Cat problem

FAJ · Enlightened One

Cat problem

Amanda · Master

Think it is best for the cat to have an escape route.

Would you be able to make the cat think your garden isn't so nice. Maybe by squirting it with a water pistol. (with neighbours consent of course) Sounds harsh but might stop it coming in and coming a cropper. Just a thought

UndercoverElephant · Master

Strangely I was in the garden center at East Fortune this morning, and they were selling "Cat Away" pellets, supposed to make your garden less enticing to cats (you'd have thought a Greyhound or two would have done that mind). Why not put these pellets along the dividing wall? Might just work.

chrissy j · Old Hand

I feed the birds in my garden which in turn attracts the cats which then turns my gang wild if they see a cat, but for some strange reason I don't see any cats in the summer when the gang are sunbathing., although a pigeon had a lucky escape last year as it landed inches from Maisie's nose.

haz25a · Old Hand

It's a difficult one. As a greyhound (cat safe) owner and the owner of three cats I can see both sides.

Obviously your dogs have the right to roam free around their own garden but its impossible to stop a cat going exactly where ever it wants!

My three cats are all outdoor cats and get chased from dogs on a regular basis but always get out of the way in time usually by jumping up on my 6ft fence! So maybe an "escape route" would be the best thing.

Occasionally neighbourhood cats wander into my garden and Kayri will chase them, again they always get away in time via the fence.

My sister is a keen gardener and not much of a cat lover. She puts orange peel around the garden to keep cats away. You could maybe try that.

Good Luck.

Hazel.x

Teresa · Enlightened One

its a tricky one this. i'm definitely not a cat person and have tried the orange peel - it does work - it's about the only thing that does work, tho they say that lion or tiger poo will work better. not yet got round to chatting to London Zoo about that!

however, we had a bit of a situation with dave and a cat last year - he caught it. the end result was much blood but i think the cat survived. we've not seen cats in our garden since then !!! i think word has got around the neighbourhood !

on a serious note, i think an escape route is favoured.

FAJ · Enlightened One

Orange peel? Gosh, I've never heard of that! We'll give it a go.

I think the neighbours cat is trying to find his feet in the neighbourhood. He was scrapping with my in-law's cat the other day - and she's a very bad tempered, massive 14-year old. Clearly this new boy hans't the sense he was born with!!

haz25a · Old Hand

Lime or lemon peel would probably be just as effective. Cats HATE citrus smells! It's often the ingredient in products to stop cats scratching the furniture etc. In fact, think I might give it a go in my house with my own cats! One of them has literally ripped the wallpaper off the wall.

Good Luck.

Hazel.xx

Off to clean up the spots of blood ALL over the house. Poor Kayri cut her paw on glass earlier. She's absolutley fine, it's only a wee cut which i've cleaned and banaged my self.

Amber · Master

No real advice, but can sympathise! We currently don't have a garden but there is an area of bushes, shrubs etc. belonging to our property to the front, and this seems to be a popular 'toilet' for the neighbourhood cats. For the past 2 days a young looking black cat has been lurking outside our house and in the bushes and one day a while ago I opened the front door with mine on leads to go out and a cat jumped down off our front step. Thankfully mine were a bit too surprised to react very quickly!!

Sorry but I won't be muzzling my dogs on my own property to get into my own car, on my own driveway, outside my own front door! I'm afraid if these cats don't learn fast to stay clear of territories that are 'owned' by greyhounds then tough luck.

Hope you can find a solution but IMO the best solution would be for your neighbours to be more responsible and keep the cat in their own property.

Whenever I see a cat lurking about near my front door, I rush out and frighten it off now! i.e. clap my hands, chase it, shoo it away - I would rather it learnt to stay away, but obviously this is very difficult to achieve once they have started using your garden area as a toilet. But maybe actively discouraging it from entering your garden whenever you can get out there without the dogs in tow might help a bit too.

-- Edited by Amber at 00:23, 2006-04-18

max · Enlightened One

When I had cats they used to be a bit of a nuisance to my neighbours garden so I bought her some Cat Mint, it is a plant that you can put on your garden or a pot and it deters cats from your garden. You could maybe try that.

Nora

Jennifer · Big Cheese

Amber wrote:

IMO the best solution would be for your neighbours to be more responsible and keep the cat in their own property.

I'd like to know how you suggest they do this?

FAJ · Enlightened One

The cat is clearly bonkers. He actually ran across the back wall from the safety of his own garden to our garden so he could watch Harry having a widdle!!! Thankfully Harry was facing the other way.

We've planted a couple of russian vines and some ivy to grow up the fence to make more of a screen so the dogs can't feverishly peer through to spot the cat. That might help a little bit. The neighbours are aware of the problem but it's difficult for them too - in truth, what can they do about it? Not much.

MojoTilly · Master

What a stupid cat?!!!! You'd think that they would learn that there's greyhounds in your garden and that they should avoid it at all costs. We havent had many cats in our garden since we got Tilly in February but those who do tend to leave fairly quickly when Tilly chases them. Thankfully she hasn't followed any of them over the fence yet!

Calatria · Master

I'm not a cat person either, and really can't believe how stupid the cats are around here. They must be aware there are dogs on the premises, but still they come into our back yard. Mostly they sit on the shed roof and do the feline equivalent of "na na na na na!" to the dogs who are leaping about in a frenzy a few feet beneath them, but I worry that one of these days something bad will happen - like the shed roof being slippier than the cat anticipated.

I always check the yard before letting the dogs out, but the cats often appear whilst the dogs are out there. Fiona's right, though, there isn't much cat owners can do about it.

Amber · Master

Well plenty of cats are indoor cats, or are taken out in their garden on harnesses and leads to give them outdoor exercise. I know lots of people will say, that's not natural, cats need to roam etc. but what they don't seem to realise is that it is natural for predators to kill their pets if they allow them to roam unsupervised.

One of our family cats was killed on the road when I was a teenager (I found him and scraped him off the road); if you have an outdoor cat, think you need to be realistic about the fact that it may come to a sticky end! So logically speaking, if you really care about your cat, keep it indoors, JMHO. You wouldn't let your greyhound out to wander around the streets by itself, so why is it not obvious that a cat doing this is quite likely to meet an accident of some sort?

The other problem is that some cats are quite territorial and will not be deterred by cat hating dogs in gardens if they have already got into the habit of toileting in that area.

JENNY · Big Cheese

I am a cat lover as well as a greyhound owner so I can see both sides. Personally I wouldn't let my cat out at all as they are in danger especially in a city. However a lot of people feel this isn't fair

A woman down the street from me feeds ferral cats in her back yard and they roam through all the gardens regularly (about 6 of them). Vernon has chased one a couple of times but not caught it.
Personally I think that so long as your neighbours are aware that your dogs could kill the cat if they catch it then it is up to them to make the decision about its safety. It will probably take something to scare the cat before it gets the message that it is a dangerous place to be. Maybe you could get one of those super soaker water guns and blast it with water!

FAJ · Enlightened One

Amber wrote:

The other problem is that some cats are quite territorial and will not be deterred by cat hating dogs in gardens if they have already got into the habit of toileting in that area.

Thankfully he isn't toileting in the garden. Not that I've seen, anyway! My neighbour thinks that her cat might be learning because yesterday he was watching the dogs from a distance then ran like hell when he saw Harry spot him! More of that, please.....

Calatria · Master

The cats who visit us have never toileted in the back yard. I have no idea what the attraction is, suicidal tendencies would be my guess.

Suzanne · Guru

good news that the kitten is hopefully taking the hint - Id still purchase a super soaker for the summer months, where its only fair the dogs get to lounge in their own back garden on warm nights....why should a cat spoil their fun?? Im sure a few initial blasts with the water gun & he'll never show face again if he has any sense...Good luck!

** edit ** - just a thought - maybe squeeze 1/2 a lemon into the water in the water gun & the nasty soaking associated with the horrible citrus blast will ensure the cat doesnt forget your garden in a hurry....

-- Edited by Suzanne at 14:32, 2006-04-24

Suzanne · Guru

theres a few websites with cat deterant stuff on them - heres one idea

Deteracat.co.uk

how about moulding a 1/2 dome of chicken wire on top of your garden walls so the cats cant physically walk on them?? apparently jars of water placed in your garden freaks cats out - espech at night time as it refracts a distorted image of them - making them think there are mutant cats in hiding - not sure if it works or not tho....how about wooden BBQ skewers (planted upright) in the flower beds they are frequenting(or toileting in) - cat squats down to do his business & gets more than he bargained for!!!

LOL

no - honestly - I like cats....they taste like chicken.

-- Edited by Suzanne at 14:33, 2006-04-24

mabel · Graduate

At the end of the day cats are cats and dogs are dogs. If i let my dog out into the back garden and a cat is around it will soon get the message to run or to stand up for itself. You will hopefully be there to hear any barking/screaching etc and many times i have had to grab my dog and pull her back so the cat can make an escape. Try not to worry so much, some things are inevitable and with the most thought about plans inevitabley there will always be accidents whether to dog or cat. Cats can get in anywhere and there is no full proof cat garden. I do have a quick check to see if any cats are around before i let my dog out.Cats are very intelligent but then there are a few exceptions. Once your dog is in the garden a cat would definately have to be very stupid to enter or very brave. I've come across a few cats i've had to rescue my dog from!! Don't stress about it too much. Mabel.

Amber · Master

Yet another problem I feel is that the brave and brazen cats who will stand their ground can also put up a good fight, which can result in vet bills for your greyhound (e.g. infected wounds).

Think Mabel is right really - the dogs are in their own private garden so any cat enters at its peril, legally (I believe) the onus is not on you to control the dogs in this situation i.e. your own private land, so that leaves it up to the cat owners to take the 'risk'. So no point in worrying really...I know of quite a few greyhounds that have killed neighbour's cats in their own gardens and the owners buried the cat and kept quiet...but it's a very awkward situation (not to mention unpleasant for all concerned, especially the cat), but not really a lot you can do; you can't really control other people's pets.

Hope it continues to take the hint because I'm afraid it's unlikely to last long if it keeps coming in

Steve · Master

The cat is most definitely a nutter - seems to like walking into everyone's houses! Apparently it was trying to get into our house the other day - waiting in our porch. It also tries any doors that are open too - we leave the back door ajar and our patio windows during the summer (when we are in) so it may get a learning opportunity quicker than it thought!

glendy · Master

This is an interesting subject. We have cats (and non catsafe dogs) and I firmly believe that if you allow your cat to roam you must accept that they can and will get themselves into situations which endanger them - and that this is the cat owner's responsibility. Our cats are indoor cats and we wouldn't let them roam our own garden with dogs around, never mind anyone else's.

But it seems that a lot of cat owners believe that the rest of the world should accept their independent nature and the fact that they believe it's 'natural' for a cat to wander.

Sadly, whenever we hear about a cat being injured or worse killed by a greyhound, the cat argument disappears and the main bone of contention becomes the reputation of the greyhound as a killer. Incidents with cats make the job of rehoming greyhounds all the harder and do nothing to help their image. But how you manage cats and cat owners to help prevent the incidents is a question for which there seems to be no answer.

Of course, this is assuming that the dogs are under control and / or on their own property. But even if they are, it's not a good feeling having the weight of another person's injured pet on your mind.

NB You can buy lion manure online. It's called Silent Roar.