> Some suggestions are: You could try lemon oil or a couple of rotten oranges
> (courtesy of your local dumpster. Put down some hardware cloth or chicken
> wire. Cats hate to break their nails.
> Bill Loke; Kars, Ontario. USDA Z 4B/5A
I agree with the hardware cloth. Peg it over any loose soil. Cats are
looking to cover their scat, so if there's no loose soil, no scat, no cat.
Margaret L
Some suggestions are: You could try lemon oil or a couple of rotten oranges
(courtesy of your local dumpster. Put down some hardware cloth or chicken
wire. Cats hate to break their nails.
Bill Loke; Kars, Ontario. USDA Z 4B/5A
Mary, is the flower bed small enough to cover it wall-to-wall with prickly
pine cones? Or tack doubled chickenwire over it? You have my sincere
sympathy. Margaret L
> I agree with the hardware cloth. Peg it over any loose soil. Cats are
> looking to cover their scat, so if there's no loose soil, no scat, no cat.
> Margaret L
Try and convince the cat across the street about that....please! That cat
seldom makes any attempt to cover his "droppings" which I agree is quite
uncat-like. I've been tempted to try some of the animal repellants on the
market (Ropel?) but don't like leaving anything even slightly toxic laying
around. I put a new flower bed at the front of the house last year and he
now treats it as his personel litter box.
Mary L.
Bill - won't they just go to another area of the lawn?
Penny - who has used rose bush cuttings in newly planted areas.
> Bill Loke
Some suggestions are: You could try lemon oil or a couple of rotten =
oranges
(courtesy of your local dumpster. Put down some hardware cloth or chicken
wire. Cats hate to break their nails.
Bill Loke; Kars, Ontario. USDA Z 4B/5A
This is the type of situation where you need to resort to my methods. I gathered up the cat droppings in a bag
and marched back to the cat's owners. I knocked on the door, handed them the bag, and said "your cat is
leaving this in my garage!"
Lee Ann
Lee Ann Reiners
Baron-Forness Library
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
Penn State Master Gardener, USDA zone 5
reiners@edinboro.edu or reiners@toolcity.net
Try and convince the cat across the street about that....please! That cat
seldom makes any attempt to cover his "droppings" which I agree is quite
uncat-like. I've been tempted to try some of the animal repellants on the
market (Ropel?) but don't like leaving anything even slightly toxic laying
around. I put a new flower bed at the front of the house last year and he
now treats it as his personel litter box.
Mary L.
> around. I put a new flower bed at the front of the house last year and
he
Mine, too. If the pine cones don't work...try chestnut burrs. If that
doesn't do the trick, it may be time to install a motion detector activated
sprinkler system...tuned to cat body level. Every time that rude beast
moves in, water starts spraying and *hopefully* that cat is cat enough to
move on even if it isn't cat enough to cover it's own scat.
Barb in Southern Indiana Zone 5/6 dorsett@blueriver.net
A root is a flower that disdains fame.
They have probably scent marked that area but they could pick another spot.
You're right about that Some of these new water guns can shoot water
amazingly far so that might be another option. We don't have cats around
because Chris has a phobia against cats. Our dogs treat all cats as deadly
enemies which they seem to pick up from Chris's actions around cats. The
chicken wire (1 inch) also keeps out squirrels and chipmunks from the flower
beds. Lee-Valley sells these plastic mats which have spikes on them and are
intended for subsurface burial. They work to keep Pepe Le Phue from my
beehives too. :-)
Bill Loke; Kars, Ontario. USDA Z 4B/5A
Bill - won't they just go to another area of the lawn?
Penny - who has used rose bush cuttings in newly planted areas.
> Bill Loke
Some suggestions are: You could try lemon oil or a couple of rotten oranges
(courtesy of your local dumpster. Put down some hardware cloth or chicken
wire. Cats hate to break their nails.
Bill Loke; Kars, Ontario. USDA Z 4B/5A
Hi Margaret,
> Mary, is the flower bed small enough to cover it wall-to-wall with prickly
> pine cones? Or tack doubled chickenwire over it? You have my sincere
> sympathy. Margaret
That particular bed is a little too big for the pine cones but I will keep
it in mind for the smaller beds. I may just try the chicken wire though.
Lee Ann's idea was good but we have been neighbours for a long time and I
can't prove that the cat that we used to have didn't leave deposits in
their yard in the past. A LOT of us lost cats a few years ago probably to
wild animal attacks and some neighbours now have strictly indoor cats.
This particular cat seems to LOVE my yard for some reason. Perhaps because
his owner's have very little in the way of flower beds.
Mary L.
Idea! Since the neighbors have no flower beds, and the cat seems to like
them, offer to create a nice, soft, absorbent flower bed for the neighbors
and see if that deters their cat! Keep it in their own yard.....;-)
Lee Ann
> That particular bed is a little too big for the pine cones but I will keep
it in mind for the smaller beds. I may just try the chicken wire though.
Lee Ann's idea was good but we have been neighbours for a long time and I
can't prove that the cat that we used to have didn't leave deposits in
their yard in the past. A LOT of us lost cats a few years ago probably to
wild animal attacks and some neighbours now have strictly indoor cats.
This particular cat seems to LOVE my yard for some reason. Perhaps because
his owner's have very little in the way of flower beds.
Mary L.
<<
bill i recieved the valarian-thanks so much!!
zack
spot.
> You're right about that Some of these new water guns can shoot water
> amazingly far so that might be another option. We don't have cats around
> because Chris has a phobia against cats. Our dogs treat all cats as deadly
> enemies which they seem to pick up from Chris's actions around cats. The
> chicken wire (1 inch) also keeps out squirrels and chipmunks from the
flower
> beds. Lee-Valley sells these plastic mats which have spikes on them and
are
oranges
discourage
Barb, do you think there's any chance for us as the "Doctors Suess"? I was
hesitant to suggest the motion-activated sprinkler in view of the season
and Mary's northern location. She ought to consider it in summer, though.
Margaret L
I'm not sure anyone or any group can take that guy's place. Even his garden
was ~~~ an original.
Don't you think it would take her some time to work through the other
suggestions? Say a couple of weeks or so? By then, snow should move into
Guelph and that bed should turn into an ice trap. The cats around here
prefer spots near house foundations to snow covered beds. She'll even have
time to research sprayers of choice and get one that does double duty as a
watering system when needed.
Barb in Southern Indiana, who wonders if there's an ammonia odor
neutralizer, since some fertilizers have ammonia odors preinstalled...and it
seems like just adding fertilizer to a garden bed might be perceived as a
'come hither and spray' invitation of no merit....
Zone 5/6 dorsett@blueriver.net
A root is a flower that disdains fame.
Geez, Karen, I think I'd throw that sandwich away. Margaret L
A message from Karen
*****************
I must have very neat cats. The ones who come around and use the flower
beds never seem to hurt my flowers. If they haven't buried their waste deep
enough, I just throw some mulch on top of it until it decomposes. They
don't seem to damage the flowers at all. Even my catnip, they just rub
against and bite instead of rolling in it.
Karen
----Original Message Follows----
From: margaret lauterbach
Reply-To: Gardens & Gardening
To: GARDENS@LSV.UKY.EDU
Subject: Re: Cat Repelllents
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 13:14:25 -0700
Mary, is the flower bed small enough to cover it wall-to-wall with prickly
pine cones? Or tack doubled chickenwire over it? You have my sincere
sympathy. Margaret L
A message from Karen
******************
Mary,
Maybe you could make them a present of a bag of sand, and suggest they make
a small area in their yard for the cat to go?
Karen
----Original Message Follows----
From: Mary F Leunissen
Reply-To: Gardens & Gardening
To: GARDENS@LSV.UKY.EDU
Subject: Re: Cat Repelllents
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 18:27:21 -0500
This particular cat seems to LOVE my yard for some reason. Perhaps because
his owner's have very little in the way of flower beds.
Mary L.
Better still, give them a bag of sand and a few catnip and catmint plants. Give
the cats their own little garden area. That's what I did, and my cats leave the
rest of the gardens alone except for sitting under the weeping Japanese maple
when it gets too hot. They just hang out in the catnip and on the catmint.
Carol
--
Virtually Gardening
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/virtually_gardening
It may also be the neighborhood communication center. We don't communicate
through our droppings but territorial animals do. I would try one of the
mechanical mechanisms listed and hope that the new bulletin board is on someone
else's lawn.
Esther
Co-Listowner
Please respond to Gardens & Gardening
To: GARDENS@LSV.UKY.EDU
cc: (bcc: Esther Czekalski/US/BULL)
Subject: Re: Cat Repelllents
A message from Karen
******************
Mary,
Maybe you could make them a present of a bag of sand, and suggest they make
a small area in their yard for the cat to go?
Karen
----Original Message Follows----
From: Mary F Leunissen
Reply-To: Gardens & Gardening
To: GARDENS@LSV.UKY.EDU
Subject: Re: Cat Repelllents
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 18:27:21 -0500
This particular cat seems to LOVE my yard for some reason. Perhaps because
his owner's have very little in the way of flower beds.
Mary L.
Bill,
I didn't know skunks like honey. I thought it was bears. I know that
skunks like tunafish and peanutbutter, though. That's how we mistakenly
caught one.
Karen
----Original Message Follows----
From: Bill Loke
intended for subsurface burial. They work to keep Pepe Le Phue from my
beehives too. :-)
Bill Loke; Kars, Ontario. USDA Z 4B/5A
Not the honey, but the bees! They are insect eaters in the main.
They creep up to a hive and dig a trench to protect their tummy from stings.
The rest of their fur is too thick for the bees to get thru. They then
reach forward and scratch the bottom board of the hive. The bees come
boiling out to defend the hive and the skunk lays there munching. They can
empty a hive very quickly. :-)
Bill Loke; Kars, Ontario. USDA Z 4B/5A
Learn something everyday. I think we sometimes don't give animals due =
credit for their craftiness.
Penny
> Bill Loke
Not the honey, but the bees! They are insect eaters in the main.
They creep up to a hive and dig a trench to protect their tummy from =
stings.
The rest of their fur is too thick for the bees to get thru. They then
reach forward and scratch the bottom board of the hive. The bees come
boiling out to defend the hive and the skunk lays there munching. They can
empty a hive very quickly. :-)
Bill Loke; Kars, Ontario. USDA Z 4B/5A
Bill,
Wow, I learn so many interesting things from this list. Had no idea that
skunks eat bees. I'll have to tell my DH, I'll bet he doesn't know that
either.
Karen
----Original Message Follows----
From: Bill Loke
Subject: Re: Cat Repelllents
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1999 18:27:37 -0500
Not the honey, but the bees! They are insect eaters in the main.
They creep up to a hive and dig a trench to protect their tummy from stings.
The rest of their fur is too thick for the bees to get thru. They then
reach forward and scratch the bottom board of the hive. The bees come
boiling out to defend the hive and the skunk lays there munching. They can
empty a hive very quickly. :-)
Bill Loke; Kars, Ontario. USDA Z 4B/5A
> Bill,
> I didn't know skunks like honey. I thought it was bears. I know that
> skunks like tunafish and peanutbutter, though. That's how we mistakenly
> caught one.
> Karen
Here is an idea that has worked for me regarding keeping cats out of the
garden. Put mothballs in margarine tubs with holes poked in the lid so the
aroma comes through. The cats do not seem to like the smell of mothballs.
You can bury the tub up to the lid for a better look. But unfortunetly,
humans can smell the mothballs over the sent of the flowers. It worked for
me.
Sue Scott
----Original Message-----
From: Penny Nielsen
To: GARDENS@LSV.UKY.EDU
Date: Thursday, December 09, 1999 4:30 AM
Subject: Re: Cat Repelllents
Learn something everyday. I think we sometimes don't give animals due
credit for their craftiness.
Penny
> Bill Loke
Not the honey, but the bees! They are insect eaters in the main.
They creep up to a hive and dig a trench to protect their tummy from stings.
The rest of their fur is too thick for the bees to get thru. They then
reach forward and scratch the bottom board of the hive. The bees come
boiling out to defend the hive and the skunk lays there munching. They can
empty a hive very quickly. :-)
Bill Loke; Kars, Ontario. USDA Z 4B/5A
Sue,
This is a very neat idea, because the mothballs don't sublimate as quickly
as they would otherwise...and a cat stepping on the container's lid would
get an extra potent 'whoosh' of aroma. It also keeps mothballs out of the
reach of dogs or small children...if the containers are somewhat hidden. I
like it. :)
Double duty...I wonder if they'll also work as slug motels?
Barb in Southern Indiana Zone 5/6 dorsett@blueriver.net
A root is a flower that disdains fame.
But what happens when it rains and the mothballs dissolve?
Lee Ann
