how can i stop cats coming into my garden?

[sweetmonkey]

ok title says it all really. i love watching the birds in our garden and find it very therapeutic however i have noticed a cat that sneaks into our garden every so often and lays in places hidden from the birds.

basically i dont want to go into the garden one morning and find a headless pigeon.

how can i stop the cat from coming in? we had a dog until feb so he always kept them out but since hes gone this cat has been coming in

throw a football at it?

You can't basically. Cats go wherever they please and poo wherever they please.

If it kills a bird though it won't leave it in your garden it will atke it home for its mummy & daddy.

Do you know who's cat it is? Does it have a bell on it's collar?

no i actually think its the viscious one that was in our garden last year.

i got home from work and it was laying on the table outside. i opened the back door and tried to get rid of it but it took a swipe at me and then my dog.

(he got attacked by a cat when he was a puppy so he was always wary of cats anyway).

ive tried throwing water on it but ususally by the time ive gone out there its gone.

just dont like it being in our garden

I've just bought this . Not tried it yet, but am told by others who have that, as long as the area isn't established as a cat's loo, it works. Once too many cats have been pooing in a garden, it is very difficult to evict them.

i havent seen any poo in the garden. just the cat

The cat considers your garden part of its territory. It will have marked this territory with scent - whether by peeing, pooing, rubbing, spraying, whatever else they do. Silent Roar puts a rival scent all over the place - that of the ultimate feline alpha male, a lion.

hmmm i may well give that a go then! thanks

Cats don't like things which are citrus so peel and orange/lemon etc and place the peelings around the perimeter of your garden. It should stop them coming in.

Failing that (and I don't indorse this) our old neighbour put spikes along the top of his fence to stop our cat jumping into his garden. He was soon asked to remove them or face paying vet bills for injuries caused!

Someone on our estate puts lifelike toy snakes in the borders of the garden to deter cats. They don't like snakes apparently.

i dont want to hurt the little thing so no spikes will be put up , just dont like seeing it waiting to pounce on the birds

Get a dog to pounce on it, play it at it's own game. I am a cat lover by the way - I have one myself, before I get reported to the RSPCA

lol i dont mind cats i do like them, just not watching them pounce on the beautiful birds im now getting in the garden

id love to get another dog but really dont think i could cope with the heart ache of losing one again

Get the biggest cheapest pot of curry/chilli powder and so a sprinkling. Makes their sensitive wee noses go bananas so they stay out in future

Message withdrawn

Cayenna Pepper spinkled in the areas he preffers? a bunch of water full balloons drop from the upstair's windows (don't hit the cat, just make him believe that God is watching over your garden)

Chilli pepper/cayenne work quite well (and on other animal pestss as well) but have two major drawbacks: they would need re-application every time it rained, and even after a few nights of heavy dew; they 'contaminate' everything that touches them, so you or a child might pick up a garden tool or toy, the pepper transfers invisibly to your hand, then you touch your eye or other sensitive part of your anatomy and it hurts! One advantage of chilli, though, is that you can spray it on fruit to keep birds and squirrels off it, without worrying about using pesticides.

I just got a device from B&Q. It contains a couple of batteries and gives of a very high pitched noise if it detects movement. (The noise is inaudable to humans).

Well I have 2 house cats myself whom I love very much, but I detest the fact that all the neighbourhood moggies use my lovely garden as a loo. I wasn't at all convinced til I saw a cat jump over the fence on to the area they use most often. It's ears went bonkers flicking back and forwards for a moment then it ran like a bat out of hell! Result!!!

No poo at all since it was installed which is amazing as there were at least 6 cats frequenting my flower beds.

Quite ewpensive at £30 but i could spend that in a month on pepper dust etc.

A hosepipe

Constuctively though - the movement sonic sensor thing worked for us but only in a very small yard - useless in a big garden. Do you know the cat's owner? If so and it's the birds you're worried for rather than having the cat around you can buy special devices for cats to wear round their necks which senses the 'pounce' movement - it sounds an alarm which give the bird just enough warning. Apparenetly they hunt mice in a dfferent way and can still catch them. Don't know what they're called but I'm sure a big pet store would be able to help you out.

PS - the sound of the movement sensor for the garden wasn't completely inaudible either and I had to switch it off when I sat out as it gave me a headache.

You def need a neighbour with a football.