Cat woes

savagethegoat

Any ideas for keeping the birds safe from my Cat? He took 2 Goldfinch yesterday by jumping up the shrub they were at the top of. I've cleared under the bushes to deny him cover and moved the feeder away from the bush he was succeeding in...any other ideas ? Is there such a thing as Cat Repellent?

(still over 20 Goldfinch in evidence today so hopefully he hasn't got too many)

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

If it's your own cat then a cat repellent won't do, as it's designed to keep them out of a garden altogether.

I'm afraid, generally, cats and birds don't mix. If you can't keep the cat confined to a bird free area then I would honestly say stop feeding birds and attracting them to an area where a predator is active. Bells etc just don't work.

savagethegoat

Not good news. Hopefully all will be well now he has less options to lurk. Very open site now with feeders on six foot poles so they are safe...it was just the "transit area" bush he could get to them.

I have quite a large garden...would cat repellent not have a limited range? say 20 or thirty feet?

What d you think of having a couple of these strategically?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ANIMAL-WATER-JET-SPRAY-PEST-DOG-CAT-REPELLER-FOX-BIRDS-HERONS-SQUIRREL-/231751718839?hash=item35f57a97b7:g:AhsAAOSwY45USldt

gctest50

one of these

https://www.catiospaces.com/oasis-8x10-diy-catio-plan.html

savagethegoat

Can't do that as his prime job is keeping rats and mice away. I just wish he knew that.

Capercaillie

I have four large bells on my cat. He super jingly. Put chilli powder below feeder. It will burn the cat's bottom (transient effect and not harmful), but no effect on the birds. He will learn not to go near feeders.

I constantly move the feeders. The cat will be able to devise strategies if the feeder in the same place the whole time. They develop trial and error techniques for ambushes. Moving the feeders will prevent this. Cats are clever hunters.

Don't let the cat out at night and especially dawn/dusk. At dusk/dawn cats have a great advantage (over the birds) when hunting in low light.

savagethegoat

He's always out.

Wouldn't bells drive away the birds too?

It's the bushes on the flightpath where I have the problem... I took the sheers to them earlier..

I don't want to harm him,even a little, he is only doing what he was designed to do and probably does in the fields all day long anyway.

Capercaillie

savagethegoat wrote: »

He's always out.

Wouldn't bells drive away the birds too?

It's the bushes on the flightpath where I have the problem... I took the sheers to them earlier..

I don't want to harm him,even a little, he is only doing what he was designed to do and probably does in the fields all day long anyway.

Bells won't drive them away from feeders but will give them an advantage when he's trying to catch them.

The chilli won't do harm and the cat will quickly learn. A win/win. The fact he's kills goldfinches shows he's an adept hunter. Golfinches are super wary. Probably better off taking feeder down as srameen suggested since cat out the whole time.

diomed

Over time I have switched from open feeders to enclosed feeders, or feeders that make it difficult for cats.

This feeder but with a modification. I found that rain got in and the seed (sunflower hearts) got sticky and did not feed down to the openings.
My solution was to tape the top half (down to just above the bird in the image).
This gave an umbrella effect. Of course I had to tape the inside as well to prevent birds sticking to the inside. And a bit of tape near the lid for more rain deflection.
Yes. I'm crazy.
http://www.haiths.com/the-nuttery-cage-seed-feeder/

This one I found to be useless
http://www.haiths.com/the-helix-seed-feeder/

I fitted these to a few feeders
http://www.haiths.com/rain-guard/
They are ok but again I had to put some plastic above them (cut from a plastic milk carton) to keep rain out (dribbles down into the seed.)

A feeder tray screwed to the base of the feeder protects the birds from below.
http://www.haiths.com/feeder-tray-wbac01016/

There are two cats next door that spend a lot of time in my garden.
The only recent bird death was a pigeon that looked like it was attacked by a sparrow hawk. The following day the pigeon body was gone.

savagethegoat

it's not the feeders that are the problem...it's the bush in the staging area, and the one next to it he hid under. I've pruned the latter and have a barricade around the former, hopefully all will be well. The feeders themselves are well off the ground and should be OK.

Some feeders I have relocated to hang off the gutters of the sunroom, had a glorious close up of a Siskin on it earlier (poor photos though due to rain on the glass)

savagethegoat

For amusement....this was my prototype bird table which was abandoned for obvious reasons. This was our other cat who disappeared a few weeks ago (he was quite old) He never could catch a bird as ne of his eyes was virtually useless






Replaced with a commercial table.....this had to have it's central pole lengthened by some feet to keep him off

Eddie B

There's no real answer to this problem I'm afraid! If you own a cat,then you must realise that their gonna kill a lot of wildlife! If not in your garden, then they'll do it elsewhere! Much harder to stomach of course, when it happens at your feeder, or in your garden!

Not the animals fault of course, it's in their nature! For us as owners though, we have to make that decission to be o.k with keeping an animal which can do so much damage to wild bird and animal populations!

savagethegoat

I've taken all reasonable precautions.... last surviving bush trimmed down to below fence height today. The bonus is I had a pair of siskins feeding 6 inchs from my window today. Marvellous close up. Can't photo as the glass is all rain drops at present.