Keeping Cats Out Of My Yard

[iffwalleyes]

Ok I personally hate cats with the worst way. I live in a neighborhood that has allot of them and they are always roaming around in my yard. It is very annoying to be mowing my yard and step in a pile of you know and it isn't even from a pet of mine. Is there any thing out there that works decent as a deterrent for keeping them out of the yard. I have seen some of these ultrasonic motion detectors how do they work. I suppose I could get a dog but then I would never sleep because it work be barking all the time.

[Steve Foss]

iff:

Sorry, I've never had any luck keeping cats away except with a pump air rifle. I know that's not considered kosher in these days of animal rights and political correctness.

And it's especially hard to keep them away if you feed birds. If they're feral cats, that's one thing, and I would feel no compunction about dispatching them, although a person should make DARN sure it's not some neighbor girl's puddy tat let out at night.

A lot of cat owners let their cats roam free to come home when they want, and that leads to many cats with fleas, ticks and worms, as well as lots of dead birds. And, well, let's face it, it leads to a heck of a lot of girl puddy tats left in a family way to produce more and more cats that need to find homes.

I never shot to kill, but always would pump the rifle only once and put a bb in the butt. Though I continued to see those cats around the neighborhood, only one of the bb-butt cats ever came back to my yard, and second sphere in the sphincter took care of that business.

I took no joy in any of that, believe me. And I consider my measures merciful. Where I was raised, in farm country, if you let your dog run loose and it ran livestock even once, it got a .30 caliber bullet or a shotgun slug. That was that, and nobody raised an eyebrow. Letting so-called "pet" cats run loose to wreak havoc on the birds is no better.

[iffwalleyes]

Believe me I am considering the pellet gun but would rather not take that route. If I were in the country the cats would be gone but in town it is a little different for me.

[The Grebe]

Good luck! If even one cat comes into your yard and sprays, others will follow. You can wise em up with a BB to the rear end and they won't be quick to come back, but evenyually, back they come, but they will be more wary the second time!

Also, are you sure it's cats that are taking dumps in your yard? They usually prefer sand, or dirt, so as to bury their droppings and if they do it where there is grass, they will try to rake grass over it and it is pretty easy to spot.

We have a small, nasty looking, skinny, sad sack of a dog that belongs to one of our neighbors, crummy, unkept looking critter that only a kid could love...the neighbor opens the door a crack and lets this thing out and it goes and dumps in everyones yard except it's own!

Little skinny droppings that could be mistaken for a cats leavings. Maybe you have something else using your yard besides cats?

[echotrail]

Dogs!

[heavyduty]

I've heard of people using live traps to catch the cat and when their caught if they look like someones house cat they get either hair dye or hair paint and give the cat a new hairstyle. Then their owners might think twice about leting the cat out at night.

[Gissert]

I have used live traps. If the cat has a collar, I will notify the owner, and ask that they keep their cat indoors, away from our bird feeders.

Most of the neighbors here are good about not letting cats roam, so the cats I catch are usually feral, hostile and wild. I permanently "relocate" thes animals.

[Ryan_V]

gissert is right on. Live trap, with known cats returned to owners with painted tails, and others taken care of properly. I have 2 large live traps and can't count the # of cats that have gone through them. alot is the owners fault, but you'll find a great portion of the cats running wild are ferral, which could be avoided if owners left their cats tied up and in the house. where I live has a very large ferrel cat population. My dog used to sit in the front porch of our old house and howl all night in the winter at the cats coming and going out of the sewer.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Not trying to sound cruel or mean, but where I live dogs and guns keep the cats away.

2 strays make about a million strays in a year.

[htgeren]

I've been using a paintball gun here in the cities. Works pretty darn good and dont have to worry about a pellet breaking through the skin. Teaches them pretty quick without killing them.

[The Grebe]

Leaves a message for the owners also! I hope you are using green, or in some cases brown, to blend in with the grass? Could get kind of messy if you are not a good shot!

[MercMan]

My Dad tried to do it politically correct and use a live trap. However, the first thing he caught was a skunk. That was the end of political correctness.

[HOF#13]

Steve,

You had me laughing out loud when I read your sentence, "I would feel no compunction about dispatching them." That was the nicest and most polite way to say that you could care less about killing a cat that I ever could have heard. I may have to use that one at some point! Excellent!