new nieghbor..cat pooh problem

[KJ1]

Hello all,

Well, my sod is up and taking well. I had the rest of my back yard hydroseeded, and that is a wait-and-see. I say all of this to say that when I went out to water the grass yesterday, I saw cat pooh on the grass. Yuk! My dad said, speak to the owner of the house that the cats are from, but I am not sure who's house it is.

I am trying to find out if there is something that will repel the cats from my yard, some chemical or something besides a privacy fence.

I am already on the lookout to find who's cat it is, but I get the feeling that he/she won't stop letting the cats out. They tend to come out in a group.

Also, I have deer footprints in my backyard everyday, I have never seen the deer, but the lawn guy keeps pointing it out to me. I can't tell for sure if the 'pooh' is from the deer or the cats (another reason I waited on talking to the neighbor) but judging from size alone, I am guessing cats, so if there are any suggestions on reasonable ways to make the deer stay away, please let me know.

Thanks in advance for all suggestions.

God bless, KJ

[KLM]

I remember coming across a pet repellant based on a garden water sprinkler that is activated by a"pet sized" motion detector. Quite a few pets and wild animals do love water so it might not be that effective. Do a search on the Web.

Hideocams and video recording equipment are very affordable and easy to set up for automatic home surveillance these days. A videotape of the particular cat doing its toilet on your lawn will be irrefutable evidence to identify its owner and let you do your diplomacy.

[Doug Kanter]

Deer crap is usually piles of round stuff, not long like a cat's. Good luck keeping deer away. Plant catalogs (and people here) may be able to suggest certain plants that keep them away, but for many people, a tall fence is the only thing that works.

Cats are often another story. Mine was an outdoor cat. She rarely, if ever used the litter box inside. She chose a couple of out of the way spots around the shrubs and buried it so well that it was never a problem. I guess I was lucky. But, two neighbors' cats weren't as cooperative, at least initially. It took a while to train them to avoid my yard. I did it by stationing myself comfortably in the yard with a lawn chair, a book, and one of those super-soaker water toys - the kind that'll spray 30-40 feet. When the cats arrived, they got splattered. Frankly, I didn't think it would work, but after a few days of this treatment, the cats stopped jumping over the fence.

Be glad you're not dealing with dogs. Because they're so intensely stupid, they learn where you don't want them and then go there repeatedly, until you're forced to take drastic measures.

[Jim Yanik]

"KJ1" wrote in news:jfednTJh [e-mail]:

Interesting,most cats bury their poop. That's why they head for the gardens (or sandbox);all that loose soil! ;-)

[Doug Kanter]

I wonder if perhaps he's dealing with a small dog, not a cat. Small dogs are the worst.

[m Ransley]

probably a racoon

[Julie]

"KJ1" wrote

Cats roam. Cats love to climb and jump over fences.

Cats hate water sprayed at them. Cats hate citrus smells. Cats do learn!

Poo == fertilizer.

JSH

[Joseph Meehan]

Since you have not seen any cats and you don't know cat dung from deer dung, I suggest it could be from any of at least a hundred different animals that you have not seen.

Good news is that if it is a domestic cat, it is highly unlikely they will be leaving you any more once the grass starts to grow. They like soft dirt. They also tend to bury their dung so it would seem unlikely that is is a cat. I would suggest dog or wild animal, like rabbit, fox, etc.

[Doug Kanter]

If you cut your lawn correctly, it'll be high enough to hide the poo and you will step in it. Poo on your carpet is not fertilizer. Poo on your car rugs is not fertilizer. Please don't spread this lie. It makes people think it's OK for the neighbor's dog to foul everyone's property.

[RMS]

You might try sprinkling a few drops of cheap perfume around where you don't want the animals to be. The cheaper the better. (Try the dollar store). Most animals (both wild and domestic) can't stand the smell of it and will head the other way when they get a whiff of it. Don't go nuts with it. Just a drop every foot or so where you don't want them. Most humans can't smell it after an hour or so, but animals with their acute sense of smell will (depending on the species) smell it for weeks. A fair size bottle should last through the entire summer season and beyond.

HTH RMS

[Texas Yankee]

For the cats, I'd use a "Have-a-Heart" trap - you can usually borrow them from the local animal control folks - they'll pick up the captured cats and take care of them - in a humane manner.

You also mentioned deer- it sounds weird, but my sister has had excellent results with using small bags of human hair (from the barber shop, etc.) placed on the ground around the area where they're eating your stuff - shaved Ivory soap also repels them very well.

If you like venison, there are other solutions . . .

[xrongor]

pepper works too. and its not very expensive. and its not toxic. dollar store is a good place for this too.

buy a big cheap container and sprinkle it around.

randy

[Eric Tonks]

Racoons usually like to do it on your doorstep or on the roof. They have no taste.

[Charles Spitzer]

they taste pretty good

[SteveB]

Fi-shock.

[Tom Miller]

Yup. I've never seen a cat pooping out in the yard. In my yard, the poop is skunks, raccoons, woodchucks and the occasional opossum.

Oh, yeah, and the guy from a block over and two blocks down who "forgets" to pick up after his dog. I know who you are, you lazy s*****ad, and the day I catch Rover in the act, you'll be wearing it.

[Tom Miller]

It's not even fertilizer. It's much too strong to be used as fertilizer and it kills plants. Feces from carnivores such as dogs and cats should never be used as fertilizer unless it is heavily processed

-- a novelty like "ZooDoo" say. Even dung from herbivores such as cattle and horses needs to be dried for some time and mixed with plant material before using as fertilizer, or at the very least it needs to be plowed in.

[dbird]

get some have a hart metal trap cages.. bait them and the cats will be caught.. then take them to the next town and let them go... bet they will not come back.....if might take a while, but in time they will be gone.... unless an old lady in the neighborhood starts feeding them, then you will never get rid of them until she passes on and they no longer have a place to eat...

[Curt Martin]

[HA HA Budys Here]

True... hence I have to sift all my compost before use...