Help me keep the stray cats away~long

[cockadoodlemom]

Stray cats keep getting under my house and having kittens. The problem is they leave them and don't always come back to take care of them. Earlier this year I was bitten by one after trying to get it out from under the porch where 3 of my dogs had them pinned. Last november we kept smelling something gross and finally I could not handle anymore and was going to pack up and go to my Mom & Dad's but DH got under the house near the gross smell and sure enough he found it. It was disgusting and you could not tell how many or what they were. Coco my toy poodle kept looking in the two vents in my room that are close together because one is in the bathroom and the other just on the other side of the bathroom door. He also kept looking and listening near my huge tub, well last night dh went to take the trash up the road and when he came back what does he hear? kittens. He found two who were wet and muddy so he got them and put them in one of our pet taxi's. He looked for more but he couldn't hear or see them. My ds goes out there to check on the two this morning before school and comes in and says I hear more so he get the light and looks under and sure enough he found two more. They are only about 3 wks old (time Coco has been looking and listening and dh called him stupid)
I need to know if you have any suggestions on how to keep them away. When I take the kittens to the pound I am going to see if they will loan me a trap. I do not like cats but I do not wish them any harm. Please be nice or don't reply because I would not be rude to you. Our home has underpinning all around it and even the porch. Thank you for your time

 

[BantyHugger]

I think your best bet is to keep trapping and fixing the mothers. Eventually they should stop showing up.I know you don't like cats but, another option would be to get a large tom cat. He would scare off most other cats if he is territorial like ours are.
Good Luck-
Mariah

 

[AhBee01]

You might have to put hardware cloth up around where they are getting in. I don't know of any cat deterrent other then your dog being tied up there where they are getting in.
I hope somone else comes up with a better solution.

 

[sesa]

You need bigger dogs

 

[debilorrah]

We have that problem with a dog... Once we get the puppies out we are putting chicken wire ove rand around all spaces that go under the house.

 

[JennsPeeps]

You need to find out where the cats are getting access to your crawl space and then block it off.

 

[redhen]

Good luck keeping them away! The only way i was able to do it was to keep trapping them and bring them to a shelter or find them homes.

 

[countrybum]

Get a live trap, place can food inside and catch them. Drop them at any animal control office. Easy and they are gone.

 

[MagsC]

We had the same problem when we had a trailer. There were several times we had to open up a wall by the hot water heater because some cat had their kittens in there.

We ended up catching as many as we could and got a discount from the local veterinarian for spaying.(Humane society wouldnt take them because they said they were feral?)

 

[allmypeeps]

As far as I know in most states BY LAW if an animal is on your property w/out identifaction you can remove it and bring it to the shelter.

The shelter does not want to deal with an infinate amount of incomming kittens so they may send someone out to trap adult cats for you. (there is not a MAD rush to adopt kittens for a fee...when there are so many being given away for free....)

I have cable and watch alot of animal planet...."ANIMAL COPS HOUSTON" actually!!!! Don't know if its close to you, but the animals cops on there travel miles and miles so call your ASPCA and they should come out and catch all cats/kittens and be sure they are altered/vaccinated/felvfiv tested and found appropriate lives. (And maybe I will see you on their next TV show!!!)

A cat can have up to 4 litters in 1 year. They can have 6 or more kittens each time. They can reach sexual maturity as early as 4 months of age. And most cats live at least 10 years, some over 20 years.....you do the math!!!!!!!! Thats ALOT of cats!!!

Get rid of them now before its too late!!!

....the more cats the more diseases they catch and spread...if they are under your house and in your yard they are spreading fleas/tapeworms, earmites, coccidia, giardia, roundworms and contaminating your soil with it for your dogs to catch...if you have children and they touch the dirt one of these germy cats has peed/pood on your kids can be comming in contact with all this stuff. Cats are dirty dirty dirty dirty!

You may think you are being selfish, and I know you are not wanting anything bad to happen to them, but do what it takes to get them, not just out of your yard, but off the streets PERIOD! It will only get WAAAY worse....male cats can smell a female in heat for miles or something....so you could potentially have cats from all over visiting you!

best wishes

e