Getting rid of cats

My neighbour has at least two if not three cats that seem to spend all their time in my garden or on my car or sitting at my back door.

I have chased them away every single time I have seen them but they keep coming back. There is now a bit of a smell of cats píss in the back garden and I'm getting really sick of the cats being there all the time. I can also hear them fighting at night sometimes.

I don't really know the neighbour as he is at the back side so never meet him so wouldn't feel comfortable approaching him about it and anyway in case he's a knob and I end up falling out with him over it. I can't get a dog either as herself wont allow me have one

So how do I go about getting rid of these cats, without shooting them that is!!
Is there some kind of repellant I can put down or something like that?? I don't really want to poison them either as I wouldn't like someone to do that to my pet, if I had one. Surely there has to be something I can do???

Ballyman said:

So how do I go about getting rid of these cats, without shooting them that is!!
Is there some kind of repellant I can put down or something like that?? I don't really want to poison them either as I wouldn't like someone to do that to my pet, if I had one. Surely there has to be something I can do???

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Definitely don't poison them - they can't tell where your boundary line is! There are a few products on the market - high frequency (beyond human range) noise emitters which might keep them away, and a few sprays which cats just don't like the smell of. I'm told that putting low level garden lighting will also keep them away - those lights that absorb solar energy during the day and give a very low (i.e. not intrusive) level of light at night.

But I'm not the best person to advise, because I like cats and have an attack cat of my own to ward off any other mogs.

Heard something about plastic bottles full of water in flower beds warding off cats ..or is that an urban myth?

Welfarite said:

Heard something about plastic bottles full of water in flower beds warding off cats ..or is that an urban myth?

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Sounds like a mix-up with beer and slugs to me!

Ballyman, google cat repellent and you'll find a few things (not to mention sponsored links), or look for ultrasonic devices. In the meantime, they don't like the smell of citrus, cayenne pepper, coffee grounds, pipe tobacco, lavender oil, lemon grass oil, citronella oil, eucalyptus oil and mustard oil - mark your fences with these and it might deter them. My cats detest the smell of strong drink (they're very puritanical animals), so if all else fails, a fine drizzle of brandy - or a drizzle of fine brandy - might do the trick. And if you don't want to spray it round your fences and walls, you could just drink it until you don't care any more!

Buy a high-power water pistol. Not only does it work over time at deterring the cats, it proves an excellent stress reliever.

Before anyone starts beating up on me for that comment, I have two cats myself, but I wanted to deter the other cats in the neighbourhood.

Take a look at these two previous threads.
Leo

mothballs are highly toxic to cats so I would urge you not to follow a previous posters recommendation on their use

can I ask what your garden boundaries are like at the moment?

The garden at the front of the house is open and has no gate or fence. They can enter this way no problem and head on out the back then as the gate at the entrance to the back of the house is a metal gate with large gaps in it.
The fence at the back of the house has 2" gaps all along it so it's easy for them to get in there also.
I'm going to have to spray something along the fence and hope that works. Will I have to do it every time it rains as well???

Get a dog !!

TabithaRose said:

mothballs are highly toxic to cats so I would urge you not to follow a previous posters recommendation on their use

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Oops - I didn't know that. I thought it was purely that cats found the smell unpleasant. Thanks for the info TabithaRose.

I don't think boundaries make very much difference to cats (they don't to mine, anyway) - even if you have good walls, they'd have to be very high before they'll deter any but the oldest or fattest of cats.

Welfarite said:

Heard something about plastic bottles full of water in flower beds warding off cats ..or is that an urban myth?

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Used to see these a lot in the UK, I believe this is supposedly to do with the light/moonlight bouncing off of the water - freaks the moggies out.

But it just looks like someone dumped a bottle in the garden and has not been tidied.

I'd go with the sound emmitters if it is that bad.

Paddy

Plant some mint around your garden they seem to hate the smell. Worked for me in my last place when I had that problem.

throw a bucket of warm water over them!!!

Dreamerb said:

Oops - I didn't know that. I thought it was purely that cats found the smell unpleasant. Thanks for the info TabithaRose.

I don't think boundaries make very much difference to cats (they don't to mine, anyway) - even if you have good walls, they'd have to be very high before they'll deter any but the oldest or fattest of cats.

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according to Pam Johnson (I'm reading one of her books on cats at the moment) the fumes alone will damage a cat's liver in a very short time (mothball fumes that is) I didn't know that until recently myself.

The reason I was asking about boundaries is because you could put loose netting at the top of walls that would deter cats but reading Ballyman's response that's not an option for him.

I don't know anyone who's used those noise omitters but they seem to get good & bad review when you google them - with regards to spreading something on the fence or even on the ground I think you'd have to redo it regularly but possibly after a period of time the cats would just go elsewhere & you could stop doing it.

This is a quote from Pam Johnson's book "Twisted Whiskers"

Since cars like to first dig in the garden before they eliminate, spread some netting down (available at garden centres) around the plants. You can sprinkle a light layer of soil over the netting. Add to stability byplacing some large rocks to hold it in place / or secure with small gardening stakes. This way when the cat goes to dig in the soil his claws will catch on the netting. He'll get the idea quickly & will go in search of a better spot.

Good in theory but not great if it's the lawn they're soiling....

Put lots of orange peel around the boundaries. It has the same effect as the citronella oil suggested by dreamerb, but you have the pleasure of eating the oranges first.

just dont plant any catnip

Buy motion sensor water sprayers, ive seen them in america, they sense the cat and then a sprinkler comes on and sprays in the general direction of the cat.

Failing that just leave a sprinkler in your garden and everytime you see them in it, switch it on from the comfort of your own kitchen.

Or buy a water pistol, or two and do it John Woo style!

I'm going to spread some orange peel around the fence and see what that does.

If that fails then I'll get the sound emitter.

If I still can't get rid of them at that stage then I think it will be mothball time!

anyone who mentions any way of harming an animal on this forum I will PERSONALLY report you and remember your ISP can and will be traced, Trust me I work for a broadband company! Just a word of caution!

Water pistol worked for us. Not overly high powered, but open the kitchen window and squirt, you only need to hit them once or twice, after that opening the window and aiming will work. Then they just gave up. We used the scent away but you have to put it where they're soiling so they just moved to the other side of teh garden. We have a toddler which is why we don't want cat sh*t in the garden but also why we didn't want to be putting down any chemicals. Spent about €3 on a water pistol in Smyths and now daddy and son also have a new toy for the summer.