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Stray cats here do not cover, but the soil is hard due to drought. We have tried several things. Coffee grounds seem to work on the dirt, and I have heard if you ask at a coffee house, they would be a good source. Essential oils, pricey, but they worked for a short time. It seems if you can get them going elsewhere, they stay gone, at least for quite a while. Vinegar did not work. Citrus peels did not work. Red pepper and red pepper flakes did not work. Scat mats, if they move them, have really helped.
What worked along the house years ago was burying the dog's poop along the edge of the house where the neighbor's cat wanted to go. It did not want to go there bad enough to dig through that. It took a couple weeks, yeah, kind of gross but it stopped the cat from coming over permanently, and just two weeks of burying dog poop. Worth it!
We have the TNR program here with hundreds of stray, not feral, and I will be glad when I get out of here!
Hello everyone and thanks for the responses. I think we have to set up a camera to check and see which type of wildlife is going through the backyard and leaving the logs at night.
And also to deal with the cats that visit the yard (I have seen the cats sleeping, walking, etc.) during the day.
The Orbit looks like the perfect item for our backyard
Stray cats here do not cover, but the soil is hard due to drought. We have tried several things. Coffee grounds seem to work on the dirt, and I have heard if you ask at a coffee house, they would be a good source. Essential oils, pricey, but they worked for a short time. It seems if you can get them going elsewhere, they stay gone, at least for quite a while. Vinegar did not work. Citrus peels did not work. Red pepper and red pepper flakes did not work. Scat mats, if they move them, have really helped.
What worked along the house years ago was burying the dog's poop along the edge of the house where the neighbor's cat wanted to go. It did not want to go there bad enough to dig through that. It took a couple weeks, yeah, kind of gross but it stopped the cat from coming over permanently, and just two weeks of burying dog poop. Worth it!
We have the TNR program here with hundreds of stray, not feral, and I will be glad when I get out of here!
AnywhereElse,
Thank you for mentioning the different things you have tried (what worked and didn't). It will save me some time and $.
Hello everyone and thanks for the responses. I think we have to set up a camera to check and see which type of wildlife is going through the backyard and leaving the logs at night.
And also to deal with the cats that visit the yard (I have seen the cats sleeping, walking, etc.) during the day.
The Orbit looks like the perfect item for our backyard
I know that raccoons will leave their scat behind out in the open as a way of marking their territory to warn off you and any other animals passing through. The most common scats I find at my place are raccoon, cat, dog and occasionally coyote, bear and deer scat. They all have distinctive features. If you could post a close up picture or two of some of the logs that you've been encountering I think some of us may be able to identify the scat for you to let you know what kinds of animals are doing it at night.
Or you could go online and google images of animal scat, like these raccoon scats for example:
You mentioned large loud dogs living in the yard directly behind your place, so a word of warning - Water repellents are a safer bet than electronic sonic devices and lights. If you are in a neighbourhood where there are other neighbourhood dogs and cats living near your home it's probably not a good idea to set up any deterrent device that sets off ultrasonic sounds and bright flashing lights in the middle of the night. Otherwise you may end up with the whole neighbourhood of people and their pets responding in an uproar about it. Especially neighbourhood dogs who have even keener hearing than cats or raccoons do to painful sounds and they will set up a howling hullaballoo to wake up the dead about it.
My Dad would pitch one of those small firecrackers in the yard when he'd see the neighbor cats carousing in our yard. It took a few times, but they got the message.
Last edited by Stacey27520; 06-18-2023 at 08:58 PM..
Reason: Word corr.
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Thanks for the info
