How to achiev a Cat-Free Backyard?

[Garrano]

Greetings to you all :)!

I’ve been thinking about making my backyard “Cat-free”, does anybody ever tried this product? http://cgi.ebay.com/ELECTRONIC-CAT-DETERRENT-SCARER-KEEP-GARDEN-FISH-BIRDS_W0QQitemZ7707217529QQcategoryZ50365QQssPageN ameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Does it work? Do you have any other ideas or suggestions on other methods/products?

I don’t wish to harm them, the fact is that they are super-predators and their owners (for those who have them), sometimes don’t care or are unaware of the massive destruction their predating habits have on wildlife.

[Dave Adshead]

Garrano,
I don't have a cat, I don't need one, because my garden is used by every cat on the estate where I live. When one is walking down the drive, to go home, another one is walking up to pay a visit, and they frequently pass each other.

I managed to rescue a starling from a cats jaws the other day. I wished I could get rid of them. Let us know if you have any luck.

[Garrano]

Hello Dave!

Being from England, where this kind of gadgets is more common, have you heard any reviews or opinions about them?

[Richard D]

Greetings to you all :)!

I’ve been thinking about making my backyard “Cat-free”, does anybody ever tried this product? http://cgi.ebay.com/ELECTRONIC-CAT-DETERRENT-SCARER-KEEP-GARDEN-FISH-BIRDS_W0QQitemZ7707217529QQcategoryZ50365QQssPageN ameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Does it work? Do you have any other ideas or suggestions on other methods/products?

I don’t wish to harm them, the fact is that they are super-predators and their owners (for those who have them), sometimes don’t care or are unaware of the massive destruction their predating habits have on wildlife.

Hi Garrano - if you do a search on previous threads you'll see pages and pages of discussion on this issue. There's also some good information on the RSPB website.

[Talon 1]

Hi gerrano.
Its a touchy subject on here but as somebody who suffers from a neighbour that has 10 cats (did have 20) i don't think you will ever get rid of them.
You can ask the cat owner to put a bell on the cat or ask to keep it in at night but these gadgets do not work like they advertise. I had two in which they said the range was 20 metres. I after much study found about 2 metres to be right and even then the cat will enter briefly if a bird is there.
Learn to live with it mate , i hate it but its Nature and Life . the figures i believe for bird deaths by cats each year runs into millions so ................
I think there should be restrictions eg Bells and a Curfew at night but that's it a cat is only doing what comes naturally.
Let me give you a thought, A kestrel i used to regulary see for 3 years in Kent suddenly vanished.This was last year so twice i have looked this year and still nothing.
I spoke to another birder about it, ah yes he said i know what happened to it. It was shot by the Farmers son :C
Why i said?
I heard in the village that last year he shot anything in the air that moved including a few crows and i do not know if this is true but a Perigrine.He was in training for his first go at clay pigeon shooting, he was reported but the authorities could not proove anything :C

So as usual its us not cats that the birds should look out for. Nothing new there then! :clap:

[Jos Stratford]

Wouldn't like to say this topic has done the rounds, but a search of the forum kicked these off for starters! Popular things, these cats!


Possibly your answer might be found in one of these threads from the last couple of years!


Cats b****y Cats!
22nd July 2005

Help with cats
10th July 2005

Chicks wiped out (AGAIN)
22nd June 2005

Gah! Cats!
13th May 2005

Radical proposal re cats
23rd March 2005

We've 'ad the cats, we 'ad the magpies...
February 2005

CATS - zzzzzzzzzzz
14th February 2005


Cats - How to protect your birds from them
13th December 2004

Cats are becoming more attracted toward the feeder!
5th December 2004

neighbouring cats
3rd December 2004 00:32

No cats here!
18th November 2004

Those cats again... what species are they catching?
10th October 2004

Cats!
12th September 2004

Killdeer babies slaughtered by cats
6th July 2004 00:11

Problem with cats!
28th June 2004

Bird Baths - Neighborhood Cats
23rd April 2004

Cats and moths
5th April 2004

Cats and Birds
23rd February 2004

What to do about cats?
20th September 2003

Cats and magpies
13th August 2003

[hil5]

I use these electronic deterrents and they have reduced the cat visits dramatically (I now longer get them fouling the lawn). You need several though to cover all areas. Run them off the power supply rather than batteries.

They don't stop all cat visits particularly at breeding time and the very quick, hid in adjacant bushes strikes.

[Garrano]

Thank you all for your answers/opinions.
Sometimes the search on forums doesn’t go as I expected (probably I don’t use the right “search word”), and thank you for your hints.

I Know that that’s cat’s nature, the problem is the owners, there are responsible ones but, at least in Portugal, these are an “huge minority” :(! Sometimes they “collect” them like one more cat would make them happier, and they don’t have any care with the amount of siblings they raise, and then there are not many “solutions”…

I will look into other posts.

[Mary Evelyn]

Thank you all for your answers/opinions.
Sometimes the search on forums doesn’t go as I expected (probably I don’t use the right “search word”), and thank you for your hints.

I Know that that’s cat’s nature, the problem is the owners, there are responsible ones but, at least in Portugal, these are an “huge minority” :(! Sometimes they “collect” them like one more cat would make them happier, and they don’t have any care with the amount of siblings they raise, and then there are not many “solutions”…

I will look into other posts.

Jos gave me some really good advice on cats, Garrano and if you look at his replies in the earlier threads,not so much gadgets, as moving feeders and tables etc.Sound long term advice.

We have 7 come in here but slowly, through taking in what Jos told me ,I am winning....I think :cat:

[willowa]

Have you tried a DOG?
Willowa

[Mary Evelyn]

Have you tried a DOG?
Willowa

Bit late Willowa for this thread,as we are going back to August, but I for one have 2 very large dogs ,a Rotty and Dobbie and no, they don't work.I don't allow my dogs to roam the garden at will and the back garden where the dogs are allowed,still do not deter the cats.My dogs prefer the comfort of our house and also come to work with us 5 days per week, but I would suggest members interested, look at the sticky in Garden Birds,that certainly helped me ....long term.I am now down from 7 to 1 persistent cat and it is due to advise on BF.Who wants a dog on patrol 24.7 like cats often are.Not me.My dogs are pets. :flowers: :flyaway:

[baillieswells]

Bit late Willowa for this thread,as we are going back to August, but I for one have 2 very large dogs ,a Rotty and Dobbie and no, they don't work.I don't allow my dogs to roam the garden at will and the back garden where the dogs are allowed,still do not deter the cats.My dogs prefer the comfort of our house and also come to work with us 5 days per week, but I would suggest members interested, look at the sticky in Garden Birds,that certainly helped me ....long term.I am now down from 7 to 1 persistent cat and it is due to advise on BF.Who wants a dog on patrol 24.7 like cats often are.Not me.My dogs are pets. :flowers: :flyaway:

I have five Border Terriers which roam the garden most of the day. (I have a dog proof fence so that they cannot roam the neighbourhood). Cats never enter inside the fence, which encloses about an acre.

It always concerns me that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds does nothing (as far as I can see) to discourage its members from having cats. As a draconian measure I should like to see not having a cat being a condition of membership. I expect this would infuriate too many members.

[willowa]

Bit late Willowa for this thread,as we are going back to August, but I for one have 2 very large dogs ,a Rotty and Dobbie and no, they don't work.I don't allow my dogs to roam the garden at will and the back garden where the dogs are allowed,still do not deter the cats.My dogs prefer the comfort of our house and also come to work with us 5 days per week, but I would suggest members interested, look at the sticky in Garden Birds,that certainly helped me ....long term.I am now down from 7 to 1 persistent cat and it is due to advise on BF.Who wants a dog on patrol 24.7 like cats often are.Not me.My dogs are pets. :flowers: :flyaway:



I did not mean for dogs to be out all the time. My Springer loved her home comforts but if she was out and she saw a cat she would take great pleasure in chasing it off her patch. We still get cats at night. But as the dog is no longer with us after 10 happy years if we see a cat in the day we have to chase it ourselves now. We also have 6ft fences and spicky shrubs the cats seem to get the message they are not wanted in our garden.

[Mary Evelyn]

I did not mean for dogs to be out all the time. My Springer loved her home comforts but if she was out and she saw a cat she would take great pleasure in chasing it off her patch. We still get cats at night. But as the dog is no longer with us after 10 happy years if we see a cat in the day we have to chase it ourselves now. We also have 6ft fences and spicky shrubs the cats seem to get the message they are not wanted in our garden.

Same here willowa,if one of my dogs go out, that is enough to make the cats scoot but cats are intelligent and know fine well when the dogs aren't around and working full time we had to find other solutions.I am having my only holiday of the year and it is great ,as we are on guard all of the time but come Thursday when we are back at work (dogs as well ,not working but idling) we would be back to square one.That is why, I have taken such good long term advice and am continuing to make my garden a cat nightmare (I hope).I have tall fences and a fully mature garden and lots of prickly bushes including Berberis Darwinni(30) and I am now placing cuttings into our back border which do help.I started with 7 cats and now have 1 in the main so,I feel the advice was worth taking.


I am so sorry about your dog though,so sad when we lose, what becomes part of our family.

[Mary Evelyn]

It always concerns me that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds does nothing (as far as I can see) to discourage its members from having cats. As a draconian measure I should like to see not having a cat being a condition of membership. I expect this would infuriate too many members.

I would certainly agree with you,and it will never happen because of the reason you just stated.

I would like to see cat owners at least keep their pets in overnight, between dusk and dawn.

If we all sent our dogs out overnight to roam the streets(which we wouldn't do) ,can you even begin to imagine, the uproar.

[deborah4]

I would certainly agree with you,and it will never happen because of the reason you just stated.

I would like to see cat owners at least keep their pets in overnight, between dusk and dawn.

If we all sent our dogs out overnight to roam the streets(which we wouldn't do) ,can you even begin to imagine, the uproar.

I wonder whether the introduction of compulsory licensing (for cats and dogs) would help. Conditions and terms of the licensing could include measures such as curfew times for cats. Do dog licences still exist - I don't remember them being compulsory - I do remember lots people did not have one, including myself when I had a dog for 13 years! Also why have there never been any cat fowling laws as there are with dogs - my last garden with a gravel bed provided one BIG cat litter tray for the whole neighbourhood ( I know dog fowling laws don't cover private gardens, I just being silly).

Another provision of such licensing could include a 'nuisance' clause whereby the owner of the cat must finance measures, such as fencing to keep their cats either in their own gardens when there has been a complaint by a neighbour OR pay for the complainant of the nuisance to remedy the nuisance themselves so they can afford to buy shrubs, fences etc to keep their neighbours cats OUT - I certainly can't afford to do it.

[deborah4]

I am so sorry about your dog though,so sad when we lose, what becomes part of our family.

Been there Mary - I was dysfunctional for about a year after losing my dog, I could still muster up a few tears if I looked at a photo of her - and that's 5 years later!

[Richard Bryce]

Re: electronic cat deterrant. I bought a couple from the RSPB shop, which proved to be a waste of the best part of £100. They don't work on cats that are hard-of-hearing. White or predominantly white cats are pretty much deaf, so too some of the exotics. Other cats find routes that don't trouble them, so you need an awful lot of scarers for even a moderately sized garden.

Re: cat licensing and such. I'm in the camp that says cats, like dogs, should be kept indoors or be tethered at all times. There's a lady in London I know gets laughed at for keeping her cat on a leash, but she's doing absolutley the right thing. Most cat owners, I am afraid, are just plain selfish or thoughtless. One of my neighbours puts her two out at night to fend for themselves 'because it's only natural' and then admires the birds I attract to my garden. No argument will persuade her she's wrong.

[hil5]

This thread has lots of ideas:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=42039

In (parts of?) Australia cats have to be kept inside between the hours of dusk and dawn to protect their wildlife.