors, cat mint (Which they dug up) and water pistols (They thought I was playing and started coming back for more). Also I do not want a dog!

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Have you tried lion dung pellets? Apparently they are great cat repellents (repellants? sp??). I have a cat, and he seems to know very well which one is our garden, and he happily sits in there when its nice and sunny, and I have put two bells on his collar, as I do not like the sight of dead birds and mice, but I agree with you, owners should take responsibility for them in regards to wildlife and other people's gardens. However cats are not like dogs as they are able to go on walks on their own where and when they please. Remember dogs have owners and cats have staff!

Just checked the Lion Poo, had to laugh at what they have to sell it as 'Manure'...

I wonder if they are fed 'Garden Cats' perfect recycling then, Only kidding .

I have a neighbour who takes hers for a walk with a lead as she is a twitcher. What a predicament she is in!

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Feral cats are a real menace down here and having cats neutered just doesn't seem to enter some people's heads.

Our three old dears are too old and slow to knock off the dicky birds but I do get the odd present of a dead vole or mouse - they don't chew them up, just one bite and voila, dead mouse.

And we're fortunate, Sam does his business in the next field and the girls use their indoor en-suite, tho they both pee outside.

When the decline in sparrows became apparent a few years ago, there was a joke about it in the Guardian. Man says to his cat 'Sparrows are on the decline' and the cat replies 'Stay there a minute, I'll go and get you a couple'.

Cats kill birds but not to the extent that they would decimate the population. It's also about real urban sprawl, a UK government that designates areas of natural beuty and then lets them be used for more houses and retails parks - now that's the real enemy, not the moggies.

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

Geo.....................................

Absolutely!!!

eco-town « The Rob Blog

There are plenty of cats in my street including a few ferals. They keep clear of our garden mainly because of AlphaMoggy himself, who lives with us and rules the garden (mainly from a sunny spot in the long grasses).

So to keep cats out... get a cat?

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You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
Max Ehrmann, Desiderata

blog: http://allyheebiejeebie.blogspot.com/ and my (basic!) page: http://www.allythegardener.co.uk/

I have a cat who stays in the house but I had problems with neighbours cats until the neighbours thankfully moved away. I have now had the boundary built high so my cat can have run of yard and to help keep other people's cats/other people! out.

I hope you find a solution - loved the cartoon though Geo

I know how you feel Dale, have just cleaned up 5 cat poos from my flower boaders and 2 from my lawn(?) - whatever happened to cats burying their mess, the ones round here seem to be in competition.
The only thing I have found that works for any length of time is the lion dung thing, used it last summer and it was great, stopped the cat poo totally. Obviously over the winter it has worn away and it's time for another appilcation.

Wasn't there another post somewhere about using dead cats in your bean trench?
I wonder.......

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

get an air rifle. Cats are not protected by law. As long as you kill them cleanly.
Alternatively do as I do and sneak up on them and scare them away. They become paranoid if you do:-)

The most dominant cat leaves its poo as a beacon to other moggies.

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You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
Max Ehrmann, Desiderata

blog: http://allyheebiejeebie.blogspot.com/ and my (basic!) page: http://www.allythegardener.co.uk/

You need to be aware that cats are free to roam and are protected by law.

Cat owners cannot be sued for damages; it is an offence to steal a cat; it is an offence to harm or terrify a cat; it is also an offence to put down snares or poison or an unlicensed deterrent.

And as for shooting them with a airifle...you are out of order

Geo..

Totally unacceptable statement, I would have no qualms about taking an air rifle from someone who has just shot a cat and then using it on them!

Falling bird populations are in no small part due to the declining hedge row environment and the use and abuse of pesticides, especially slug pellets.

rant over.

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My Blog is here.../

I feel like shooting the cats round here, fed up of cleaning up their stinking poo and of them digging up my seedlings.

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

I have 3 cats (currently) of my own and have ALWAYS maintained a litter tray indoors for their use.

This minimises the outdoor use of neighbours' toilet facilities - although I'm not dumb enough to assume they never have a call of nature when doing their rounds. It also enables me to keep a check on gut-borne parasites and urinary tract infections and treat at the earliest opportunity.

The most likely form of marking will be by the boys - who neutered or not - will spray to mark their territory!

My best advice would be to get that 'scaredy cat' plant or some of the other suggestions mentioned above.

The only 'shooting' I would condone would be to have a number of WUL bottles full of water and handy about the garden to soak the boogers should they try and soil your territory. One of those 'soaker' guns would be fantastic! This is a humane method but will render the offending cats quite crestfallen and somewhat damp!

Just another extra comment - we are fairly rural here and we often get fouls left on the surface of garden and walkways. Most of the time it is not cats but the 'leavings' of badgers and foxes. There is also the curse of dog owners who do not think twice about letting their pooches foul someone else's doorstep and are 'bereft' of any means to clear up.

I love cats. I have never fired an airgun or any gun .. at any animal...

But cats and birds = :-((

My friends young cat came home with a detached retina and lost his eye because of a severe blow to the head. The vet said it could not have been an accident, there were no other injuries and from the position of the blow, it could not have been caused by a fall. He was always friendly to strangers, but is now very shy. Whatever he was up to or wherever he was, he did not deserve this treatment. I know cats can be a nuisance, but there are humane deterrants. It is never right to mistreat any animal.

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I could not live without a garden, it is my place to unwind and recover, to marvel at the power of all growing things, even weeds!

http://potagerplot.blogspot.com/