stray cats--a problem

what's a good way to deter strays cats from coming on your property

there're about 6/7 strays that cut across the back of my yard all day long it's back and forth

i can't fence the backyard in because the senior community i live in doesn't permit fences and the towns' animal control people won't round up the strays not unless they are injured

i have cat droppings all over the back i've even found droppings on one roof corner and in the rain gutter

any suggestions would be most welcomed

thanks

Reply to
xim xim
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Are you limited to using only legal methods?

Tom

Reply to
- Tom -

Try this:

Reply to
Dave Balderstone

Some cities/counties have 'cat trap cages' that you can borrow. Catch the cats in them and give the cage with the cat in it back to the animal control people.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

This is what I've learned about detering strays from asking around:

  1. I've heard citrus really deter cats. I've tested this, by tossing oranges at my cats. Now when they see me holding an orange, they run. ;) Just kidding, but serious about the citrus smells, if you can get an extract or oil and spray your yard, that should deter them from entering.

  1. Another tip, automatic water sprinklers, some come with motion sensors and spray an area down when an animal enters its zone.

  2. Live traps. If you tap the animal, you can get rid of it, and it won't return. I'm suggesting an animal shelter.

hth,

tom @

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Reply to
Tom The Great

A live animal trap baited with tuna. Then take them to the shelter. It takes time, and nerve but eventually you can catch them.

A copupleof things, catss will hunt for you, catchyour rodents and such but I do understand the thing with cat droppings.

I have two of the beasts, but I live in a VERY remote area, and they have many acres to patrol. They keep the burrowing pests (moles, voles, squirrels, rabbits and so on) from from devouring the place.

Kate

Reply to
Kate

Something I have noticed, with my own cats. Cats do NOT like onions.

Occasionally they will come looking to see if they can get a tidbit while I am cooking. I'll tell them that kittys don't like onions, and offer to let them sniff. They always scrinch up their noses and squint their eyes and back up a step or two. Maybe run some onion through your blender and mix it with water then sprinkle it out and about.

Reply to
Kate

not limited --- what are your suggestions

Reply to
xim xim

thanks for your suggestions will certainly try them out

Reply to
xim xim

How do you know they are strays? Maybe they just belong to others in your community and if so, getting the animal control people involved will really upset these other owners. I suggest you contact the other people in your community to see if they own cats and allow them to roam freely. Cats roam free in our neighbourhood and if I didn't like them I'd move into an apartment.

Reply to
Alan Illeman

As an American, firearms naturally come to mind. Stick with air rifles because actual firearms make such a distracting and alarming noise which the neighbors are not likely to care to hear. Snares? If you can manage to catch a cat it'll probably make a lot of noise. Take photographs of the trespassing cats then post public notices that you'll pay an award to someone that can tell you who the cats' owners are and can provide reasonable proof. Surely there are people that walk the area regularly and take notice of such things. I like another poster's motion detector activated water sprinkler idea. A local celebrity by the name of Harold Bailey, The Friendly Trapper, (

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, claims success keeping cats at bay by using cocoa bark mulch. At least they won't use treated areas as a litterbox.

Tom

Reply to
- Tom -

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Put out some bowls of water with antifreeze in them. Also, small chunks of sponges that have been soaked in bacon grease also works well.

Reply to
Oscar_Lives

It is the responsibility of the owner to pick up after their animals(s). I have 2 dogs and a cat. I've never just let them run loose. I don't care if you say a cat is a member of the "big cat" family and should be allowed to run free. That's a pretty lousy excuse for not policing your animal. That's what litter boxes are made for. If you're too lazy to clean out a litter box, then you don't deserve to have a cat. Someone else's lawn, plants, etc. should not have to pay for someone else's laziness.

M3CW, Hawkeye65

Reply to
The Addison's

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if you yourself are prepared to drink a bottle of antfreeze before putting some out for the cat then the above suggestion is a runner. If not, don't even consider it as a serious suggestion. Hopefully it is a joke. If you are going to kill the animal do it quickly and humanely. People who use antfreeze of cats will hopefully be kidnapped by some sadictic nutter one day and slowly tortured to death and they will then understand.

rob

Reply to
George.com

True - we have a public "stoop and scoop" policy here, for dogs, on public land.

Cats on the other hand dig a hole, do their stuff, and then bury it.

Reply to
Alan Illeman

they make a hole and bury you say. well they didn't make a hole on the corner of my roof or on top of the shed or in the rain gutter.

these stray cats at one time had owners i assume who abandoned them or who got loose. now they are multiplying and roaming free--onto my property, along the easement which runs on one side and continues out in back of my property---behind the easement the area is wooded.

Reply to
xim xim

there are 1500 homes in this community knocking on all the doors and asking the owners if they have cats on the loose is a little impractical

Reply to
xim xim

Hide in a concealed spot and shoot 'em with a BB gun. The secret is for them to be shot without seeing who.what did it. If they don't know who/what did it, they'll tend to not come around as often, or hopefully, not at all. That is what we used to do to dogs who rummaged through our trash on trash pickup mornings back home.

M2CW, Hawkeye65

Reply to
The Addison's

I use my garage very infrequently. One day I had the door open doing some cleaning ( very rare.) I closed it that night. I went into my garage about 3 weeks later and was attacked by this ape-shit crazy ( and I can only guess ) half starved cat. I called the pound and they took the animal. About 2 days later, there was this knock at my door. I opened the door and this lady was there. She had worked herself into a nice frenzy as noted by the red swollen eyes and tear streaked mascara. She launched into this verbal assault that would have made me hit her had she be male. It boiled down to me being a cruel SOB for calling the pound on 'her son's only pet!! FOR GODS SAKE!" I explained to her the cat had been caught in my garage for sometime, didn't have a collar and appeared sick. She seemed very appeased when I apologize for calling the pound and I promised her I'd never do it again. As she walked off I said " Ma'am, Next time I'll shoot the cat instead of calling the pound."

Once, one was up in a tree in my yard. NOT My Cat. I swear 25 people stopped in the space of an hour to tell me that my cat was stuck in the tree. They were pissed off when I told them cats didn't get stuck in trees. If they did we would see dead cats or bones in trees.

If you want a cat keep it inside. You let it run wild and you are guilty of mistreatment of the animal.

Just my 2 cents. Flame away. I send them to my M-I-L.

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 08:45:17 -0400, "Alan Illeman" wrote:

news: snipped-for-privacy@storefull-3138.bay.webtv.net...

Reply to
Brett Miller

A!=C Mistreatment does not come from letting an animal outside, any more than care and attentiveness comes from keeping one penned.

Reply to
CANNON-FODDER

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