If I ever catch one of those fucking neighborhood cats digging up my carefully-nurtured vegetable seedlings, I’m going to pepper its ass with rock salt!
I ordered up from Franchi seeds (a wonderful Italian vegetable seed importer) some broccoli rabe, parma fennel, wild arugula and mache seeds. I painstakingly started them indoors so that they wouldn’t be bitten by frost, and yesterday planted them in the ground. Today I find several of them dug up and killed by cats, and festering blobs of CAT SHIT scattered among what I hoped would be edible vegetables. I’ve tried setting mouse traps and putting strips of foil down between the rows of plants, but they avoid the traps and push aside the foil.
Usually I like kitties, but I’m ready for all-out FELINICIDE at this point! Dammit! Three weeks of seed-starting down the cat toilet!
I know exactly how you feel – we have the same problem here, and I woke up this morning to the hugest, smelliest, steaming pile of cat shit in my vegetable garden, I almost puked.
However. . . there is a solution that we found has worked wonderfully, we just need to get a second one or reposition the one we have. It’s called a CatStop. What it does is let out an ultrasonic, high decibel sound that frightens cats away when they cross its path, but is inaudible to humans and most other animals. Believe me, we tried just about everything else short of an electronic fence and barbed wire (which I was so close to doing, you have no idea) – sprinkling the perimeter with cumin powder, covering the beds with pine needles and pine cones, putting citrus rinds and scent in the garden, etc., and nothing worked until we put this thing up.
But the damn cats got smart and found another way to get into our yard and shit around the corner, so we moved it, and now they don’t shit there, but are back to shitting in the vegetables, so we’re just going to have to bite the bullet and get another one. <grumble, grumble>
I think cat owners should be fined for not obeying the poop-n-scoop bylaws, damn it. I once had a garden that was looooved by local cats. I got so fed up with the cat shit and with my vegetables being dug up that I was this close to setting up live traps, barbed wire, and alarms. I swear to Og.
Anywho, you get rid of the cats and you can guarantee that some other critter will dig up your garden, be they rabbits, squirrels or deer. My dad resorted to putting up a 5 foot fence around his veggie garden in an effort to defeat nature. Then one day he saw a mama deer scale his new fence in one easy leap.
I, too, feel your pain. There has got to be a good way to get the neighbors to keep their cats in, but so far, we’ve had to just use repellent. That makes them find other areas of the garden to despoil.
For a fleeting moment, I thought the threat of avian flu might do it. But then I thought…hmm…people who are too lazy/cowardly to clean up their cats’ own poop probably won’t bring the felines in to protect them.
Mr. brown had a good idea. My vegetable garden is contained in two raised beds, each surrounded by a ledge about 6" above the soil level. We got out our folded-up tomato cages and laid them flat like lids on top of the raised beds. They rest on the ledges, so they are a few inches above the seedlings. The gaps of the cage framework are about 8-10" square, which is too small for that fat-ass tom I’ve been seeing to fit his butt into, but big enough for the plants to grow through. It’s also rattly and insecure, so if it’s nudged it’ll teeter and make noise. I’m hoping this will do the trick.
How do you folks expect people to clean up cat feces? They bury it.
Mama Plant used pepper to keep cats off her car. They get it on their feet and it is unpleasant when they lick their toes. Probably smells bad to them, too. Buy the big el cheapo cans of black pepper and sprinkle, nay, pour around the garden.
Listen morons. Cats first of all “BURY” their shit. .That is probably DOG shit you are seeing. Or human shit. There are better solutions for keeping cats and other animals away from your garden. Do a search online. But a MOUSE TRAP?? You can hurt an animal with that. Stop eating junk food. Too much of it will turn you into a violent monster.
Dude, I’m all about cat rescue and stuff, but this isn’t a good way to get people to listen to you. Especially when you are probably talking about Zombie cats anyhow.
- I garden too.