I live in a 3-story townhouse with a deck off the second floor. There is no ground access to the deck. I also have 2 indoor-only cats who never go outside but like to sit and stare out the window at the deck.
Saturday (3 days ago) I had the deck guy over to quote me a price to wash and stain/seal the deck. I noticed that there was poop in one of my flowerpots. I cleaned it up. I thought that it might have been from the cat next door who occasionally would escape from my neighbor’s deck and cruise the length of the row of townhouses and that I had just not noticed before. (He is now sadly deceased).
Today I went out to check on the deck in preparation for having the work done and found more poop in the flowerpot along with 2 piles in the corner of the deck. I can only assume that there is a cat marking territory on my deck. I am not sure how he got up there since as far as I know, none of my neighbors has a cat and I have only seen one other cat ever on my deck besides the neighbor’s cat.
Now I am set to spend a lot of money to refinish the deck and I do not want some random animal ruining it and terrorizing my own cats.
Here are the options as I see it:
Do nothing and hope it resolves. (Not a great option since he could come back at any time)
Find some kind of motion-detecting alarm that will scare the cat away without annoying the neighborhood. (I don’t know if anything like this exists or would work)
3)Buy a humane trap and try to trap the animal. (Not sure what I would do then. I guess I would have to bring it to a shelter, see if it was a pet etc. Would cost money and time and if it turns out to be a pet the problem may recur if the owner lets him out again)
Leave out poison. (Not a valid option; this could be somebody’s pet and I don’t want to kill any animals)
You can buy a product that discourages cats from coming on your deck. I believe it’s made with clove oil and comes in a spray container. It will leave a residue, so you’ll have to live with that, but perhaps if you confine it to the sides of the flower pots, it won’t be a big problem. We had cats spraying on our porch and it seems to have cured the problem.
How about setting up a video camera to see if you can identify the phantom pooper? Once you know what it is, and possibly where it’s coming from, you can make a better decision regarding your next step.
Update:
Last night I got home and checked the deck and everything was clear. I checked again this AM at 9 and still OK. I sat down next to the window to the deck to read until the deck guys came. The deck guys came at 9:30 to start the power washing and the phantom pooper had struck again, leaving a gift in the flower box.
It wouldn’t be so bad if it hadn’t only started as soon as I paid a lot of money to have the deck redone. So far, there have been 5 attacks in 5 days.
Somebody recommended red pepper flakes around the perimeter to ward him off. Anybody heard of this?
Put a litter box out there. Cats would prefer a litter box to a less-accessible flowerpot or an open deck.
Yeah, you will have to do the work of scooping it occasionally, even if it’s not your cat. But that’s less work (or mess) than having to clean up your deck. And your cats probably are entertained watching this visitor.
Some things aren’t worth making into a battle of wills.
