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S/O Best way to keep cats out of yard


skimomma
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What has worked for you?

I need to keep a neighbor cat out of my yard and especially off of my deck, ASAP.  I have another thread discussing a terrible fight my two indoor cats had due to getting all riled up by a neighbor cat outdoors.  The incident took place on my deck which has a sliding glass door.  I have put up paper across the bottom of those windows so the cats cannot easily see each other.  But there are counter tops on both sides of the door and the cats (who are still being re-introduced after the incident) will hop on those counters and can see over the paper.  This is the door we use to enter and exit the house so we cannot completely cover it.  We also have 14 other windows.  Again, covering them all is not really an option.  It is over 80 degrees here and we have no AC.  We must be able to get air through the windows.

We live in a city neighborhood on a corner lot.  There is no way to keep them from seeing other cats from afar but I'd like to keep them off the deck and out of the yard, if possible.  Since the incident, this cat keeps returning and seems to think this is funny.  There are no laws about cats here.

I see sprays at my local feed store.  Has this worked for people?  What parts of deck/yard do you spray?  How often?  Other options that don't require frequent application?

 

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Well, I have an idea that will probably not be popular, but I know that a former neighbor used this method and it worked to keep several roaming cats away from his property.

Get a live trap that will not hurt the cat. When the cat is trapped leave him in there for a few days the release it. The cat is likely to not return for a while anyway.

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1 hour ago, City Mouse said:

Well, I have an idea that will probably not be popular, but I know that a former neighbor used this method and it worked to keep several roaming cats away from his property.

Get a live trap that will not hurt the cat. When the cat is trapped leave him in there for a few days the release it. The cat is likely to not return for a while anyway.

The cat belongs to the old lady across the street.  I am quite sure she would be very upset if I temporarily restrained her cat.  She brings her cat in every night.  I have already talked to her about how this is causing trouble but she says her kitty MUST go out and that it is not illegal.  And she is right, it is not illegal in my city so I think I am going to have to handle this one some other way.

Also, while this is the only cat giving us trouble at the moment, wandering cats have historically been quite common in my neighborhood so I imagine we will have to deal with this again.

Edited by skimomma
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3 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

I'd try a motion activated sprinkler. Orbit and Scarecrow are brands I hear about, but I don't have any personal experience.

 

I saw those and they look super cool.  However, I don't have an outdoor faucet....which is too bad because this could solve several other problems as well (assuming skunks also wouldn't like it).  We would like to install an outdoor spigot of some sort but it is not in the financial cards at this time.  We currently run a hose out an open door from our basement when we need to wash a car or something but this would not be secure overnight or when we are not home.

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Cats hate certain smells and you can spray your entire deck with a cat repellent spray: make a DIY spray (that is also humane, which is why I am not recommending the one with cayenne pepper in it!) and spray it on your deck and that should help. I am currently spraying this because some large feral cats are pooping all over my raised garden bed 😞

Another idea is to buy small pots of rosemary and leave it near the deck door - they hate that smell as well.

 

 

Edited by mathnerd
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1 hour ago, skimomma said:

Is it working for you?

I haven’t seen them in a week since I used it. But that could mean anything because it has not been too long.

I also added some cooking oil and some peppermint oil to my spray bottle so that the spray coated all my plants.

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I'm sorry you have to deal with this cat problem!  My cat is a housecat, too, and I'm thankful I've never had this problem.  But that also means that my suggestion may be totally worthless!

How does the cat get onto your deck?  If there's just one opening to access your deck, could you attach a child safety gate to keep the cat away?  My neighbors installed an accordian-type wooden gate at the top of the stairs that lead to their front porch to keep their dogs from running off the porch when their front door is open.  

Could you put a motion-sensor garden statue that makes noise near the door.  I don't own one, but I saw an owl on Amazon that has flashing eyes and makes a noise that might scare the cat.  Even if it doesn't scare the cat,  if you can hear it in the house you could run out and shake something noisy at the cat...bang on some pots...and maybe use a squirt gun, too?   

Maybe you need to put some garden shepherd's hooks in flower pots so you can hang a bunch of windchimes near your sliding door.  If the windchimes don't deter the cat maybe they'll annoy the cat's owner across the street, especially if you go outside and "play" them with a shovel whenever the cat comes around.  

 

 

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