How to keep cats away? (Full Version)

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fiery -> How to keep cats away? (5/24/2009 12:44:41 PM)

Any ideas? We have too many around here just now in our neighborhood and it's getting on my nerves. You can't even out the trash out the night before without them getting into it. I've tried sprinkling the bags with pepper but that only works if it doesn't rain. So now I have to get up at the crack of dawn to try time it right to put it out so they don't have time to get at it before the pick up comes. 



Laurie1956 -> RE: How to keep cats away? (5/24/2009 9:18:14 PM)

Cats who get into garbage are, as a rule, HUNGRY.  I can only assume these are stray or even feral cats.  The only way to keep them away is to work with a local animal shelter or vet on "spay and release" programs and work to promote spaying and neutering in general.  Neutered feral cats are sometimes accepted into barns where they are at least fed and have a warm place out of the weather.

Eventually (sad but true) the foxes, fishers and coyotes will get the cats if they're outside at night, anyway. 



ChristineB -> RE: How to keep cats away? (5/25/2009 5:18:29 PM)

Yes, that is sad...but also true in my neigborhood.  I feel bad for any cat that is left outside.  The people that do this should face fines, or at least some sort of penalty...it is cruel.



dianerene -> RE: How to keep cats away? (5/26/2009 1:15:29 PM)

not sure.  my cat is how we keep other cats out of our area - he is like a guard dog.  in fact, there is a bowl of food out on the back porch that he REFUSES to eat, but he got into a scrap with another cat at 2am because the other cat wanted it.



fiery -> RE: How to keep cats away? (5/30/2009 9:35:10 PM)

Well I found out just the other day from our policeman neighbor that cats are actually meant to be kept indoors around here or if they're out they need to be on a leash, same as the dogs. These ones belong to people around here but they don't take care of them. They're probably closer to feral than not.

They already let their cat have a litter. The cat hid them in a tree stump and a possum got them all. Then the cat gets pregnant again and had six and these are now big enough to be joining the other couple of neighborhood ones in foraging. It's a shame but I hate having to clean up all the time. Animal control is around here every few days so it's not like they don't patrol the area. And these owners are not the type you could reason with. [X(] I don't know what else to do than what I'm doing. 



fiery -> RE: How to keep cats away? (5/31/2009 1:23:14 PM)

Guess what, I read an article that said you can sprinkle used coffee grinds around to keep them away. I'm going to test that out since that's something we always have plenty of around here! 



dianerene -> RE: How to keep cats away? (6/1/2009 11:05:09 AM)

my mom says that spraying vinegar works too - the cats think another cat has left their mark.  I thought that only worked with male cats though, but who knows?  another neighbor gave me some not so humane advice as well, but I will keep that piece of information to myself ... it did make me think back to when we moved here and my cat was found dead in another neighbor's garden ... nah, wasn't him.

here we let cats roam freely in the neighborhood. it actually works to our benefit because we are on old dairy property and there are still lots of field mice running around ... the cats take care of them, and the pigeons, and well ... the lizards too.  I cannot tell you about all of the gifts I have found on my front door over the last 10 years!



fiery -> RE: How to keep cats away? (6/3/2009 5:43:11 PM)

Vinegar eh? That's interesting...never heard that before. It's something I buy in the big bottles too so I nearly always have that.  I'll try that too after I experiment with the coffee grounds. I grudge using them because they're really good for the soil if you're a gardener. Tell your mom thanks please! :)

We get plenty of predators as it is with being so rural to keep down the mice and such. I've only seen one mouse here in over a year. You can always hear something scurrying around at night whether it's the possums or raccoons. You can look up almost anytime of the day and see hawks and eagles overhead and also hear the owls at night. We also have wild turkey that wander into the yards occasionally from the forest. In fact when we first moved here we were warned in all seriousness to be careful with our small dogs because of the eagles.



dianerene -> RE: How to keep cats away? (6/4/2009 11:44:20 AM)

sounds awesome, though it's only in theory for me.  I am not a fan of creatures unless I can look at them from afar - lol.

our area is was once like yours - dairies were the only things here and the rest was surrounded by wild life.  sadly, the new housing has pushed all the wildlife up into the hills and once in a while they come out looking for food - too many animals in too small a space.  we do see bats in the evenings and owls ... we even have some water birds that stray too far from the dam ... it's kind of cool when the situation arises, but it's nice that it can be kept at a distance for me.



fiery -> RE: How to keep cats away? (7/11/2009 2:35:12 PM)

Well I finally got the vinegar and will be trying that out. The other morning I got up and the sunroom was stinking! A cat had sprayed or peed around the front door and the smell had seeped in there with it being the first room the door leads into. What a stench! I had to get out the bleach and stuff to get rid of it. [>:]And all this was at 4am because I couldn't sleep with being so stuffed up with allergies. I was not amused.





fiery -> RE: How to keep cats away? (9/13/2009 12:37:58 PM)

I tried the vinegar and it worked a treat diane! I've not had any problems since. It's a bit strong at first but that fades. I haven't had a decent rain in weeks so not needed to replace it since I put it down. 



dianerene -> RE: How to keep cats away? (9/13/2009 10:26:10 PM)

wonderful!!  glad it helped [:D]



ChristineB -> RE: How to keep cats away? (9/14/2009 8:09:40 AM)

Wow, great idea!  I've never heard of that, glad it worked!  [:)]



piglover96 -> RE: How to keep cats away? (1/7/2010 3:20:44 PM)

get a cat killing dog



fiery -> RE: How to keep cats away? (1/8/2010 10:56:18 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: piglover96

get a cat killing dog


I beg your pardon? Thought you were supposed to be an animal lover too! [X(] I would never do something like that. I sincerely hope that was supposed to be a joke.



Thelma -> RE: How to keep cats away? (1/9/2010 1:59:01 PM)

Glad the vinegar worked for you Fiery.  I'll have to remember that if I ever have a cat problem.  My cat is an indoors cat but we live in farm country so there are strays now and again. 

I don't understand why some pet owners are so irresponsible. [>:]  There is a woman down the road a piece that lets her cat have litter after litter of kittens.  They are always getting killed in the road and it's so sad.  Some of the neighbors have picked one or more up and adopted them and then the cat owner gets mad.  That's what she gets for leaving them run around to be killed by cars and predators!



ChristineB -> RE: How to keep cats away? (1/10/2010 3:56:41 PM)

That is sad, what is wrong with people?  Aren't there laws against things like that?



fiery -> RE: How to keep cats away? (1/10/2010 5:18:25 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Thelma

Glad the vinegar worked for you Fiery.  I'll have to remember that if I ever have a cat problem.  My cat is an indoors cat but we live in farm country so there are strays now and again. 

I don't understand why some pet owners are so irresponsible. [>:]  There is a woman down the road a piece that lets her cat have litter after litter of kittens.  They are always getting killed in the road and it's so sad.  Some of the neighbors have picked one or more up and adopted them and then the cat owner gets mad.  That's what she gets for leaving them run around to be killed by cars and predators!



I had a neighbor that did that. She took in a stray, let it have a litter that it hid in a tree stump and a possum got them all overnight. Then she let it have another litter and every one of them got killed too eventually either by cars or animals. Thankfully she's now moved but it was awful for a while because the cats were everywhere, ripping open trash and getting our dogs and another neighbor's dogs riled up because they kept seeing them. I don't get how people have no conscience about killing animals because essentially it was their lack of care that did it.



piglover96 -> RE: How to keep cats away? (1/12/2010 3:08:38 PM)

sorry i was kidding



ChristineB -> RE: How to keep cats away? (1/13/2010 10:51:36 AM)

ouch



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