Cat Detterent

Cats absolutely hate citrus. It actually makes them gag! They find it about as pleasant as we find pig slurry!

So, sprinkle some torn up orange or, better still, lemon peel!

Sprinkle some citronella oil around too? It's not particularly toxic, smells nice and cats hate it.

Also consider placing some realistic looking teddy bears around in view of the garden. Cats assume these are animals and steer clear.

Borrow a dog for a week or two. That will also clear them off.

OP a live trap and deposit the strays at the vets, if they are owned the owners should keep them on their property.

Cats may be great hunters but that doesn't mean it is always a good thing.

The reality of the situation is that domestic cats have roamed in Ireland for at least 2000 years. They are pretty much part of the ecosystem at this stage.

You are not going to be able to keep cats out of your garden, any more than you can keep birds out of your garden.

There is a also a natural population of feral cats in Ireland which, again, you cannot really avoid encountering. They are simply part of the landscape.

Pet cats in this climate normally have free reign. They generally do not cause significant problems and have coexisted with gardeners, farmers and the local wildlife for millenia.

The best ways of dealing with cats is either a deterrent, or by providing them with a safe area to bury their feces e.g. a sand pit that's closed to children e.g. with a fence that cats can get over, but kids can't (as was suggested above).

I think the threat to birds by domestic cats is a bit overstated by some. They tend to hunt ground-dwelling rodents more than they go after birds as, contrary to popular belief, cats aren't THAT good at getting high into trees. They do catch some birds, but they're far more attracted to mice and large insects than anything else.

A well fed, wormed, domestic cat shouldn't really be any issue in your garden either. A cat in those conditions does not carry toxicaria cati worms and is of no threat really.

Rodents, which you can't really see or control, and birds also carry pretty nasty worms which can (in some rare circumstances) infect humans too. In fact, rodents are more likely to carry diseases that humans can pick up than cats are as we do not share the same diseases with cats, but we do with rats and mice.

So, short of eliminating all wildlife from your garden, there's relatively little you can do other than wash your hands after handling soil and/or wear gardening gloves.

If you've a seriously huge population of feral cats, you might need to look at trapping and neutering or, frightening them off e.g. with your own cat or dog, or by making the environment unpleasant for them by using citrus scents etc etc.

Otherwise, to be honest, you might as well be trying to fight with the wind. There are cats everywhere in the environment here, they're very much part of it.

doctor evil wrote: »

Dogs have also been part of the enviroment for a long time, they are no longer tolerated roaming by themselves. Attitudes change.

There's a bit of a difference, as roaming dogs have never been tolerated as they are very territorial and can be a vicious and violent threat towards humans and livestock i.e. they bite, attack and jump on people, chase cars, can kill sheep, poultry etc etc.

Cats usually just avoid interaction, or at worst, purr and rub up against you or bury poo in your garden.

The two situations aren't really comparable.

I've yet to hear of anyone who was viciously cornered and bitten by a crazed domestic cat, or a kid that's afraid to go out due to roaming cats threatening him/her, yet it happens all too often with dogs.

As for attitudes changing, they haven't. The majority of Irish cats live indoors and outdoors as they please.
The main reason cats are kept indoors in some parts of North America is because of predators that tend to eat them e.g. cougars etc.

Discodog wrote: »

And then what ? Are you expected the Vet to act as a charity ? There is no legal requirement to control a cat.

The vet can scan for a chip, hand it to a rescue or rehome themselves or put it down. The majority of stray animals are not healthy and pts by the vet is preferable to being splattered on the road.

It is to the cats detriment that there is no legal requirement to control a cat, cats lot in general would be greatly improved if owners had to account for their animals rather than neglect them or inflict them on those who may not be overly fond of them.

Maudi wrote: »

cats are filthy disease bearing invaseive foreign species that kill hundreds of thousands of birds every year...how owners justify or are allowed away with these animals defecating all over peoples private property with immunity is beyond me..their animal loving owners are subject to the same laws as the rest of us re. cleaning up their mess yes/no...or are cat owners in some special group thats immune to responsibility?

Don't waste your time, it's like trying to defend Christianity to the Taliban.
The logic is, cats roam and kill birds and **** in your garden because it's in their nature so we should tolerate them for it, dogs roam and hunt and kill cloven hooved animals because it's in their nature, so we should shoot them for it. Simple.