Cat Problem

[Garden Manager]

Some of you may recall My 'problem' of birds not visting my bird feeders, and food put out going to waste. Well I still have a problem. Despite changing food regularly my feeders have been getting little attention. I first thought that perhaps there was still too much natural food about and they just werent interested. Then the weather got colder, so I thought tnow they would want m y food. Still no. Then figured maybe the food i was putting out was 'off' somehow and bought in some fresh. There was some feeding but then the real problem occured:-

Cats! (not ours) It seems one in particular  likes to sit in the hedge near our feeders. I observed one go into the hedge and not reappear  - clear proof of what the problem is. Now the feeders arent right next to the hedge but close enough to provide cover for the birds (the sparrows particularly love the hedge), so for the birds its ideal, but so too for the cats apparently.

I dont really have an alternative location for the feeders so what can i do to keep the cats away and get the brds back feeding again? Or is it hopeless and I have to move the feeders?

Thanks

[Garden Manager]

[supersprout]

Hi GC, this is from 'A Miscellany of Garden Wisdom' :o - worth a try?

Two things to avoid having in the garden if you really want to discourange cats are a bird feeder, for obvious reasons, and the aromatic herb catmint, which cats adore. To rid the garden of cats, try this ingenious method:

Cut up an old hose-pipe into two-foot lengths and place them around the garden. Trespassing cats that are causing a nuisance will assume the tubes are snakes and keep well away.

[Garden Manager]

Hi GC, this is from 'A Miscellany of Garden Wisdom' :o - worth a try?

Two things to avoid having in the garden if you really want to discourange cats are a bird feeder, for obvious reasons, and the aromatic herb catmint, which cats adore. To rid the garden of cats, try this ingenious method:

Cut up an old hose-pipe into two-foot lengths and place them around the garden. Trespassing cats that are causing a nuisance will assume the tubes are snakes and keep well away.

Worth a try I guess, thoguh i doubtmy bright green hosepipe would fool any cat into thining it was a snake.

I am thinking i may well end up having to move the feeders, although again by the time the birds get to know where they are the cats probably will also! It is so upsetting, we used to get so many birds on the feeders and now hardly any, just at the time of year when they should be queueing up to eat the food put out for them.

A couple of the cats are a right old nuisance at the moment. i caught one this morning starting to dig away a nice neat mound of mulch protecting a dahlia, to use it as a toilet. it didnt get very far before i spotted it and scared it off.

There is one way to keep cats out of the garden, i have realised, and that is to have one of your own! Cats are so territorial no other cats will come near the garden. if your cat is then trained from an early age not to go for birds then it will become in fact the birds friend, not foe. We found this with our last cat. She was 'trained' not to hunt birds and as a result the birds tollerated her and werent too afraid when she was out in the garden. This also kept other cats out of the garden. Since we lost the cat to old age a year ago last april, all the other local cats have had free reign in the garden - leading to the current problem. Getting another cat to solve it is just not an option right now.

[Yellow Petals]

We are having the exact same problem, Richard.  It's driving us nuts.  The cats are so flipping cheeky too. 

Anyway, I have been told that if you know somebody well enough who has a dog, let their dog loose in your garden (obviously not whilst the cats are there!) and leave it to have a wee or two around the garden.  Hopefully right in the troublesome spots! 

We are lucky that my sister has a dog who will be more than willing to run around the garden thinking he is marking his territory but helping us to keep those da*n cats out. 

Unforunately we can't do it at the moment though because the fence is still damaged at the back and he'll probably go out the back door and straight through the hole never to be seen again!  :o  In the meantime we've bought one of those powerful super soaker water jet pistols and it's aimed right for them  ;D >:(

[Garden Manager]

Unfortunately, we donthave a friend with a dog - but out next door neighbours do (not friendly with them though). Somehow I think  a dog would cause more problems than it solves, by digging up plants, knocking stuff over, making mess, and probably scaring the birds off just as effectively. Depends on the dog i guess, so it might work.

I should add here that the cat in question (or one of them at least) has got more adventurous and has learnt to start climbing the pine trees that the bird feeders are attatched to. Not right up to the feeders but close enough to be a threat.

[Emagggie]

I have 2 cats, 1 dog and a bird feeder (and catnip ;D) in my garden. My feeder is like a shepherds crook that you can add to, to hang feeders on,the only sort to have with cats around for me. As you say, cats on home ground aren't too much of a problem, but the BIG SQUIRT is a good way to deter any cat from most anything.(harmless, too).

[simon404]

I used to have problems with cats until I got an ultrasonic cat scarer (http://shopping.rspb.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/rspb/R0123) It works a treat, no problem with cats any more, I got mine for a tenner off ebay. Hope this helps.  :)

[Yellow Petals]

Simon, thanks for that, very interesting.  I too have just looked on ebay and seen some for just under £15.  Think I might order one. 

It's definitely made a difference in your garden? We've just noticed that the blue tits are roosting in our nest box which usually means they will nest and naturally I want to shift the cat problem way before that.  There are two cats from the neighbourhood who seem to sit in our garden on a regular basis these days and I want them gone!

Thanks
Sam

[simon404]

Yes it's definately worked for me  :)