Cats...So far, so good!

12 years ago

Well, a couple of years ago a neighbor got some cats and didn't fix them (grrrrr). They ended up having kittens in our shed! This happened to another neighbor also!
The Humane Society had a deal that you could get your ferrell cats spayed/neutered and vaccinated for free then returned for "barn cats". We trapped a bunch and kept one for a gopher cat. The neighbor, however, kept several! They have all converged on my property because I feed mine outside (she won't come inside) earlier than she does!
So I've had to cover all unused beds for the winter and put wire on beds that I used for the winter.
We recently got a load of bamboo from freecycle, and while trimming the side shoots, I tried scattering them where I had planted some flowers in kind of a criss cross pattern.So far the cats have not disturbed those areas! AND we're talking fresh dirt which they LOVE to poop in! I stick 5 or 6 sticks in the ground like a fence, then criss cross them on any un-planted dirt.
The bamboo looks fairly natural and it takes years to break down! So you can pick it up when it's not needed and re-use it for several years!
As I said...So far, so good! Nancy

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Comments (6)

User
12 years ago
As long as it doesn't sprout!
AiliDeSpain
12 years ago
I have a hard time keeping my cats out of my beds until the plants are somewhat large. I lay sections of cattle panel fencing over them until the plants get established. It's the only thing that works for me!
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ceth_k
12 years ago
Guess the cats don't want to poop where they cannot sit. If they can poop while standing up then we will have real trouble.
hudson___wy
12 years ago
Haha - you are trying to get rid of cats and we are trying to get more cats around to control the vole population!

Our problem was that our dog chased the Farrell cats out of our yard so the Vole population increased causing damage to our lawn, garden and barnyard. We like cats but mostly because they like voles! We tried capturing a Ferrell kitten and tried to domesticate her - that didn't work - her instincts were not trainable.

We solved the problem by getting a female kitten (Muffy) from a neighbor and raised and trained her for our needs. We feed her and she has a winter heated house on an elevated platform (about 5' high) out under our shed so dogs etc can't eat her food and she is not allowed in the house (water sprayed in her face upon attempted entry cured that), introduced her to our dog and trained our dog to get along with her and not chase her (we have an Aussie and one scolding was all it took)! They are pals now. Our cat does not bother the garden or poop in our raised beds - it must be that there is plenty of space in the field for that?

Problem solved - our dog keeps the Farrell/neighbor cats (she still loves to chase away Farrell/neighbor cats) off the place and our cat tries to keep the voles under control. We need another cat or two though because we have a large yard and one cat isn't enough. We let her have a litter before we get her neutered so we can train another cat or two. This dog & cat combination is working great for us and the grandkids love to come see the kittens - we won't have any problem giving away this litter after we keep the kittens we want!!

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ceth_k
12 years ago
OMG the kittens are so cute and cuddly !
User
12 years ago
Cats are very good on voles. Mine are inside/outside cats and living in doesn't blunt their predacious edge.

Getting old does, however, alas.