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Cats

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  • 05-07-2019 10:09pm
    #1
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭


    Have 3 high enough raised beds, about waist height.

    Have a fair big of veg planted but the cats are interfering. Had a few onions pulled up, young beetroot and now today about 3 radishes. Any idea how to deter the cats?


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    #2
    Hoboo
    Registered Users Posts: 3,525 ✭✭✭Hoboo


    A dog.


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    #3
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Pulling out plants is the least of it. They'll use the veg beds as a toilet and that leads to much bigger issues.


    They are a nuisance; particularly if they are not your cats. Even having a dog doesn't stop them fouling our garden at night.


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    #4
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    when my own cats started doing this I bought chicken wire and laid it loosely over vulnerable beds. They will not walk on it and cannot scratch it away. Never a problem since and it does not spoil the look of the garden; plants grow through it.


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    #5
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,190 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Are you sure it is cats that are pulling up your plants? It could be birds.


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    #6
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    looksee wrote: »
    Are you sure it is cats that are pulling up your plants? It could be birds.

    Interesting; yes, cats tend to go for bare earth to toilet in. I cleared a small area y'day and had hardly turned my back... as soon as I planted there they went away


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    #7
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Graces7 wrote: »
    Interesting; yes, cats tend to go for bare earth to toilet in. I cleared a small area y'day and had hardly turned my back... as soon as I planted there they went away

    Yes def cats as I have pulled out some of their poo and I have no cats so not my own either


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    #8
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Deleted User wrote: »
    Yes def cats as I have pulled out some of their poo and I have no cats so not my own either
    I'm afraid I can't offer any easy solution as I am pestered by them and find their poo deep in my flower beds, shrubberies and, most disconcertingly, in the vegetable patch. Cat owners really need to start taking some responsibility for their pets and acknowledging their impact on others.


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    #9
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    Deleted User wrote: »
    Yes def cats as I have pulled out some of their poo and I have no cats so not my own either

    wire netting works; we cat owners have the same problems so have ways to deal with them. I have five cats and never had a plant destroyed etc.

    roaming cats are a fact of life so adaptation and protection work.. and probably more bird droppings than cat droppings on our gardens which is why we wash produce well.

    Their work is rodent control so they need to roam.j


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    #10
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Graces7 wrote: »
    wire netting works; we cat owners have the same problems so have ways to deal with them. I have five cats and never had a plant destroyed etc.

    roaming cats are a fact of life so adaptation and protection work.. and probably more bird droppings than cat droppings on our gardens which is why we wash produce well.

    Their work is rodent control so they need to roam.j

    as in wire netting on the surface of the beds?


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    #11
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Deleted User wrote: »
    as in wire netting on the surface of the beds?

    Totally impractical if you have anything other than a single tiny postage stamp vegetable bed. Also, no matter how plants grow through it, it's unsightly and just plain in the way of any hoeing or harvesting. Imagine a 100 sq metres of wire mesh over a vegetable garden.


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    #12
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    Deleted User wrote: »
    as in wire netting on the surface of the beds?

    Yes. works very well indeed in my long experience. Invisible in use. Cats see open soil as... well, there for them.

    Only sensible to protect. sprigs of gorse or anything prickly work well too.. and are easier to remove .. Great for rodents in a greenhouse.


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    #13
    Discodog
    Registered Users Posts: 15,855 ✭✭✭✭Discodog


    The Scarecrow motion activated sprinkler works really well - great fun too especially for kids.



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    #14
    Souness
    Registered Users Posts: 285 ✭✭Souness


    I had the same problem with a stray tom that used my front flower bed as a toilet. Sprinkled chilli powder on his preferred toilet patches and it stopped his routine, you just need to break the pattern and then they find somewhere else. Now my bed is filled in with planting so no longer an issue.


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    #15
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    Souness wrote: »
    I had the same problem with a stray tom that used my front flower bed as a toilet. Sprinkled chilli powder on his preferred toilet patches and it stopped his routine, you just need to break the pattern and then they find somewhere else. Now my bed is filled in with planting so no longer an issue.

    perfect.. there are always kind ways! My five have places they are not allowed to use and they respect that. and places they are allowed to use and I respect that.


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    #16
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Souness wrote: »
    I had the same problem with a stray tom that used my front flower bed as a toilet. Sprinkled chilli powder on his preferred toilet patches and it stopped his routine, you just need to break the pattern and then they find somewhere else. Now my bed is filled in with planting so no longer an issue.


    I have a very large garden and, unfortunately, such remedies are total impractical. They foul many different places; from vegetable seed beds to mature flower and shrub areas. This is in addition to killing birds, pygmy shrews etc.

    The bottom line is that cat owners, be they urban or rural, need to ensure their cats do not interfere with the enjoyment of others, nor have an adverse affect on our wildlife.


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