Stray Cats!!!

Cookie said:

B. But that stuff in the pet stores you spray around to keep cats from spraying places. I know this works, cause we had a cat who once took a liking to the glass block window where, the dryer was vented out of. It was so bad, that we tried everything. It used to run down the glass block.

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So, that's what that was ... I cleaned the basement windows one day only to find this white dried substance splattered all over it the next day! What gives? Makes sense because one night I looked up and saw this cat staring down at me ....scared the snot out of me. Heh

Jason

Gouranga said:

Put out a flyer in mailboxes near your home. letting anyone with outdoor cats know that if their animal goes missing they can be picked up at the pound and they can pay a small fee to get them. Then call animal control. They will put out a trap, catch offending felines and cart them away.

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Skip the notice. Less chance of repeat offenders.

Lakee911 said:

Skip the notice. Less chance of repeat offenders.

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That sure sounds like you are willing to chance having someones, (a child maybe) pet euthanized to solve your problem.

This community is full of animal lovers. This is always the evacuation challenge during fires such as last week
Special ranches were designated for all the animals here.

We are also a small rustic community that always tries to solve our personal issues here locally without calling the sherriff or dropping a dime on someone.

If I had a neighbors cat picked up just because he was pissing on someones begonias---well you can believe I would have something much more serious than a cat problem on my hands....

All our shelters here in the high desert of SoCal are "NO KILL" and are advertised as such.

We have an abundance of Pitbulls here. Pitbulls are only trained to be mean. Kick em starve em and you will have one vicious beast.

You get what you put into them. Mine are lap dogs and are extremely affectionate albeit fantastic sentrys as well.

Beginning and during the 1980's crack cocaine and gangs (Bloods & Crips primarily) ruled the streets of Los Angeles.

It was a gang status symbol to have snarling Pits in da' hood.
They bred them as attack dogs to guard inventory & intimidate.
Prior to 1980 Pits were rare.

In any event these dogs/owners migrated here over 20+ years as folks moved out of LA.
Now the offspring are all over the desert-near Palm Springs. Adoptions are slow because people are afraid of them as they are misinformed.
The skittish or abused ones are obviously not adoptable unless you're a pro.

I can appreciate Mike's sentiments on the flyers. I grew up and spent half my life in place just like that.
But now I'm 1000 miles from there, living in the burbs, in a subdivision. As sad as it sounds, you don't know your neighbors, and for the most part.......don't want to!
I've been in my house for ten years, and of the 50 closest houses in the neighborhood, I'm in the top 3 for seniority. The few that have been here for awhile, we are close with. We know thier pets, and wouldn't react any other way than what Mike is talking about.

I can't believe this thread is still going!!!

Well, got home yesterday and everyone in the neighborhood got a letter from the city code enforcement officer. Turns out there have been a HUGE amount of complaints to them involving free roaming cats and retards letting their animals use others front yards as toilets.
I would not be surprised if animal control did not start a round-up soon. I had absolutely nothing to do with it so any guilt I would have had with my neighbors herd of cats is absolved.

prashster said:

I saw a nifty sprinkler at Lee Valley that has a motion sensor on it. When anything gets near it: SPLASH! It was intended for geese, but I bet this 'sprinkler scarecrow' will work on your cats.

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Oh geez, I have to get one of these - does it also work at night? I assume it works with a sensor but does the sensor pick up movement day and night both? We only have a problem with 'critters' at night....

Ok, I also have to tell you guys what we did when we had cats using our front flower bed as a litter box, and not just urine. I had been told that once they start doing that, you can't break them of it, they just keep coming back to the same spot. First, we put in some mulch thinking they wouldn't 'go' if it wasn't dirt - wrong. They went anyway and used the mulch to cover it. Next we tried a repellent that kept everything away but the cats. Third way worked like a charm. We took out all the mulch, then hubby took sheets of plywood, cut them into smaller sections that would fit between the bushes, then spent the better part of an afternoon pounding nails into them. When he was finished, we laid the boards all over the beds, pointed ends up, then covered them with stones. The stones came to just below the tips of the nails, so to look at the beds you wouldn't see anything, but if a cat tried to step in there, it couldn't without getting poked. Never hurt anything but it sure kept the cats out. This worked much better than the Humane Society's advice about setting a trap and catching the cat - we caught a skunk instead. That's a whole 'nother story.....

what cats dont like

Cats dont like the smell of ....mothballs....

the kind you use to preserve clothes......

they will avoid them like the plague....

just go buy a box for 2 bucks and see what happens....

but they do have a tendency to kill everything around them..

Cat found in crawl space

Nails? Do you really think they did not hurt the cats pads?
Your flowers must be worth an awful lot to you.

I had a problem with a very large dog pooping all over my front yard. I bought this very expensive and very stinky citronella and garlic formula to spray on the grass to make the area undesirable to the dog. Didn't work.

They sell coyote and wolf urine, etc., but I moved away before I tried that stuff.

You could also put up a little chicken wire fence for a few weeks until the cats get in the habit of going elsewhere, and then take it down.

Stray Cats

I have a cat and he poops by my corn in the veggie boxes. So I spent a little time seeing what would distract him. Plant catnip at the other end of the yard. He goes there now, not in my vegtables. Other cats come into the yard as well, but they all head for the catnip. Put it far far away in your yard.

If you see a cat, keep coins in a can and shake it as you run toward the cat, screaming cat profanity helps. They will stay away for about a week, but then be back.

A dog doesn't actually help. My neighbors have a dog, and my cat pees on their veggies as well.

Some say pepper works. If you leave the poop in place and put cayenne pepper on it, at least when they come back they will sneeze. Cats don't like to sneeze.

But this is an age old problem and I have never heard anything that really really works. Mothballs might, who knows. I have heard that, but think it might actually work better for cockroaches.

Cats are more difficult to get rid of than cockroaches.

Dear cookie, do you get the impression you're all by yourself here? First of all, you need to read posts a little better - this wasn't a recent incident, this was years ago, and it didn't hurt the cats because they didn't go in there. Why in the world do you think they would? Do you think a cat is going to go ahead and walk on something that pokes it? I don't think so. I think trapping a cat, taking it to the humane society, and having them put it to sleep - which is what the humane society told us to do - was alot worse. We didn't want to kill the cats, hurt the cats, nothing, we simply wanted them out of our beds. And no, it wasn't my flowers I was concerned about - again, read a little better before you post your comments - I was 'concerned' about the smell in the front of my house because some so-called 'animal lover' thought it was better to let their cat roam free all over the neighborhood, not knowing where it was or what it was doing, peeing and crapping in people's flower beds, picking up fleas and passing them onto other people's pets, you know, wonderful things like that. Yeah, I got real tired of not being able to open up my kid's bedroom windows because it stunk out there; I got tired of every frigging day finding cat shit in the dirt outside; I got real tired of these wonderful cat owners opening their doors and caring so little about other people's property that they not only didn't know where their frigging cat was, but didn't much care either, because if they cared where their cat was, it would be inside. Animal cruelty? Give me a break. Animal cruelty is letting your male cat run free and impregnating every female cat in it's path so hey, now we have all these kittens that nobody wants. Animal cruelty is cat owners who have this so-called 'pet' but they're too lazy to take care of it so they let it fend for itself. Yeah, those are wonderful 'animal lovers'. I'd like to see you, just once, go out in your flower bed, reach in to pull some weeds, and have your hand sink into a pile of cat crap instead. You go do that, then come back on here and tell all of us it was ok. Fortunately, this is something that never happened to me because we made sure it didn't. Police? Oh please. Hubby works for the sheriff's dept., trust me, there was nothing wrong with what we did. As a nice officer of the law will tell you, it's our property and we have a right to protect it. You and your vet friend need to read up on exactly what constitutes 'animal cruelty', so next time you decide to get up on a soapbox and dump your opinion on someone who didn't ask for it, at least you'll have your facts straight.

Animal cruelty is wrong no matter how you try to justify it. Here are a few facts which apply to most states:

What is the legal definition of animal cruelty in Georgia?
1) Cruelty to Animals (misdemeanor charge): a person commits the offense of cruelty to animals when he/she causes death or unjustifiable physical pain or suffering to any animal by an act, an omission, or willful neglect. First offense of this Code (16-12-4), upon conviction, may be punished by max. of one year imprisonment and/or a fine not to exceed $5,000.00 or both. If 2nd or subsequent offense results in death of an animal confinement for 3-12 months and /or fine maximum $10,0000.00 which will not be suspended, probated, or withheld.
a) Willful neglect means the intentional withholding of food and water required by an animal to prevent starvation or dehydration.
b) Adequate food and water means food and water that is sufficient in an amount and appropriate for the particular type for animal to prevent starvation, dehydration, or a significant risk to the animal’s health from a lack of food or water.
c) Humane care of animals means, but is not limited to, the provision of adequate heat, ventilation, sanitary shelter, and wholesome and adequate food and water, consistent with the normal requirements and feeding habits of the animal’s size, species, and breed.
2) Aggravated Cruelty to Animals (felony charge): A person commits the offense of aggravated cruelty to animals when he or she knowingly and maliciously causes death or physical harm to an animal by rendering a part of such animals’ body useless or by seriously disfiguring such animal. Aggravated cruelty: confinement for 1-5 yrs and /or $15,000.00 fine.
a) Local law enforcement (county sheriff’s department) enforces the criminal provisions of Cruelty to Animals.

I would believe walking on boards with nails would constitute physical harm. I don't think owning the property would eliminate you from the law.

man ohh man ,this is the ticket!!

prashster said:

I saw a nifty sprinkler at Lee Valley that has a motion sensor on it. When anything gets near it: SPLASH! It was intended for geese, but I bet this 'sprinkler scarecrow' will work on your cats.

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i have played this game short of killing these little monsters and i own 3 cats of myown and i... have tried everything out there! i cannot tell you just how good the cats i have are and until we moved to this mobilehome court i never thought the problem could get so bad ....and thatsB~A~D!!! everything out here in the world wide web about what to do about the problem of feral cats is nothing but abunch of bunk.
nothing worked and i blame the city for letting things get this bad without a plan in place and animal lovers who will not own these creepy things themselves ,but will feed them so they can damage others property over and over and over !!! you hear you DIMWITS !!!! you want to feed them...take them to your home and do so !!! this device is without a doubt the most effective way i have seen yet and i bought it the minute i heard it mentioned...i don't care what it costs i want some sleep!!! i want my own animals to relax once again and not have to mark their territory that they should never have to do in the first place !!! because ''they are smart'' i want to not smell wee ~ wee all over my home over and over and over !!!! i want to stop stoopidly chasing these critters, trapping these monkeys, going for farm rides,buying smelly trap food and trapping opossums, i like opussums, i want to not wake up at all hours of the night to re bait the trap and box up critters covered in their own feces because they are scared to death from being untame and wild. you avocates have no idea just what it is to deal with a pest that you feed and and sic on your fellow humans to have to deal with and you wait to sue them if your plan to drive them crazy has worked and they whack out and hurt one on your watch. i have real cats !! you...created a monster and its you who needs to be sued !!! the absolute best way to stop the feral population is not to feed them and if you feed them then ''you '' are then responsible for any and all damages ''your'' animals cause... you understand this !! i have had it !! and i will not stop untill you who feed them to live breed and run amok are held as responsible as you hold the rest of us responsible for their well being....now hows that!!!
until then, i am relieved that i do not have to resort to going over the edge legally speaking and i can obey the law and stay out trouble...
i do not like to see things happen to unwanted animals which i have seen some truly horrible things live and in the news...but still at the same time ignorant do gooders whom blantantly feed these animals and thumb their activist rights noses at the rest of us is going to end your days ''are'' numbered!!!
again this devise is a godsend and people who feel as i feel have had our prayers answered.

animal cruelty and bobbytrapping to cause harm is wrong i totally agree.
wild cats running amok is wrong too.
we support your way but you gotta support our way too.
carelessly feeding these things is not right...trap them and put them at your house if you want them free ranging so badly.

my apologies to the members of this forum ,i hope i wasn't too over the rainbow on this topic. its just in all the years that i know of , no one has ever come up with a commonsense solution and most cities are just ignoring the problem unless they get some poor schlub in court who did lose his mind and got caught breaking a cruelty law. and i have found nothing to give me peace of mind untill i read prashster's comment. and then everything changed. thanx more than you know! lookn0ver toad'ja'so.

At one time, I had problems with cats using a planter as a litter box. Someone recommended spinkling black pepper in the planter. The cats lick their paws and don't like the pepper. I had extra red pepper that I used. It seemed to work.

I have a feeling it is pointless to respond to you. This is more a hypothetical question, not soliciting an answer; just suggesting you to think what this society would be like without advocates. That would be a bigger problem than your cats.

Hey Cookie! Have you still got that rabbit? If so, train it to be an attack rabbit.

http://southernfood.about.com/library/weekly/aa980111.htm

The original Brunswick Stew was made with squirrel, but cat is a good substitute. You get more meat from a cat so you don't need as many.

You could print up some recipes with cat substituted for squirrel and drop them off at the homes of the owners of the offending cats. A nice touch would be to have a picture of a couple of cats hanging like rabbits being brought in from the hunt.