Society & Culture1 min ago
Is it OK to throw shoes at cats?
OK, don't get me wrong - I like cats. The problem is we live in a fairly built up area and next door have two cats. Next door only have a small garden which they do not maintain at all and is very overgrown - hence their cats can't "chill" in their garden. As a result, these two cats have taken a keen interest in our garden which is nicely maintained and has lovely plants etc.
When I say keen interest I mean they crap all over the place, dig up any newly planted shrubs/seeds and replace them with a soggy stinky turd, knock over the bird table and kill birds and leave them. I understand that this is completely natural for a cat but clearly I don't want it to happen; they are costing us money by ruining plants and costing us time when we have to clear up their turds.
I have tried plently of tactics which have incurred expense and affected how we use our garden, namely:
1) Installed 3 sonic deterrents in tactical positions (said cats most prolific dumping ground) at a cost of �35 each - these are harmless and emit a high pitched tone when a beam is crossed. These rather expensive items seem to have been rather ineffective; rather than scaring them, they seem to have some laxative power and induce the cats into curling one out right by the deterrents.
2) Applied a cat repellent in soiled areas. At �4 a bottle this stuff should work and to be fair was slightly more successful than above mentioned deterrents. However after following the instructions on the reverse, a few days after the course has been completed the cats strike back. To use the repllent continuously would cost �8 a week so isn't an option.
3) Applied a pint of water to cats when opportuniy arises. This is certainly the most effective treatment to date it would appear; upon application, the cats do a Usain Bolt back to their gaff, and economically it is the best option so far. The problem is, I can't spend my entire life waiting
When I say keen interest I mean they crap all over the place, dig up any newly planted shrubs/seeds and replace them with a soggy stinky turd, knock over the bird table and kill birds and leave them. I understand that this is completely natural for a cat but clearly I don't want it to happen; they are costing us money by ruining plants and costing us time when we have to clear up their turds.
I have tried plently of tactics which have incurred expense and affected how we use our garden, namely:
1) Installed 3 sonic deterrents in tactical positions (said cats most prolific dumping ground) at a cost of �35 each - these are harmless and emit a high pitched tone when a beam is crossed. These rather expensive items seem to have been rather ineffective; rather than scaring them, they seem to have some laxative power and induce the cats into curling one out right by the deterrents.
2) Applied a cat repellent in soiled areas. At �4 a bottle this stuff should work and to be fair was slightly more successful than above mentioned deterrents. However after following the instructions on the reverse, a few days after the course has been completed the cats strike back. To use the repllent continuously would cost �8 a week so isn't an option.
3) Applied a pint of water to cats when opportuniy arises. This is certainly the most effective treatment to date it would appear; upon application, the cats do a Usain Bolt back to their gaff, and economically it is the best option so far. The problem is, I can't spend my entire life waiting
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Like dianew said cats hate citrus, so lemon or orange rinds could scare them off.
I use lemon polish to keep them off furniture so it may work using rinds in a garden. or put juice all round the top of your fencing so just associate your garden with that so will keep away.
I can understand your frustration, and I'm sure the cat was fine, they can withstand something like that, but it's not soemthing I would recomend on a regular basis.
Also, for my cats anyway, they are more active in summer, then tend to stay in more in winter, so you may find there cool it off in winter months, but sure that wont help the plants!
I use lemon polish to keep them off furniture so it may work using rinds in a garden. or put juice all round the top of your fencing so just associate your garden with that so will keep away.
I can understand your frustration, and I'm sure the cat was fine, they can withstand something like that, but it's not soemthing I would recomend on a regular basis.
Also, for my cats anyway, they are more active in summer, then tend to stay in more in winter, so you may find there cool it off in winter months, but sure that wont help the plants!
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Elaine - a neat suggestion. However, as I have ponted out their garden is completely overgrown with brambles, weeds, 6ft grass - it's savannaesque - there's no where to put a sandbox. It gets strimmed once a year. It's one of the reasons why it is so frustrating - they buy cats and don't provide them with any area to do cat type things in - we don't buy cats and they come and crap everywhere and dig up all the new plants because we take a bit of pride in our garden.
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triggyhippy
It appears I may have misunderstood the basic principle of your design. It would appear now that your catmine is to propel the catcrap and NOT the cat. I thought it was to propel both. Hence, your testing on a gerbil would make sense as I suspect that an average, middle aged gerbil has about the same mass as a catcrap produced by an average, middle aged cat.
Do you not feel the design would be better though if both cat and crap were propelled. Could you tweek your prototype a tad? Suggest testing on 1 gerbil and a 1kg bag of flour.
It appears I may have misunderstood the basic principle of your design. It would appear now that your catmine is to propel the catcrap and NOT the cat. I thought it was to propel both. Hence, your testing on a gerbil would make sense as I suspect that an average, middle aged gerbil has about the same mass as a catcrap produced by an average, middle aged cat.
Do you not feel the design would be better though if both cat and crap were propelled. Could you tweek your prototype a tad? Suggest testing on 1 gerbil and a 1kg bag of flour.
Oh man I totally understand your frustration. You've got a lot of feedback on here and some cold war on cat-lovers against those who may have been on a similar situation as you Chree. If you ask me I think it's better throwing the shoe at the owner!!
What's funny is that I bet the cat-lovers wouldn't think twice about ******* a fly or a spider or any other living breathing creature or insect. You'll do almost anything to an unwanted guest (guests include people), they're known as pests.
In America you can probably just shoot them.
BUT, things should always be dealt with diplomatically in my opinion, this might actually stop wars.
Throwing a shoe at the cat might not have been the wisest choice but as I said the frustration is understandable. It's also understanable on the cat-lovers point of view. What should have happened is you mentioned it to the owner before taking it into action of throwing any projectile at the furry feline!
If you have told the owner about the problem and he/she was bad mannered enough to not care or listen. Take it to the local police, if not then scoop up the poop and mail it the owner with a bill.
Otherwise, throw anything close at hand at the owner!! Or smear the poop on their windows or front lawn. I jest!
What's funny is that I bet the cat-lovers wouldn't think twice about ******* a fly or a spider or any other living breathing creature or insect. You'll do almost anything to an unwanted guest (guests include people), they're known as pests.
In America you can probably just shoot them.
BUT, things should always be dealt with diplomatically in my opinion, this might actually stop wars.
Throwing a shoe at the cat might not have been the wisest choice but as I said the frustration is understandable. It's also understanable on the cat-lovers point of view. What should have happened is you mentioned it to the owner before taking it into action of throwing any projectile at the furry feline!
If you have told the owner about the problem and he/she was bad mannered enough to not care or listen. Take it to the local police, if not then scoop up the poop and mail it the owner with a bill.
Otherwise, throw anything close at hand at the owner!! Or smear the poop on their windows or front lawn. I jest!
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1 trap them phone the rspca tell that you have to two feral cats
2 throw the droppings back over the fence
3 put food down add lacative they wont be able get to your garden.
4 get some fine fishing line stretch it around sticks and criss cross all over your the flower after you put your plants and seeds in
5 amonia in tablet bottle half fill stuff cotton wool in the neck bury up to the neck leaning slightly place a stone or a small piece of slate over them
6 you can buy some very powerful water pistols with water and cats dont let them see you its the shock tatic that works best
good luck
2 throw the droppings back over the fence
3 put food down add lacative they wont be able get to your garden.
4 get some fine fishing line stretch it around sticks and criss cross all over your the flower after you put your plants and seeds in
5 amonia in tablet bottle half fill stuff cotton wool in the neck bury up to the neck leaning slightly place a stone or a small piece of slate over them
6 you can buy some very powerful water pistols with water and cats dont let them see you its the shock tatic that works best
good luck
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