Battling the stray cats for territory ...

[Hermit]

I could use a cat or two up here. The mice are a real pain. Trouble is, cats don't last very long up here. Too many coyotes and mountain lions.

 

[calmloki]

we had good result by letting one in and feeding it inside. Much quieter now and uses a litter box instead of the pea gravel in the walk.

 

[Scrapr]

I could use a cat or two up here. The mice are a real pain. Trouble is, cats don't last very long up here. Too many coyotes and mountain lions.

This. Catch a coyote and bring him/her into the hood. Problem solved.

After a bunch of strays started showing up we started live trapping and taking to the Humane shelter. They would poke a pencil in the cage. If the stray hissed 7 attacked it was a stray. If they started rubbing against then pencil they were domesticated and could be "saved"

Took about a month. Helped along by the coyotes too

 

[48Fire]

If you have stray and/or feral feeders in your neighborhood, and pretty much everyone does, TNR is the most effective form of population control and the most humane. The sterilized colony sticks to the feeder's property, and the feeder is no longer running the cat equivalent of the Friday night singles bar in your neighborhood. Alter enough cats, and the breeding process is disrupted, similar to the government releasing a few million sterile mosquitoes into a population many times that for mosquito control. The population declines over time, as long as new arrivals are trapped and altered diligently.

You can't stop the folks that feel sorry for the cats from feeding, no matter what the law or the HOA rules say. They just hide what they are doing from the snooping neighbors or animal control officer. TNR stops most of the behavior issues. Trap and dump means you will be doing that every year for as long as you live in the neighborhood. The population is reestablished within a few months.

+1 My wife did this in our neighborhood for 17 cats. It had an amazing impact. Anything else and you are just kicking the can down the road. If you are too lazy, find someone who isn't. My wife would probably help you

 

[robnplunder]

Just out of curiosity, why not? It's an easy solution. Garden hose and device. It works fairly well against the geese in our neighborhood, and they like water. I guess if you're xeriscapers or something like that it might not be a solution, but otherwise...

I have to run about 3 hoses about 20 - 30 yards to cover all litter boxes. My front & side yards are too narrow and spraying water can hit people walking around. I live in California where drought watch is still on.

 

[robnplunder]

Rob, if your local humane society does this program they will have a volunteer come to your house to do this.

I might have to look into this if things don't work out.


I have been keeping score since I started actively battling the cats.

• Number of times I've seen my cat in the back yard - 0. Hooray!

• Number of times I've seen my cat at my front porch - 2. Hmm. Did more work here.

• 
  Number of times I've seen my cat at my side yard - 1. Did more work here today.

 

[calico1597]

We live in a rural area and have cats show up on occasion. We implement our CRP when that happens. Cat Relocation Program. No problems getting them into the live trap with some cat food and drive them about 10 miles to a new home. Please note this also stands for Coon Relocation Program.

 

[ownyourfuture]

A 220 conibear trap works best. Put a fishhead on the trigger and no worries.

AAA+++

 

[mamadogmamacat]

best option is to get someone from a local humane society to do TNR as others have described............an interim approach, and who knows it might work is to suggest TNR to your neighbor directly, or just leave a hanger note (many shelters have them) explaining TNR on their doorknob, if you don't think a verbal approach would work, or would generate more heat than enlightenment

 

[Scuba]

Well, 6 months ago, a new tenant moved in to the next door house. Unknown to us, they have been feeding stray cats by leaving dog food outside. Before I realized it, number of stray cats around our house increased and they have been using my side yards, back yards as litter box. When the cats started to use my artificial golf greens as litter box, that was the last draw and I hit the youtube & google to figure out how to repel the cats. The fight to regain my territory has begun.

First, I used a commercial product to spray around the house. It worked for a couple of days and I had to spray it again. I knew then that it was not going to be a long term solution. It was expensive, smelled bad for us and not good for our vegetation.

Next, I bought solar powered ultra sound "cat stop" devices and put them facing the oft used litter boxes. Well, that stopped the cats from defecating on those spots. But the cats still run around everywhere as they owned the place.

Then, we made homemade spray (lemon juice, vinegar, rosemary mix) and sprayed it around. We also scattered rosemary leaves, branches around the border between the two houses. We may do the same with lemon peels. Meanwhile, we are anxiously waiting for the result.

DW and I don't love stray cats or any domestic pets. Cats give us the creeps (sorry, cat lovers). I hope things work out well and I get my territory back. No more poop smells around my house - knock on wood.

Just curious whether you've tried talking with your neighbor? Perhaps they aren't aware of the problems being created and would willingly help.

 

[jonat]

Please contact a local no-kill cat shelter. They will assist in trapping the cats. Many could be adopted out, others TNRed as described above. I work with a local shelter and our volunteers are often called out to deal with large cat colonies.

 

[robnplunder]

Just curious whether you've tried talking with your neighbor? Perhaps they aren't aware of the problems being created and would willingly help.

They stopped leaving out their dog food where cats can get at them.

 

[Calico]

Please contact a local no-kill cat shelter. They will assist in trapping the cats. Many could be adopted out, others TNRed as described above. I work with a local shelter and our volunteers are often called out to deal with large cat colonies.

^^^^This

 

[Redbugdave]

An interesting article from Smithsonian about the impact of outside cats and TNR. In Nature, human emotion is not a part of the solution.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/scie...billions-of-small-critters-each-year-7814590/

 

[kitesurfer2]

don't spill antifreeze in a small tuna can and leave it.

 

[Another Reader]

don't spill antifreeze in a small tuna can and leave it.

You can and should be convicted of a felony and go to prison if you do that.

 

[kitesurfer2]

You can and should be convicted of a felony and go to prison if you do that.

for sure! just ssayn

 

[RunningBum]

So they aren't getting food anymore? I'll bet they stop coming around soon, especially with the ultrasonic deterrent.

 

[Senator]

We live in a rural area and have cats show up on occasion. We implement our CRP when that happens. Cat Relocation Program. No problems getting them into the live trap with some cat food and drive them about 10 miles to a new home. Please note this also stands for Coon Relocation Program.

I used to relocate raccoons too, if I caught them in the summer before pelts were prime. There was a local park, about 10 miles away, I released them at. The DNR said the coons probably beat me back home.

I am not sure how far cats roam, but 10 miles may not be enough. If they are a problem at one place, they are still a problem. Stray cats kill many birds and are better off removed for good.

 

[ncbill]

TNR as well here.

Worked well except for one tom who kept attacking the neighbors' domesticated cats.

So the local volunteers live-trapped him again and after further evaluation, "went to live on a farm."

 

[MRG]

don't spill antifreeze in a small tuna can and leave it.

Yeah because anti freeze tastes good to small children.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Killing cats has never worked. We can not kill our way out of this problem. Many other things kill more birds then cats. Look at the studies. Birds fly into glass building, high wire lines, etc. For those of you who are catching and releasing on your own without being neutered you are just making the cats someone else's problem. I am shocked at some people's total lack of empathy for these poor creatures who are just trying to survive often in brutal conditions.

 

[Sojourner]

I am shocked at some people's total lack of empathy for these poor creatures who are just trying to survive often in brutal conditions.

I'm not. Seems like some people (not the OP) view even the minor inconvenience of having some unwanted animals on their property doing some annoying but fairly harmless things as justification for killing those animals in brutal, inhumane ways. I've seen this kind of callousness expressed over and over again on message boards discussing ways to combat mice or chipmunks or squirrels in vegetable gardens, for example. People will blithely suggest traps that involve drowning the poor animals or other methods of killing (e.g. poisons) that are cruel and painful. Being a vegetable gardener myself, I know all too well how annoying and dispiriting it is to have rodents get after your prized tomatoes or cantaloupe or whatever, but I cannot imagine solving the problem by brutally and painfully killing them as if they're somehow not capable of suffering. I couldn't live with myself, whereas I can easily live without a few garden-ripe homegrown veggies.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Creatures ate everything in our garden this year but the tomatoes)

 

[Janet H]

Helpful links here:
Community Cats and Trap-Neuter-Return - FAQs |
https://www.alleycat.org/our-work/trap-neuter-return/

A few years back I had a neighbor who also fed cats and by default other critters. After my 8 year old was sprayed by a skunk wandering through the yard at night [-]I lost it and put them on notice[/-] let them know that while I understood their desire to help hungry cats out, the uptick in cat scat, mice and skunks in the area was unacceptable and that we were going to begin trapping cats for the local TNR program. They were horrified and angry BUT they stopped leaving food out. They also stopped talking to me which I was OK with.