Ideas on Keeping Neighbors Cat out of your garden..?

[Luvvarkansas]

Originally Posted by ESFP

My neighbor's cat ate at our bird feeder, and not bird food. To solve this, I borrowed a "Hav-A-Hart" trap. Kitty got caught the first day. I let my dog terrorize it in the cage. He circled the caged cat and barked at it. About 1/2 hour later I opened the cage and Mr. Kitty ran home about 100 mph, never to return. I think that was humane.

LOL....very creative!

[Va-Cat]

Originally Posted by ESFP

My neighbor's cat ate at our bird feeder, and not bird food. To solve this, I borrowed a "Hav-A-Hart" trap. Kitty got caught the first day. I let my dog terrorize it in the cage. He circled the caged cat and barked at it. About 1/2 hour later I opened the cage and Mr. Kitty ran home about 100 mph, never to return. I think that was humane.

This is brilliant! No physical harm to cats and should be very effective to keep them away for at least a while.

[raven302]

Thats hillarious!

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by DC at the Ridge

Please let me know if you find a solution. I have a neighbor who feeds all the strays, they eat at her house and come to mine to use the potty and sunbathe on the roofs of the cars. Now I have to have the roof of my car sanded down and re-painted, and I have to go through the flower beds before doing any gardening to sift out the little "gifts" they leave behind. They also jump on the fence and drive the dog crazy teasing it.

DC, I think we all wish there was a way to control neighbors cats short of trapping them like our neighbor in NM used to do.

We do have 2 cats, both were inside cats until we moved here. One still rarely ventures out but the other has discovered the great outdoors. If we lived in a true neighborhood with lots of homes our indoor/outdoor girl would have remained an indoor kid, but we have forests, few houses and she never stays out long, so we do allow her to roam. I am sure she never ventures into anyone else's yard. If she ever does, I hope they will tell me.

Nita

[HomesickAussie]

The best way to keep neighbourhood cats out of your yard is to get your own cat preferable a fixed tom, since cats are territorial. If you have no cat, other cats think your yard is part of their territory.

(As for dogs keeping cats away, not all cats are afraid of dogs. My cat took on a rotweillier and came out the better of the two.)

[TKramar]

I'm willing to bet that Snake-a-way or mothballs would keep the cat away from that specific area.

[Ceece]

I wish I knew. I have cats, and they do wander the neighborhood. I thought they kept their business in our yard (we have lots of dirt in the back and I rake it up and dispose of it myself) and their litter boxes, but I just recently found out that one of them like to go down to a neighbors yard. I feel horrible but don't know what to do about it. He is too old to turn into a full time indoor kitty and would be miserable and yowl all the time. Fortunately the neighbors haven't hurt him. He (my cat) has been here longer than most of our neighbors so I suspect he developed certain habits and claimed is territories years ago.