Is there any ethical and easy way to keep cats out of my yard?
I live in an suburban single family neighborhood where the houses are close together. (5000sq lots) There are 3 or 4 different solitary cats I see slinking through my yard from time to time. They all seem like outdoor house cats as opposed to feral cats.
I try to hiss at them and scare them off but they come back. Is there a method that will encourage them to avoid my yard?
You have to get a number 2 of a big cat. So at your local zoo ask for tiger dump. This will leave your property untouched, I have done this myself several times.
> they crap in my vegetable patch, and it contains toxoplasmosis
Each cat can release toxoplasm parasites once, maybe for less than two weeks in 12 years, if healthy
If you have an old cat in your garden is removing toxoplasmosis (killing rodents that act also as hosts and crap also over your kale and under your carrots).
If you kill this cat or chase it off your garden, then new cats will apear and refill the territory. Think that you could be increasing the risk, in fact. Not to mention that people can pick up toxoplasm perfectly in a supermarket can of soup / rodent dance-floor. If you want cats out of your vegetables install sprinklers.
If you are concerned about the cat effect in birds, just add more natural areas and tall trees
I have the opposite of your problem, live in a city where there is a huge rat problem, I let my cats go outside, and they poop in my neighbor's garden.
I bought him a motion activated lawn sprinkler, which did work, but he was still angry the cats would come anywhere on his property.
There are also little motion activated cans of pet corrector, too.
There are products that are supposed to deter cats, though I don't know how well they work or whether there are associated risks to other creatures. I remember one that claimed it was based on lion dung, and would make the cats think someone much bigger and scarier already owned the territory...
I understand it's your right to control your own yard, but if someone trapped my own cat and dumped it off at the pound, I wouldn't be too happy.
If it were my cat who kept being dumped off at the pound, after being attracted to the cat food you purposefully left out to trap him, I'm guessing you'd start having some strange issues with your cable / fiber line constantly being cut.
I live in an suburban single family neighborhood where the houses are close together. (5000sq lots) There are 3 or 4 different solitary cats I see slinking through my yard from time to time. They all seem like outdoor house cats as opposed to feral cats.
I try to hiss at them and scare them off but they come back. Is there a method that will encourage them to avoid my yard?