I hate my town (stray cats and corrupt bureaucrats)

[cary 1973]

Water the one who talked about the motion activaied water best idea cats HATE water and they are smart and fast learners and its inexpensive also as long as ground is wet most cats will walk a mile around wet ground then put one paw on it is your best and bet prob the cheapest too

 

[animallover505]

DO NOT DROWN A CAT. It is animal abuse, as well at absolutely terrifying to the animal, and extremely painful.

 

[Justin Foss]

I had thought that the motion activated water thing was a pretty good idea also. Although it would be tricky to set it sensitively enough to keep your chickens from setting it off. The feral cats we have here make no bones about wet ground whatsoever. Knittycat of you live in a town it is unincorporated, a city is incorporated. Police fire maintenance etc. if its s town it falls under county guidelines, unless your developer has set up CCRs. Best of luck to you!

 

[animallover505]

Sit outside with a water pistol, squirt every cat you see.

 

[Knittycat]

Sit outside with a water pistol, squirt every cat you see.

I may need to invest in a super soaker.

Fill it with a 50/50 vinegar water mixture to really drive my point home.

 

[Baymule]

Knittycat, my next door neighbor also feeds all the feral cats here. They breed like rats only with a LOT more noise, always at night and always under the bedroom window.

I live in a small town with close neighbors. I could not shoot one even with a pellet gun without being seen and getting reported for animal cruelty. My chickens are in a Fort Knox coop and hoop run. But I do have a Great Pyernees who absolutely hates cats. The cats stay out of the back yard, but act like they own the front yard. They pee on the porch, STINKS!

They crap all over the yard.

They walk right down the fence line right under the GP's nose. She goes nuts barking at them all night. And all day. We have learned to tune out the barking, I don't care if anyone else likes it or not. I hate those stupid cats! Your best bet is to get a dog. Dogs, even LGD's don't bond with chickens like they do with goats, sheep, etc. But they can be taught not to chase the chickens. Even though ours are in a coop and run, the Pyerenees winds up protecting them because she won't let anything in our yard.

 

[Chikenbutwut]

I may need to invest in a super soaker.

Fill it with a 50/50 vinegar water mixture to really drive my point home.

I was the one who suggested the motion detection sprinkler. I think it's worth a try if you feel like investing the money.

There's a sprinkler on Amazon for $66.28 that has a infrared sensor and detects an animals heat and movement. That one's made by Havahart. It says it fires a startling burst of water to scare an animal away and defends an area of 1,900 sq. ft. There's another kind on Ebay for around $60 that detects movement too. It's called the ScareCrow Outdoor Animal Motion Activated Sprinkler...it's made by Contech. There's some for $50 too. There may even be cheaper ones, you'd just have to search around and see what you can find.

Just type motion activated sprinkler into Yahoo or Google and you'll get a bunch of hits.

These seem like they would be great to protect your flock from other predators trying to get to them as well. Plus it's humane, so you wouldn't have to worry about getting in trouble with your city for using it.

Hope this helps!

 

[Chikenbutwut]

Oh, some rescues do a catch, spay and neuter, release programs. Maybe if you tell them of the problems, they could relocate the cats? I don't know if they would, it was just a thought.

 

[Farmer Brian]

Oh, some rescues do a catch, spay and neuter, release programs. Maybe if you tell them of the problems, they could relocate the cats? I don't know if they would, it was just a thought.

Catch, spay, neuter programs don't relocate the animals, they drop them back to where they were trapped. It just stops the breeding, and the ferals get their shots. It doesn't solve the problem.
If the programs were to relocate, they may get charged with abandonment. And it's kinda foolish to start a problem in someone else's neighborhood. Feral nuisance cats should be caught and euthanized, they are wild animals that adapt to human handouts, spreading disease, preying on native fauna, and making a mess with latrines all over the place.

 

[missnu01]

If people didn't like cats there wouldn't be this much issue...but a lot of people don't see them as predators, they are cute little kitties...Cute little kitties that will chase down and maul or kill anything they think they can catch and eat, or rip apart!
They should euthanize the strays...but they probably never will, too many bleeding hearts out there fighting on the side of cats. There are also much bigger issues in this world than the stray cat population, and routine humane euthanasia might free up some people to come up with answers for some larger problems on the scale of things. Not to mention people start setting out their unwanted felines with the feral colonies thinking that they will get fixed, and fed and what not...when in reality fluffy and spike will pop out 30 kittens that will become a feral nuisance and their kittens will have kittens of their own before the spay crew comes back around. There is no answer other than large scale cat euthanasia. People need to think in a real world sense without wearing their "it's a cute house pet goggles"