Roaming cats

[IdyllwildAcres]

I have at least two neighbors with outside cats, we live in the mountains and somehow, so far at least, these cats have avoided the coyotes, mountain lions and bob cats. It is very clear in speaking with my neighbor that they are willing to take that risk as they do not want the cats in the house. So besides the obvious carnage to the local wild bird populations the cats are trespassers. If I leave my garage open I get cat prints on my cars, I have had one spray pee on my backdoor. These cats are about 5 years old and for 5 years I have chased them away, tossed pinecones near them to scare them off yet they still come around. This year I put up a really nice wood fence and it has slowed them down but they still trespass. Last week I saw one ON MY FENCE looking down on my chicken yard and I threw a pinecone at it and it left.

So I have decided to get carpet tack strip, paint it the color of my fence and screw it along the top of my fence (I tested a small section and it paints right in, barely noticeable). That will keep the cats and wild birds off the fence and should my chickens ever decide to fly up there hopefully they learn quick to stay off the fence. I am thinking the tack strip will likely slow down any critter attempting to scale the fence.

So here is the question, for those of you who consider free roaming cats to be predators and pests what do you do to repel them?

Thanks

Gary

 

[Zoomie]

I have a constant steady stream of cats through here, because I live on a highway on a farm, and for some reason irresponsible cat owners in the city think I'm just dying to have a ton of cats dumped here. It's really sad to watch these cats get hit by cars, starve to death, get eaten and killed by coyotes, eaten and killed by dogs, eaten and killed by hawks etc.

They have been a real problem in my garden. I wonder if people know about toxoplasmosis? Here is an article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis Anyway you DO NOT want a cat crapping in your garden. I've found that this is actually a terrific use for chicken wire: I have little chicken wire fences around my garden areas (I have raised beds) and this seems to work to keep them out. The lack of a piece of wood at the top actually really deters them from trying to jump in because they cannot stop at the top first. They are 3' in height.

As far as my chickens go, they are in fenced runs that have netting over the top for hawks, so no issues there.

Cats do kill an absolutely astounding number of birds. Here is an article about it: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/29/cats-wild-birds-mammals-study/1873871/# and for this reason, and also due to the highway and large number of predators here, my own cat is an indoor cat. I had found her out wandering, hunting and killing all the small wildlife after she had been dumped here, and although maybe that's a benefit if she was only killing house mice, she wasn't... so I took her in, and she's been a sweet pet ever since. One out of hundreds of cats I've watched die here.

Please, please, please... DON'T dump an unwanted cat out in the country somewhere. Sometimes they survive, at the expense of wildlife, but most of the time they die miserable deaths. If you can't keep your cat PLEASE take it to a shelter, they might get adopted there. Even a swift, humane death is far better than the suffering I see nearly every day here as these domestic cats desperately try to evade the predators and kill enough animals to survive.

 

[AlleysChicks]

So I know I posted in the other thread about MY barn cats that leave the chickens alone. We do have feral cats from time to time that bring in diseases and parasites since our neighbors do not keep cats, we usually shoot to kill if they cause trouble and do not move on.

We had around 50 cats at one point because people use to drop off pregnant cats or unwanted kittens. None of them ours. We kept 2 and the rest were rehomed or disappeared

Now we have 6 outside cats that hunt mice, moles and sometimes squirrels. And they generally go through cat food pretty fast.

 

[cavemanrich]

I keep feral cats because nobody else wants them. They are ALL FIXED. If not, I would overpopulate the whole STATE. They live in harmony with my chickens. Not so with my pigeons. I often see them ogle the pigeons with a tooth pick in their mouth. Occasionally I do see feathers of a bird. That REALLY TIKS me. But nature is nature.
This caveman does not kill anything.. (flies and mosquitoes excluded)

 

[Chickassan]

Paintball gun, dosent kill them but stings like a mother. Had an influx of toms last year and had to resort to painting them nothing smells worse than tom spray on a summer morning.

 

[chickens really]

Hmmm....Cats can be a bugger but yet they keep lots of other pests away too...My Cat keeps squirrels and weasels away...Also I have no mouse problems.....

 

[Howard E]

Gary:

A couple weeks ago I watched one of our barn cats (inherited from previous owners who left them when they moved) walk up to and crawl under my electric fence. This cat was long haired, but still I was flabbergasted to see it crawl under. Was the fence not on? Head made it, front shoulders made it, back made it, then as it was almost under it got its back feet under to stand up. That did it. WHAM! Cat shot forward about 50 feet before it stopped to look back at what had bit it. Then while looking back, jumped straight up in the air about 4 feet.......when it came back down, it shot over to an ash tree and up the trunk of that.........then back down........then out in the yard where it proceeded to run around in circles like a hooked bluegill trying to spit the hook.........lastly it took off towards the fence again, where it flew through it between the 2nd and 3rd wire at a full run. It didn't stop for about 30 feet, did a 90 degree turn and headed across the front yard at nearly supersonic speed. About 10 minutes later it showed up at the barn and was still howling like it had a hot poker up it's hinny. It has never been close to our front yard or that fence again. It wasn't really causing trouble, it just wanted in. No more it doesn't.

If you could put up a hot wire on top of your fence, plus a ground wire to go with it, I think your cat problems (at least the ones inside your fence) would go away. Fence would have to be constructed in such a way the cat has to touch the ground wire and hot wire at the same time. Wood isn't a good conductor, so just a hot wire with no ground wouldn't work.

 

[chickens really]

I have three working Dogs and my Cat is also an employee...I would never electrify fence here because my animals work my entire property....Cat might be making daisies on the cars but killing pests as it does it?....

 

[belindaschicks]

We trap the cats and the police in our city picks them up. I like to say I had them arrested for trespassing. look into what your city does with strays. It does not matter if you know it's your neighbors cat you gave them a warning they choose to allow their animal to be a wander thus its a stray.

 

[cavemanrich]

We trap the cats and the police in our city picks them up. I like to say I had them arrested for trespassing. look into what your city does with strays. It does not matter if you know it's your neighbors cat you gave them a warning they choose to allow their animal to be a wander thus its a stray.

what do you think they do with them????