OT: Question about cats

[rayrey10]

I have a problem with one of the neighborhood cats. It seems that this "young fella" thinks that the flower bed next to my front door is his new litter box. Now every time I walk out of my door I get the lovely scent of cat feces that's been sweltering in 90+ degree heat. Not so nice. My question is, is there something that I can apply, or spray, to the area that will keep the cat away?..of course without harming it or any animal.

I'm not a cat person, let alone a cat owner, but it seems kind of irresponsible to just let your animal run around the neighborhood doing whatever it wants, wherever it wants to. If let my dog run around loose, animal control would come snatch her up in a heartbeat.

 

[dominique]

Click on the smiley. I like the tiger dung... The best bet is the pet shop or the garden center.

And dont be too harsh on the owner. You don't control cats. The best you can hope is that they don't control you !

 

[Terry]

Put some moth balls in the flower bed, but not next to the stems.

 

[Toastmaker]

Yep, moth balls will work but so will sprinkling Cayenne Pepper into the area. Cats hate it and it will not harm plants/flowers.

 

[AckAck]

Simple - put my cat's litter box in your flower bed. No cat will ever poop there.

Brian

 

[Snuffy]

There's always the small dish of antifreeze ... but then that goes counter your statement not to harm said villian ...

I have a cat from the neighborhood which I am actively in combat with now, he's a male and he sprays and nothing is worse than cat urine sprayed over everything and sitting in 98 plus degree heat ... the vomit factor goes sky high ...

This cat has also taken it upon himself to claim my back patio as a place for him to escape the summer heat ... my house is concrete block construction and is very well air conditioned inside and so a certain amount of cooling transfuses through the block to the warmer outside surface. My patio is fully covered with roof so its always in the shade, and this cat has taken up "residence" by sleeping during the day with his body slammed up against the cool wall and patio floor.

My current tactic for that is sneaking around the house with a large cup of water and dousing the cat as he sleeps. It seems to be working as I have noticed the cat is less a visitor of my back patio lately.

 

[Willy]

Mrs Willy uses a combination of mothballs and powdered red pepper to keep the cats out of her flower beds. There's also some commercial stuff for it, but it's rather expensive and doesn't seem to work much better than the mothballs and pepper.

Me and the "puppies" just play a game of "get the kitty". That usually puts them on the road for a day or two.

Vickie just reminded me that the last flowerbed she set up that she put a layer of pea gravel on top of the soil. The cats haven't bothered it at all.

 

[Toastmaker]

. . . Snuffy, famous "stalker" of cats. . .

 

[Daveroo]

kinda OT..but snuffys "joke" (i hope) about the small bowl of antifreeze made me remember...i had a cat that was kinda specail to me..she had been hit by a car and i had nursed her and taken care of her..even had to teach her to urinate again..i met this gal who i thought i loved,,well this whacko was jealoous of my cat and the way i cared for the cat so she fed the cat antifreeze and killed her......the sicko....

 

[rayrey10]

Dominique, Terry, Toast - thanks guys! I have used mothballs in the past to keep squirrels from eating my rose bushes. Will definitely give it a try.

Simple - put my cat's litter box in your flower bed. No cat will ever poop there.

Brian

Brain - Do I want to know why?

There's always the small dish of antifreeze ... but then that goes counter your statement not to harm said villian ...

Snuffy - I'll save that as my very last resort

....Me and the "puppies" just play a game of "get the kitty". That usually puts them on the road for a day or two....

Willy - we play that game too with the same results...the cat always comes back.

Dave- that's just wrong!