I’ve got a fairly big yard. Probably a rectangle 120 feet on the long side and the 60 on the short side. The entire rear (besides the house, of course) has as four-foot chain-link fence around it.
I’ve got two small dogs that are the most inside-loving dogs in the world. They don’t spend a whole lot of time outside, just because that’s the way they are.
I’ve got two bird feeders out there, and I’ve busted him with a fresh kill once, and I just found a ring of downy out there a couple minutes ago - same thing I found when I chased him off the first time.
This little bastard is jittery - he runs for it the instant he sees me, and he’s well over the fence long before I get to the hose. I’d user a super soaker, but there’s no chance I’d be able to get him in 98% of the yard.
It’s a pretty damned big perimeter, so it seems like most repellents would be prohibitive. Anyone have any ideas?
I don’t hate cats. He hasn’t been pooping in the sandbox. I don’t intend to shoot him. But I do need some solution. I’m sure I’ll have a hundred people calling for my head, but if I have to I’ll get a BB gun to train him to stay away.
Since the OP is seeking advice, this is better suited for IMHO than GQ.
In my experience, threads about cats (like those about weight loss and tipping) are among the most volatile subjects on the board. Please remember to keep the discussion civil.
We used this pepper concoction we bought at Home Depo to send a Raccoon on his way. It’s a simple powder you sprinkle on the ground that they won’t go near. It worked very well for our needs, but then, it doesn’t rain a lot here. I can’t remember the name of it but the clerk at the Depo probably will.
Personally, I don’t see the problem. You’ve replaced birds (shrill and annoying) with cats (noble and graceful); sounds like an upgrade to me. Besides, once he finishes with the birds, he’ll get to work on the rats and snakes.
You could rig up a sprinkler attached to a motion sensor. I imagine something sparrow-sized might be too small to set it off, but a cat would be big enough. (Plus, cats are more repelled by water than birds.) Gardeners use similar techniques to keep animals out of their veggie patch.
By the way, here’s a very recent relevant articlefrom the WashPost.
Well, one thing I’ve found online is to get pellets of coyote/othercatpredator urine and sprinkle them around the area. Apparently it’ll send cats running away in terror.
Which is great, but I’ve got two little dogs that would also fall under the “coyote prey” umbrella. I’m afraid I’ll terrify my dogs as well. Don’t want to do that.
If I were you, I’d capture the cat in a trap and take it to a humane society.
I know some people won’t like that suggestion, but I think it’s better than potentially injuring the cat with a BB pellet or allowing it to continue to harrass and kill native wildlife.
Cats are NOT native to America and therefore not part of the natural ecosystem here. In fact, they are an invasive species that harms the natural habitat when allowed to roam free and breed uncontrollably.
(I know some people will be angry I suggested this. Keep in mind that I actually like cats. I have two indoor cats of my own. I just feel that it is not good for cats or wildlife to allow cats to roam around outside, so trapping it and taking it to the humane society is a lesser evil to me).
My mother had just about this exact same problem. My father and I are avid hunters, and one of the things we hunt is coyotes. I saw the cat in our yard one day, and grabbed a coyote call. I blew a couple of howls and it ran off. It came back about a week later and I did it again, and it never showed back up. You can buy relatively cheap, easy to use coyote calls. Make sure you get a howl call if you take this route though - the wounded animal calls would probably bring it running
America did have bobcats, though, and their hunting habits are fairly similar to those of roaming pet cats. It’s not quite the same as Australia, where there were no felids or remotely similar predators at all. Having said that, I certainly agree that pet cats need to be spayed or neutered, and that they shouldn’t be allowed to roam.
To the OP, is there any way you can mount the bird feeders higher up, and out of reach of any place the cat could reach?
One of the feeders is already plenty high. The other one could be raised up. However, the problem isn’t that the cat is snatching them out of the air when they’re at the feeder (or coming and going). The problem is that the birds like to poke around on the ground under the feeder, and it looks like that’s where they’re getting bagged.
Yeah, the trap-neuter-release methodwill work to keep the local cat population from increasing, to some extent, but it doesn’t do much for the bird issue. Around my parts, doves - which often feed on the ground - are the biggest prey for cats. For one thing, they’re on the ground (cleaning up what was dropped/spilled from the feeder - thanks, doves!) and for another, one of their instincts is to freeze when they sense danger. So raising the feeder wouldn’t protect them much, although it would go a long way to keep finches, chickadees, etc. up out of the way.
OK really just how stupid are your birds. I live in Chicago and I see birds dive bombing cats all the time. Robins and especially jays and grackels are very good at keeping a cat in its place.
Even as a kid when I had a cat, if one bird saw it, they’d start calling all over the place. It was easy to tell when the cat was out. The only thing my cat could ever catch was a baby bird.
Either that’s a very smart cat or you have really dumb birds, 'cause I see Chicago birds dive bombing and driving off alley cats all the time
I really really wanted to say something snarky about pellet-guns and Chinese restaurants, but in the spirit of the thread - I suggest live-trapping.
Why? I had a neighbor with a fenced-in yard of approximately the same size. He had an inside cat and his rear door is a large sliding door with maximum windowage. Stray cats would enter his yard at night and attract the attention of his indoor cat - who would proceed to run against the glass over and over until everyone in the house was awake.
He got a live trap from the Animal-Control Officer. After a month, he had trapped 5
cats, a squirrel, and a very large o’possum. Whenever he got something in the trap, he just called Animal Control and they removed it for him and took care of it.
I don’t know what he used as bait, but any Humane Society or Animal Control person would probably have a good idea of what works.
I second, or third the trap. I used to have strays running all over my back yard. I don’t like cats, and want them gone.
I got a live trap from Lowes, and put a can of tuna in it. It may take a couple days for the cats to pick up the smell of the tuna, but they will get to it, and get trapped. Then I take the cat several miles out of town and let them find a new home in a more rural area.
