Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: Sparky on February 27, 2004, 14:33:18
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Just went down to lottie to admire my hard work and found a couple of my onions had been lifted and a pile of cat muck was in their place!!! Anyone got any suggestions of how to keep cats off as I haven't got the strongest of stomachs when it comes to cat nuts first thing in the morning!!! :P
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(http://www.btinternet.com/~heliosgallery/allotment/stick.JPG)
just give me a minute to finish this stick and ill give all those pesky cats something to worrie about. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
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Cats, grr. I have a lot of trouble with them. I cannot leave any ground uncovered. If it's not in use, I put landscape fabric or old bamboo screen over it. Any bare bits between plants have woody prunings scattered over them. I save all my prunings. thorny ones are especially good! I've heard it's good to poke them into the ground, but you need an awful lot, and if cats can dig up onions, I don't see why they can't dig up sticks. Also I leave plastic bottles half filled with water around. Doesn't look very pretty, but it's better than cat pooh!
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Sure it's cats and not foxes? We get little stinky piles, and I know it is our fox now as I am seen the s*d in action! However, I am not sticking up for cats, loathe them with a passion as the neighbourhood ones used to use my back garden as a public loo until I had chased, shoulted, lobbed things, and complained to all the neighbours about them, but now, and just let me catch on :o now they are stalking my starlings that nest every year in my roof! The first year here I had to deal with a nest full of blue tits being destroyed by our neighbours cat. I don't normally feed the birds because of this, but when the weather is this cold, and they have finally stripped all of the berries from the various bushes, I do chuck out the kids crusts, and the kids make fat feeders. Okay, clambering back down of my soap box now. :-/
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Now now folks. Some people here actualy like cats on here you know! ;)
That said it is not pleasant to find cat doings in the wrong place. However much i love them
I actualy have on the whole a quite amicable garden share agreement with my cat, and when she deigns to join me out there the company is nice.
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I appreciate that Richard, just venting my feelings about them. I have a similar attitude to people who let their dogs relieve themselves on the pavement, and then leave it there for my daughter to tread in on her way home from school! A few spoil it for the majority, but then aint that always the way!
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Don't get me started on cats and gardens!
When we moved into our house we soon realised that the 4 cats next door used our garden as a toilet. Horrible to be scanning the ground everywhere you walk- impossible to enjoy the garden. I have tried everything, but I'm afraid there is no one universal solution and generally the more effective the solution, the more expensive or unsightly it is. Have a look on the internet and you'll see various tactics such as:
- keeping a water pistol handy (not effective unless you're prepared to mount a 24/7 watch with night vision goggles)
- scattering chilli powder/pepper/citrus peel (might be effective for a few days until the rain washes it away or the cats overcome their aversion)
- ultrasonic devices (too expensive and by no means guaranteed to work, especially on deaf cats!)
- physical barriers such as prickly leaves, sharp sticks (look too messy and again not always effective)
I have tried everything! Once I covered an empty border with netting and the cat just crapped on top of the netting without even trying to dig! I have seen them walk painfully amongst holly leaves and sharp kebab sticks just to find that small patch of uncovered earth!
It seems to be accepted wisdom that as long as you make an area unattractive to cats for a short while, then they learn never to return--no true! You can regularly cover soil with curry powder, but the week you forget or one downpour and the cats arrive.
Many people say that the answer is to get your own cat as they don't crap in their own territory and stop other cats from doing so...not true! After a couple of years at the house, we got our own cat (not my choice!) but I was hoping at least it would stop the crap...oh but no...now we have 4 cats nextdoor AND our cat crapping in our garden!! He doesn't seem to understand it's his territory- maybe because the dense cat population makes it impossible for a cat to have a single garden as his own territory.
Anyway, have decided that the only hope is to simply have no bare soil accessible- so am starting to cover borders with evergreen ground cover and have any veg in raised beds, with a criss-cross of black fishing line strung tightly a few inches above the soil level- seems to be working so far. As for having any gravel in the garden...forget it!
perhaps those with larger gardens could give a small corner at the back over to the cats- leave some bare earth and plant some catmint to attract them?
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must admit l hate cats ever since l told the neighbour about her cats using my garden to relieve themselves and got the answer that they use my garden because l keep it so nice and if l did not dig it l would not encourage them to make thier visits. Anyway that put to oneside l have found the best thing to use is mothballs, this seems to work very well for me. :-*
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I sympathise Ross, I really do. Ava and I keep cat watch (sad but true) and if we see one in the garden we RUN down the garden chasing it out. Loud clapping of hands, shouting and general rage seems to have almost done the trick, altho they do still prowl when the birds are feeding on the lawn. Our immediate neighbours are aware of our dislike of cats and actually don't mind us chasing them out, but these people treat their cats like children , not the animals they are. :o
Wow, back off soap box again, staggers after the rage, needs nice cup of tea to calm down.
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Oh EJ, really sympathise, I do but have to admit being converted cat lover. However, ross's water pistol idea is one of the best, after a while they don't come back, hate getting wet. Garlic powder works like chilli powder too but, like ross said, once it rains have to start over again. Used the water method with cats who thought they could join in with my two, soon got the message!
Best of luck, not fun I do know >:(
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My turn on the soap box.
This issue is not about liking or not liking cats at all. It's about being burdened by other people's cats ruining your garden. The owners of these cats enjoy their pets but are not bothered enough by the nuisance other people have to suffer for their pleasure. This is not right, no matter which way you look at it. It is anti-social to cause your neighbors problems so you can have your pleasure.
Ps. Minerva, I like your solution as long as the dog doesn't cr*p on the sidewalk hahaha
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I remember watching a programme about the strange things gardeners do a few years ago, and one bloke had rigged up a couple of hosepipes aimed at various places in the garden, which were triggered by motion detectors to spray water at anything cat sized that moved!
And they tested this contraption on their poor pet bunny!!!!!
Ten x
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Motion triggered sprinklers are used here not only against cats but also against herons that steal expensive fish out of people's ponds. They are rather expensive tho'.
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I remember seeing that Ten. Our neighbour has one of those sonic type jobbees, but I don't think it is working, I still see him chasing cats out of the garden.
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I used the children to get rid of the cats from our garden! Everytime they saw one they used to race outside "barking" ferociously! I think the cats really believed we had a nasty dog in situ! Has anyone tried the bottled water thing? You fill large glass jars with coloured water, and place them where the cats go......apparently they see their reflection in the jar and run! (never used it myself as I never thought it would work) but when we were overseas you would often see lawns and beds with them in!
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that's part of the reason my cats don't go out, don't see why i should impose them on other people. they do have the run of my yard supervised and have never even considered messing anywhere other than their litter tray ;D
the only thing i know if that really works to keep cats away isn't very lottie friendly, and that is jeyes fluid.... they can't stand it. also a bucket of water on their head from a great height also puts them off - perhaps see ceri about a scaffold tower to implement that one!
orange peel is dubious, mine play with it.
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Cats are quite terratorial and if they have the scent of a big tom cat around they tend not to go there..... So if you have a zoo nearby see if you can get some BIG CAT urine or droppings. Boy will that scare the pants off them ;D
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another deterrent apparently is a new annual, the name of which has disappeared from my head for this moment, which cats hate - might be worth trying. My next door neighour's cat used to disappear into the garden at the back - full of trees. A new person moved into this house late last year, cut down all the trees and threw down loads of slug pellets (in December in a garden with only lawn and no plants at all once the trees had gone) promptly killing next door's cat. Methinks not a neighbour to invite to the barbecues this summer
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A couple of saucers of creasote seems to work they do not like the smell
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ceri,
I believe the plant you're thinking of is 'coleus canina'. I tried it last year and it certainly wasn't 100% - it helped keep them off the borders but don't know whether this was due to the smell or the fact it was good ground cover. I had one in a pot near the back of the garden and found crap next to it! Quite a nice looking plant but it doesn't really get to a decent size until May/June and is then killed off by the first hard frost in autumn. won't be bothering with it this year.
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re: leaving jars or bottles around- have not tried this because it would look pretty untidy, but have heard various theories as to why it might work- some say due to reflection, some say it's to do with magnetic fields, others say that cats instinctively don't mess near potential sources of drinking water.
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I've also tried Coleus Canina, with limited success. We have two cats and they do use the garden as a toilet. Mind you, i've been redesigning the whole area so there has been a large expanse of bare soil over the winter. Trouble is, there are three other cats in the neighbourhood and I know that one in particular uses our garden as a kitty-bathroom. Evil, ugly thing it is too. Our cats are too scared of it though, having been rescued from particularly appalling conditions three years ago. They're getting better, but timid still around other animals.
There is only one solution that I know of, and it's certainly not practical! A good friend of mine used to keep a Bengal Eagle Owl in the garden. She had an enormous aviary overlooking the rear entrance... the only true way in. No matter how cocky the cat was, one snap of the beak and a hiss and flapping of wings scared the cats away for good!
I'm going to try to use sharp edged pebbles/stones as a cover in parts of my garden this year. I read somewhere that cats don't like the feel of the sharp stones under their feet. Pea gravel didn't work for me, but bark chippings were surprisingly good.
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oooooo yeah, can vouch for the sharp gravel. We had a load put down the side of our house and some folks said that the cats would fill it with poop, but they don't, not ever. It is sharp though, I can't walk on it bare foot.
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;)Well Ina, minnie is such a good girl down the lotty and stays off everyones plots, she does do her buisness down there but being a good owner i have these doggie bags attached to the lead that i have to pick it up with, i hate doing it i even use nappie sacks as they have a strong smell, but it is a totally crappy part of dog ownership that just has to be done. (can't say cat owners ever do this!)
She does however absolutly hate cats and goes completly ballistic whenever she sees one she has even chased one strait into someones cat flap acommpanied with high pitched howling its actually a bit of a problem and we have to watch her when shes off the lead near houses, or we will end up in big trouble.
she also hates squirrels, as does my dad, he has bought an air rifle which he shoots at a big bit of tin evertime he sees cats or squirrels in his garden, seems to work? good job hes got no neibours, can't see the powers that be going for that down the lotty, the might thing the locals have finally turned on the tourists?
sam
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I hade a problem with my next door nighbours 5 cats, this was at home in my back garden.
They kept digging up my small plants.
I stopped them with electric fencing, I zigzagged the wire across my garden, so the wire was just off the ground, so as they stooped to do their poops.-----. :o They don’t come in my garden any more.
The electric fencing I am on about is the sort farmers use to keep there stock in fields.
I assure you no cats were harmed with this method.
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Jug of water with sugar in it.....if you can get close enough, when the water dries off their fur the sugar goes hard, they WILL NOT be back yo defocate your site then, I am an animal lover , but when it comes to pulling itty bitty poo from between the seedlings , GOD it makes me angry!!!!! I feel a lot better now........ :'(
Rob :'(
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Creosoted the back fence at the weekend and next doors cats were walking along the top before it had barely dried!
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ok how to get rid of cat
get a big dog - when said cat appears let out dog
cat runs away like mad
if you want to do a good job sugests greyhound cat will be to knackered to come back ;D
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i own 2 dogs and a cat , never had any problems with the cat she goes next to rail track and does what shehas to do ,so to speak . I think most of the cat around our area do they same .Never heard any comments about the cats in the area ( we have about 5 in area )
I did lose a cat we had to Creosote and possiblely another ( only found 1 cat ) both disappeared / died within a month of each other .
so far no cat activity at my plot but i am sure they must be about as it is a great place for hunting mice etc .
Our dogs likes cats
Mags