Cat deterrants

[optrex]

OK I know the topic has been covered before, but my garden is enclosed by 6ft fencing all around. On the top of the fences I have cat strips (plastic spikes from bettaware) that are supposed to prevent the cats walking along the top - they dont work!

I have today found out that next doors cat has been getting in and feasting on my birdtable :mad:

My question is: Would thick grease along the top of the fence prevent the cats? i.e. they wont link getting their paws sticky

Has anyone tried this?

[georgie]

Hello Optrex

You have my sympathies, although I remember raging about cats/cat owners when I came home to find feathers, blood and a beak on the lawn, :mad: and I was so angry I immediately bought a Catwatch device..... and then later on I observed a sparrowhawk killing a bird and leaving the remains in exactly the same place ....... but I digress. Yes, I also hate marauding cats.

I think grease sounds a good idea, but a cat owing friend once assured me they (as in cats, not friends) hate citrus smells. So before the days of my Catwatch (which does the business) I always kept a plant spray filled with lemon juice and water ready by the kitchen door, ready to leap into action when I saw one of the b*ggers lurking in the shrubs. They certainly didn't like it up 'em but I'm not certain if the lemon made it more efficacious.

Anyway I would suggest you add lemon (or another) citrus oil to your grease, it may be worth a try.

Good luck.

Georgie

[Emma]

Optex, I've heard that adding chilli powder to grease helps keeps cats away (fresh chopped chillies would probably be better!).

Cats really are a nuisance and I wish their owners were banned from allowing them to roam free.

Georgie - you're the first person I've come across who has had success with the CatWatch alarm! Despite this, it's still something I'm willing to try. Did you have a money back guarantee with it? What was your cat problem like before, and what is it like now?

[optrex]

Thanks for the suggestions peeps. I'll give them a try and see which is best. I must agree with Emaa, it would be interesting to see the sort of success you've had with CatWatch

[Uncle Phil]

Beware pepes...
I have installed the one which the RSPB say is good for birds, but they *only* tested it on birds.

The CatWatch emits a very high pitched noise which (they say) only cats can hear.

BUT...

Dogs can hear it as well and, at first, they can be quite upset by it. After a while, they realise that it's got nothing to do with them and ignore it, but look out for them when you first install it.

The next thing is kids. My two girls can hear it and they find it very uncomfortable indeed. Whenever they go into the garden, I have to switch it off. This may not be as daft as it first seems. Your hearing deteriorates as you grow older, and big growed up folk can't hear what they hear. A product has been developed recently that emits a very high pitched noise that clears troublesome youths from hanging around problem areas of housing estates. We people who have grown long in the tooth can't hear it, but yonkers can, and they can't stand it and clear off..!!

Just be aware of what you're buying, that's all.....

Uncle Phil.

[Emma]

Good point, Uncle Phil. I listened to a few of those 'noises' on the BBC website not so long ago, and despite being 30+ I could still hear them.

Certainly wouldn't want my almost-four-year-old to be uncomfortable. We don't have a dog and nor do any of our immediate neighbours. If I get to a point where I want/need to try a CatWatch I don't think turning it off would be a problem when my son is in the garden - but would I remember to turn it back on?!!

Still, my main concern is keeping other people's cats out of my garden and protecting my garden birds.

Can hedgehogs hear the tone, I wonder? We have hedgehogs and I wouldn't want to frighten them off.

[Uncle Phil]

Good point, Uncle Phil. I listened to a few of those 'noises' on the BBC website not so long ago, and despite being 30+ I could still hear them.

I'm 50 and I can still hear it to a certain extent when I bend down close to it. It's not uncomfortable for me, but I am aware that it's on.

Certainly wouldn't want my almost-four-year-old to be uncomfortable.

My girlies can (at times) hear it through their bedroom windows if they're open. They do get really p**d off with it and can get quite grumpy. They are 16 and 12, so I suspect a four year old would be even more affected by it.


If I get to a point where I want/need to try a CatWatch I don't think turning it off would be a problem when my son is in the garden - but would I remember to turn it back on?!!


I constantly forget to put the blummin' thing back on. So do the girlies if they switch it off when I'm not there. I have an infra-red security camera and, one night when I had forgotten to turn the catwatch on, I saw a pair of shiny eyes in the garden. I immediately switched the catwatch on and you should have seen that little b***** jump :eek: so they do actually work on cats :D


Still, my main concern is keeping other people's cats out of my garden and protecting my garden birds.


That is most emphatically our concern, and I can definitely say that it keeps cats away from our bird table.


Can hedgehogs hear the tone, I wonder? We have hedgehogs and I wouldn't want to frighten them off.

I seriously think that more research should be done on the effects that ultra-sonic devices have on wildlife. :(

[georgie]

Dear Emma, Uncle Phil and Optrex,

Regarding the Catwatch,

I (despite being 46) can also hear it, but the noise was much louder when we ran it off a battery , so we bought the mains attachment. Now I tend to just hear the clicks as it turns on and off rather than any high pitched tone.

I agree re dogs - when I first got the Catwatch the dog hated it but she doesn't mind it now. I think though that hedgehogs react to it (negatively) - we only got hogs visiting when we remembered to switch it off. Emma, I'd be wary of trying Catwatch if you have regular hedgehog visitors.

Emma, with respect to your original question, I suspect our cat problem was never very severe. We just used to get a ginger tom lurking behind the ferns but this wound me up no end, because I didn't like to think of the birds being endangered. In the end I got tired of either winding up the dog into a frenzy, and letting her out, which just resulted in heavily trampled flower beds, or me running out wielding the citrussy flavoured water in a plant spray, and missing the cat most of the time 'cos I was too slow.......

Having said all this, we only have a very small garden (approx 15x20metres) so the Catwatch can cover most of that area fairly effectively. I think with very determined cats you have to try and use a variety of deterrent (and continually changing) methods, but I'd say Catwatch is certainly a great help.

Cheers,

Georgie

[georgie]

ps I forgot to say I think the Catwatch does have a money back guarantee, but I bought it so long ago I can't be completely certain. It might be worth asking before you buy?

[Emma]

Thanks for the replies, Uncle Phil and Georgie. Most helpful. You've both given me some points to think about: It's going to be a case of weighing up the pros and cons.

I don't have a dog to wind up and send out so it's usually a case of me running after the cats whilst screaming like a banshee, or soaking them with the hose if I get the chance.

[Emma]

Oh, and just to add ...

I read CatWatch is ineffective against old cats and white cats! (and probably old white cats!! ;o) )

[Kerry L]

Hello everybody

I did try the lion poo pellets and found they worked for a short while. Unfortunately it can work out expensive (haven't got the nerve to visit Marwell Zoo and ask for the real thing). I still have some pellets left which I shall have to use again because the neighbours cats (4 belonging to 2 different neighbours and 2 unknowns) have been marking "their" territory - or leaving their visiting cards - right where I hang out the washing. This has always seemed to be a favourite spot for them, and it is most unpleasant.

I don't think I would be able to use the device after all - too hilly here and I love my hedgehogs - they munch my slugs! Also as daughter's bedroom overlooks the back garden anything else to aggravate a stroppy 14 year old just isn't on!;)

Regards, Kerry

[Emma]

Kerry - I used to work at Chester Zoo ... don't be affraid to ask for some lion or tiger poo - it's a very common request. In fact, it's so common Chester now sell Zoo Poo in a tub (but I think that's elephant poo rather than lion). The keepers should be happy to shovel some in a carrier bag for you!

I tried all kinds off poo while I was working there but none of it worked for me. Had loads of flowers though :D

[Jabber]

As a cat owner (3 toms) and bird feeder I always find this topic interesting, my own cats are subject to a curfew that was easy to train them to by feeding them when I want them in and not letting them out until my wife goes to work at 9:00 am. Lynn gives them a good meal before leaving and this also helps to reduce attacks. I have sat in the garden every day for two weeks in the past and squirted any cat including my own with a high powered hose that went near my feeders, they soon got the message!! I only have to look out of the window and cats scarper.
I have sat in the garden with my cats and they show very little interest in the birds at my feeders. They do occasionally catch some but the number is less than the number that die every year from window strikes so I must be doing something right .
There is a product I think called 'Scaredy Cat' that is connected to a hose and works by way of a motion sensor, as soon as it detects anything above the size limit that you set it to it spins around squirting a jet of water for so many seconds so not only do you scare the cats but also water your garden :)

[Kerry L]

Hi everyone
Please don't get me wrong - I love cats best of all, but I just don't want other people's moggies in my garden (current pets are woodlice and spiders that wander indoors - and a pupating hawk moth). I came home from shopping this morning, pulled into the drive and lo and behold - next doors tortie and white happily sunbathing on the mat outside my front door!:mad: I'm sorry, but a very evil thought came into my mind and I nonchalantly wandered around to the side gate, pretending not to notice the cat (like they do with prey), and retreived the pumped up/primed master blaster - always in readiness for pigeon squirting - and sneaked back to let loose a stream of water over said mog. I have to say that with all my target practice this summer, I claim a kill!:D Hopefully this will put her off for a while. Can't use pepper dust on the mat - in spite of telling my sprogs to take their shoes off, they are constantly walking in all manner of dirt - so don't want that indoors either!
Jabber - would love to try the squirty hose, but we have a hosepipe ban here, it seems to happen quite often, and I just can't get the same effect with a watering can!;) Again, the concern would be that the hedgehogs would likely get a blasting by mistake.
Emma, I was looking through my old magazines and there was a letter in one - from a cat! It said that it enjoyed it's neighbours garden and was pleased that they had put big cat poo around it's regular loo (vegetable patch). Apparently this Tom enjoyed rolling in it because it made the other cats in the 'hood think he was the biggest and baddest of them all! I think it just shows that whatever we do, we just can't win.
Oh well, rain stopped, sun is shining - I'll say ta ta for now.
Regards, Kerry

[Jabber]

For those without a hosepipe ban these look good http://www.trapman.co.uk/spray-away.htm cats hate water!

[optrex]

ps I forgot to say I think the Catwatch does have a money back guarantee, but I bought it so long ago I can't be completely certain. It might be worth asking before you buy?
Useful to know thanks. Well plain grease does not seem to work, so it looks like I'll have to move onto the chilli grease :rolleyes:

[Gerry]

Hi everyone, I've just registered and noticed this thread.

I've used two Cat Scarers for a few years and they seem to work fine, in our last house we were visited by hedgehogs whilst the scarers were on but I can't confirm whether they were within triggering range when I used to see them. Another useful hint is Lion droppings! A few small piles around the garden will convince any resident cats that there is a large carnivorous predator in the area and they'll stay well clear, but it also deters foxes, badgers and some other animals. It can be obtained from your local zoo if you chat up the management and I know Longleat used to send the stuff out, mail order. There are also proprietry pellets called 'Silent Roar 'made from sterilised Lion droppings but I don't know how good they are.

Hope this helps

Gerry

[Solomon]

Re citrus smells, try getting some lemon essential oil for your local health food shop. It comes in a 10ml bottle, and costs about £1-£2. A little goes a long way. Mix it in with the fat, and it'll give off a stronger smell than lemon juice. The oil itself is the same stuff you get squirting out of the rind when you peel a lemon/orange. Me and my sister used to sneak up on each other as kids with the intent of getting it in one anothers eyes. She only got me with it once, and then I learned to shift. :D

I find a hosepipe works well, especially if the cats seem to visit a certain area regularly. They dont like it up 'em, Mr Mainwaring!! :eek:

Has anyone ever used those fake cats, made out of metal, painted black, with marble eyes? I was walking along the street once, and tried to call one to me until I realised what it was. :D It certainly fooled me, but does it fool other cats?

[Mobee]

My neighbours marauding cats have not been after the birds in my garden for some time. I mentioned this the last time I saw her (the neighbour not the cat) she reckons one of them has found a second home and gets fed at both of them !!! its probably too full to hunt, long may it continue. They used to hunt as a team mother and son (cats again) maybe the one on its in is ineffectual. :)