Stray cats.

[Paul Carmel]

We have a bit of a stray cat problem. Does anyone have any products they could recommend? We have tried all the local DIY shop products but to no avail. Please remember these are not the cuddly cute things you want to adopt, they are of the flearidden nasty little shit variety

[Big Sis..]

Hi Paul....

What sort of products are you thinking of,

What solution are you aiming for.........eviction. extermination .or something in between.....

[garlic]

Large nasty (flea ridden) dog?

[Marion]

Pepper spray niggled at the back of my mind as a repellent so I did a search. See this link http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0700/cats.asp from the RHS

My mother in law used to leave plastic drink bottles full of water laying around the garden. Not sure if this works!

[Paul Carmel]

What we ultimately want is for these cats to go elsewhere. Our garden is enclosed and we are in a town with another garden on one side which leads to several other terraces, and a minor road on the other - everything is at different levels and the cats use our garden as a cut-through. Also we have a log store under the steps, and unfortunately during the summer kittens made their home in there (maybe were even born in there). Some guests have, we suspect, fed them, while others mentioned afterwards that it was a problem and they didn't use the garden because of it. Worst of all, one of these kittens died and some guests only realised because of the awful smell. Thankfully they got rid of it but again, we only knew of this afterwards.

We have tried various repellents from the garden centre, pellets and spray, and disinfected and blocked off the log store (this part seems to have worked, but the repellents seem to have no effect whatsoever). The garden is only small and mostly paved, with high fencing, so they see it as safe.

So, any useful advice on how to solve this problem once and for all would be gratefully received!

[garlic]

Sorry! Just being a twit
A long shot but is there any chance that there is some sort of council catch em type organisation? Or what about contacting SPA and asking their advice?

[Nessie]

Dont think it will work for you as your garden is mostly paved , but back in England we use to use moth balls in the borders. But the only way is some how take them for a 20km drive

[Paul Carmel]

Thank you both.

Marion,


I will give the bottles of water a go, as for the pepper spray it only takes a bit of rain and you're back to stage one.

Garlic,

I would like to think so but we have looked into this, and refuges etc, and there is no support or interest here at all unfortunately. Funnily enough we had a friend and their dog here earlier this afternoon, he is a bit flearidden (the dog that is) but seemed pretty uninterested in the prospect of cats and spent the afternoon asleep in the sun - hopeless!

[Guest3]

Paul, I can remember reading that a safe (and organic) way to get rid of unwanted cats is to sprinkle black pepper around the areas that they frequent....I don't know whether this will work or not, but a cheap enough to try out.

Oops think I posted this at the same time as your reply Paul...didn't think of rain which is quite easy for me to forget living in Spain!

The bottles of water sound interesting, but curious to know how does it keep cats away?

[Big Sis..]

Hi PC

There used to be a metal cat with bright green eyes that my friend had....got it from one of those mail order thingies...
not sure how successful it was though......

[garlic]

I don't think that pepper spray or such like will get rid of feral cats...poor sods are just trying to survive, it just happens to be a pain for you.

Nessie has the answer...if you can catch them taking them out for a drive is probably ythe best solution...take them as far away from civilisation as you can, try to leave them near a source of water and if you are feeling generous leave a sack of cat food...

[Alan Knighting]

Do I have problems with feral cats?

I have four cuddly little Burmese cats in whose mouths butter wouldn’t melt. Give them the first sniff of a feral cat and they instantly turn into feline versions of Rambo.

You tell me, do I have problems with feral cats?

Fluffy

[Guest3]

Actually the only way to keep stray cats out is to get a cat! (Sorry Paul..not a helpful suggestion I know).

When we were in the UK we were fed up of stray cats messing in our garden so we ended up getting a cat ourselves to keep the others out! A beautiful Persian who grew twice in size at any signs of intruding cats! He was very good at his day job just by 'eyeballing' them and 'fluffing' out! We had the joy of having him for 13 years ...yes 13! (Persians have an expected human life of only 8-9 years).

BTW when we were living in the villa (before renting) we did have a set of black stray cats that used to stroll into our garden...but they disappeared without any drastic intervention from us. Probably because we did not leave food out and made sure that the rubbish was taken to the basura every night.

Paul I take it that the stray cat problem is regarding the property you rent out? Do your guests leave food out or titbits for birds, in which case maybe the reason why the cats still come into your garden? Just clutching at straws here!

[la vache!]

I agree with the above, if you have a cat, it tends to keep out the feral ones, but appreciate that it isn't always possible, especially in your situation! If you can't do this, Nessie is right, trap them and move them away. Most feral kittens don't last long anyway, they get eaten from the inside by the numerous worms in their intestines and many also inherit a fatal lung disease from their mothers. Incidentally, I took on 2 flea bitten, worm ridden little kittens that I found nearby and they are lovely healthy cats now, playful and affectionate not at all like that the cat I got directly from it's mother, who is a little shit.

[Paul Carmel]

Thank you all for the advice, I think a short drive is in order, now all I have got to do is catch the little buggers, fun fun