Subject: Re: Cat repellent: What is it and does it work?

From: [email-masked]
Date: 28 Mar 95 20:48:42 -0600

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Bill Berrington) writes:
> We have cat problems in our garden.  These troublesome creatures have
> managed to flatten three out of eight broccoli plants in there.  Is there a
> way to repel them with out the use of a fence?  and does it work?  Just
> wondering if there were any fool proof methods out there.

No fool-proof methods.  Though my SO has proposed an infra-red
sensor controlling a lawn sprinkler...

Seriously, cats will sit in gardens because that's an attractive
place to roll in the dirt, watch bugs, and take a nap in the shade.
It's guaranteed to be of great interest to cats because it's of
interest to you.  (Try to read a newspaper with a cat around, or
sew, or persuade a cat not to stand in front of a computer monitor,
like two of mine are doing right now!)

My guys have some garden spots that I don't fight them for.  They have
free run of any space under shrubbery, any patch of catnip, any tree
branch, the space under the back steps and on the garage roof, and some
dug up soil for dustbaths.  Those spots we agree on.  When transplanting
season comes, we have discussions about where to plant the seedlings,
and sometimes some seedlings get sat on.  A couple of stakes on either 
side of the plant and some orange peel scattered on the soil do a
pretty good job of marking "this plant and spot is Kay's, not kitties'"
Occasionally, I do have to replant a few spots.  But if the cats didn't
do them in, the neighborhood dogs would have, or the neighborhood urchins,
or the birds, or I step on them, or the ....  well... gardening is like that.

If you want to go high-tech, there are sprays like "Get Out of My
Garden" or "Ropel".  I think they stink so badly I don't want them
around.  You can mulch a perennial bed with stones.  You can
use various infra-red sensors connected to sirens or squawk boxes
(Radio Shack has several types, and pet supply houses like Drs.
Foster and Smith and Omaha Vaccine have models specifically aimed
at pet behavior modification.)  I borrowed one once to see how
well it worked (we were having deer problems).  It worked quite well,
especially when set off by racoons and opossums at 3 am.

Sorry I can't help you more.  If the miscreants are the neighbors'
cats, explaining the problem and/or presenting a bill for damages
may induce them to keep their cats at home.

Kay Klier  [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Bill Berrington)
Date: 28 Mar 1995 21:51:45 GMT

Thanks in advance...

Bill Berrington

[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (ISewG)
Date: 29 Mar 1995 22:10:40 -0500

A few of my neighbors use "Bowl Fresh", an ordinary toilet bowl freshner
purchased in any grocery or discount store.  They tack it onto a strip of
wood and place it (sometimes more than one) around the garden.  These
freshners also help with odor in the garbage can (just hang it on the rim
of the can), and if you have cats that wander near your garbage, like I
do, the freshner repels the cat.

Hope this helps! :)

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From: Ben A. Harris <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 95 19:58:23 -0500

>way to repel them with out the use of a fence?  and does it work?  Just
 
est cat repellant is a keen eye and a BB rifle. One or two good
pops and they don't come back in the garden.
 
Ben

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From: [email-masked] (ISewG)
Date: 29 Mar 1995 22:10:40 -0500

Hope this helps! :)

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From: Ben A. Harris <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 95 19:58:23 -0500

Ben

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From: PATTIBELLE <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 95 01:44:39 -0500

>We have cat problems in our garden.  These troublesome creatures have
 
I took the advice from some people here and have been cutting up orange
peels and scattering them around freshly dug places that cats like for
their personal potty.  It seems to work!  I haven't had any cat doo-doo.
 
Pat in Napa, CA

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From: [email-masked] (Gary V. Deutschmann Sr.)
Date: 31 Mar 1995 03:54:22 GMT

If you can get it, you won't find it in a store for sure...

The ground bone of a dead elephant, is a sure fire repellant for both cats
and dogs.  Sometimes even keeps the rabitts away too.

I was able to procure one rib bone from our local zoo about five years ago, 
I only used about a tablespoon of the ground bone, which to us has no odor,
in my garden and around the front doorstoop, and it lasted for over two
months, then I used another.

I got about 7 oz of ground bone from the one rib...

Gary

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From: WALKEM <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 1995 13:57:49 GMT

>==========Ben A. Harris, 3/29/95==========
>

..and I'm sure the above technique would be just as effective at repelling
children.

I've heard other alternatives on this group that appeal more to the
humanitarian types.  Orange peel is supposed to ward off cats.  Also, somebody
mentioned some creative solutions using simple infra-red dectectors that you
can get at Radio Shack and using them to set of some kind of alarm, or even a
water sprinkler.

==================================================

All opinions expressed here have nothing whatsoever to do 
with anything espoused by AT&T!

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From: [email-masked] (TIGIBSON)
Date: 3 Apr 1995 14:47:11 -0400

an interesting idea from a professor at mi state u.
combine a smell they don't like (perhaps orange peel as some have
suggested here) and a physical reinforcement. he suggested the very small
mouse traps, which won't damage a cats paws but will be uncomfortable
enough for them to associate orange peel smell with an unpleasant feeling
(pain).
i've also found that a layer of bird netting, held down on corners with
rocks, keep cats from digging up new seed beds.
i enjoy having my cats in the garden, but there are places i want to keep
them out of. i'm going to try the mouse traps, because it's humane enough
to appeal to a cat lover (at least this one).

tigibson

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From: [email-masked] (Gary V. Deutschmann Sr.)
Date: 31 Mar 1995 03:54:22 GMT

Gary

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From: WALKEM <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 1995 13:57:49 GMT

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From: [email-masked] (TIGIBSON)
Date: 3 Apr 1995 14:47:11 -0400

tigibson

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From: [email-masked] (TIGIBSON)
Date: 3 Apr 1995 14:47:11 -0400

tigibson

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From: [email-masked] (Hilary Dyer)
Date: Fri, 7 Apr 1995 16:14:30 +0000

> In article <[email-masked]>,
>  [email-masked] (Bill Berrington) writes:
I don't know if you have them in the States, but I suspect you do - large 
lemonade or pop bottles.  I have heard that some of these filled with water
and left judiciously can be helpful - also the mulch cocoa shell is supposed
to deter some cats.  My own (unintended) solution is to keep cats of my own,
which keeps other cats at bay, but puts the problem into someone else's 
garden :-(

-- 
Hilary Dyer
Internet: [email-masked]

Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last
fish been caught will we realise that we cannot eat money.
(aboriginal American proverb)

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From: [email-masked] (Charles Younger)
Date: 8 Apr 1995 18:18:38 GMT

:     We have cat problems in our garden.  These troublesome creatures have
: managed to flatten three out of eight broccoli plants in there.  Is there 
: a way to repel them with out the use of a fence?  and does it work?  Just
: wondering if there were any fool proof methods out there.
 
       I can't help with any personal experiences, but in hopes that it 
  helps,  here is the pertinent excerpt from the rec.cats FAQ (by Cindy 
  Tittle Moore <[email-masked]>): 
 
-----------
 
   Between digging and eating in your plants, cats can do considerable
   damage to a garden. There are a number of ways to keep cats from
   digging in, chewing on, or eliminating in your garden.
   
   Some people have successfully used the "diversionary" tactic by
   planting catnip in another corner of the garden entirely, confining
   the destruction to one spot.
   
   If you have not yet started your garden, put chicken wire down and
   plant between the wire. Cats dislike walking on the chicken wire and
   most plants (unless they grow too big) do just fine growing between
   the wire.
   
   Other people have reported success with different sprays, gels, and
   products specifically formulated to keep animals out of your yard.
   Check your local pet store.
   
   Lemon peels, soap slivers (use biodegradeable soap) dipped in cayenne
   pepper and other organic materials have also been reportedly
   successful.
   
   Cats hate water: surprising them with a squirt gun (or turning your
   sprinklers on) can discourage specific cats from returning.
   
   One reader reported success in putting up cast-iron cut-out cats with
   marble eyes in strategic places in her yard. The decorative cats were
   apparently real enough to cats that they kept clear of her yard. Try
   looking around hardware stores or gardening stores for these. Lifesize
   cat statues might work as well.
 
-----------
 
C.M.Younger
Philadelphia, PA

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From: [email-masked] (Charles Younger)
Date: 8 Apr 1995 18:18:38 GMT

-----------

   

   

-----------
 
C.M.Younger
Philadelphia, PA

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From: [email-masked] (Charles Younger)
Date: 8 Apr 1995 18:18:38 GMT

-----------

   

   

-----------
 
C.M.Younger
Philadelphia, PA

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From: [email-masked] (cathe green lewis)
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 95 00:07:12 CDT

I have also heard that cats hate the smell of the herb rue.  I don't know
whether this is true, but I plan to plant some and experiment on my hubby's
monsters...uh, pets.

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From: [email-masked] (Mark Kemp)
Date: 30 Mar 1995 20:48:02 -0800

>[email-masked]

Poke sticks in around the plants.  Most of the time cats cause problems 
in gardens either because they want to dig "latrines" or just to roll 
around in dust; if you poke sticks in the ground it isn't so attractive 
to them.

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From: [email-masked] (Nostromo)
Date: 11 Apr 1995 15:03:19 -0500

Hilary Dyer
Internet: [email-masked] wrote:

> and left judiciously can be helpful - also the mulch cocoa shell is 
> supposed to deter some cats.

I agree about the cocoa mulch. I put up a very simple fence (plastic 
posts and plastic mesh from the garden store) until the plants are large 
enough and the soil is warm enough to mulch, then in goes the cocoa 
shells. The cats don't like to walk on them. I also plant catnip along 
the outside of my garden; the cats pay all their attention to the catnip 
and ignore the rest of the garden.

> My own (unintended) solution is to keep cats of my own,

Right again. Our three cats have staked out their territory and no one 
(feline) gets in without a fight. However, our cats tend to stay out of 
other peoples gardens (it helps that the neighbors have a dog). I guess 
they want to keep an eye on all that catnip (as well as chasing the 
rabbits/squirrels/birds out of the garden).

Dan

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From: [email-masked] (Alice A. Harman)
Date: 14 Apr 1995 09:52:32 -0700

Speaking of rue, I'm wondering -- aren't rue seeds the ones used 
in Persia to ward off the devil or the evil eye?  I think I heard of them 
being put in a kind of sensor, lit with a match, then have the smoke 
wafted around the rooms.  Someone says it stinks.  I also heard that it 
helps to ward off mosquitoes.  Would it prove offensive to cats, too?

-- 
Alice Harman <[email-masked]>

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From: [email-masked] (Alice A. Harman)
Date: 14 Apr 1995 09:57:14 -0700

Well, my cats love my garden, I love my garden, and I love them 
too.  We don't seem to have a problem.  I haven't found them using the 
garden as a litter box.  Maybe because the soil around here is all pretty 
sandy and there are lots of bare spots.  I guess they find other places.  
	But they do love to sleep in the garden!  Especially around the 
swiss chard.  I always have to check before I start watering the swiss 
chard.  
	They've never smashed down any little plants.  Are cats attracted 
to swiss chard?  If so, maybe planting a permanent area of it would give 
them their own little corner and keep them away from the rest of it.  
-- 
Alice Harman <[email-masked]>

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From: M.J. Warsinsky <[email-masked]>
Date: 9 Apr 1995 16:38:27 GMT

> > wondering if there were any fool proof methods out there.
Cats hate the smell of lemon, and a spray made of lemon oil and 
water will deter them.  I have five cats....I live out in the 
boonies and need them for rats and mice....but they love to use 
the freshly tilled earth in my gardens as a privy.   They leave 
my garden alone if I spray with lemon.  Thing is that one has to 
re-apply often. 

-- 
MJ

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From: John J. McGeough <[email-masked]>
Date: 10 Apr 1995 01:15:10 GMT

Hi:

Liberal sprinkling of Cayenne Pepper on the bed works for me.

John

-- 
John J. McGeough
Raised bed veggies or bust!

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From: [email-masked] (RhondaS171)
Date: 20 Apr 1995 00:50:56 -0400

I have 12 cats and love to garden.  I just make sure my vegetables aren't
in the softest, dryest ground in my yard.   I leave a sheltered,
out-of-the-way corner for them and keep vulnerable plantings wet till
established.

Rhonda