Darn Cats

[johnjf]

Well it's getting me very mad but a cat keep digging and pooping in my veggie garden. All the work of digging and planting seeds just for a cat to come and kill your sprouts by digging and pooping in your garden. I can't take it anymore, I talked to my neighbour she says it's not hers. I called our local dog/cat catcher and he does nothing, tells me to go get a cage :S WTF! I put sticks in the garden sticking up and bird netting around the area and it still gets in and does damage.

SO far it ruined my spinach and now it's going after my carrots. It always comes at night when we're a sleep, is there anything I can do to get rid of it? I don't want to have to buy anything expensive just to keep it away. I don't want to fence off my garden because people love seeing it.

I'm going mental

[Eeyore]

Are you sure it is cats and not racoons or skunks? As far as the cage goes, that is a fairly typical response. You can trap cats and take them to the pound but the by-law officers won't go after then. If you can get a hold of dog or coyote urine you might be able to deter them that way. Also, you could put straw down between the rows. Cats like the soft soil but most don't care for anything else to do their business. However if your plants are actually being eaten it might be something besides cats.

You could try motion activted sprinklers......

[davefrombc]

Motion detecting sprinklers are the best bet for chasing cats out of the garden .

[johnjf]

It's cats for sure cuz I see the tracks every morning in my garden and scooped out a few pieces of cat poop where it dug. It's not eating my veggies it's just digging holes in the sole and digging up where I planted seeds so it can go poop. I can also smell there stench where they dug

[Laura]

I have the same problem and I covered my garden with netting and it worked.When my plants got bigger I used tomato cages laid down across the garden and that helps but if they are determined it will not stop them.

I thought of fencing and still may do that .... I hate to see my garden spoiled but I cannot be out there all the time.

There are a lot of home remedies but they never worked for me .... you can google and find them ... mothballs in the garden,put down pine cones,keep the soil wet ... etc ... but like I say they never worked for me.

I understand your frustration but I hope you will not let this spoil your enjoyment of your garden .... great good luck to all who must deal with cats like you and I ...

[johnjf]

Thank you, the netting has worked abit. It still tries to dig abit but I ran out of netting and will probably pick up more next time I'm in North Bay. Also I have 2 pop bottles dug in the ground where I planted some tomato seeds and they seem to stay away from that area. Maybe I'll try the water bottle trick in my other parts of the garden. It just sucks that we have to go all this way to make our garden beautiful and then a cat has to come spoil it.

I heard mothballs are harmful to cats but it's starting to drive me nuts I think I might go that route.

[Laura]

I heard mothballs are harmful to cats but it's starting to drive me nuts I think I might go that route.

I did not know mothballs were harmful to cats,it is the smell that is supposed to deter them ... they did not work when I tried it in my tulip bed.Never tried it in the Patch.Another thing is lay down chicken wire on the surface of the soil,it is supposed to prevent them from scratching and therefore using the soil as litterbox.

[johnjf]

My neighbor has some chicken wire, I'll see if they can lend me some. I caught the culprit lastnight before I went to bed. It was still bright enough to see the black cat so I ran outside and almost chased it down, managed to throw a tennis ball at it but hopefully it keeps him out lol. I'm also going to try borrowing a cage and setting that out tonight. I'm sure he'll be back, he did manage to dig up the one spot and do his business before I can scare him away.

[Dumbo]

I did not know mothballs were harmful to cats,it is the smell that is supposed to deter them ...

Old mothballs that your mother would use would be made of Naphthalene.

When OGrubber and I (I think it was OGrubber, or it might have been someone else) were discussing pollutants in soil (or sludge), in particular PAH's (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), this would be one of those pollutants where if it's found tests have to be done to see if you are even allowed to grow a tomato in the soil.

I wouldn't eat anything from a garden with the old mothballs in it (which are still kicking around some places today).

Today's newer mothballs are made with dichlorobenzene. Is it better? You put it in your garden and let me know in 10 years how your kidneys or liver are doing. But, I won't be doing that. I would rather live with cat poop.

Each to there own...

[Laura]

Yes ... well that is what I did to try to save my tulips before I moved to a house where I have the Patch (veggie garden).I do try to keep the cats out put like I say now I use the netting and tomato cages and for the most part it is successful.

If you want to guarantee they cannot get in and do thier thing then you must fence .... and be sure you make a sturdy fence with a lid .... and I am not even kidding a little bit !