CATS IN MY VEGGIE BEDS!

We have a stray cat that's begun to use my 1/2 empty trellis bed and one of my raised beds as a liter box. I am livid, as I am preparing for my fall plant out starting August 1.

Can I just scoop out the poop that's there on top (not very much) and hope to use these precious pieces of real estate to grow my veggies in the Fall, without having to dig out all the equally precious organic mixture I've worked so hard to put into these same beds?

Thanks!

And just when I have put a moratorium on garden spending, too.....

I have read that used coffee grinds will deter cats and dogs from the garden plus provide some nutritional value. Try it!

I've successfully used black pepper. I went to Big Lots or the dollar store & bought a whole bunch of it & sprinkled it all around. Of course you have to reapply it after a heavy rain. I only had to do this for a few months. It seems the cats were smart enough to not come back. This was 2 years ago & I haven't had any cats since then.
Jo-Ann

I had that problem with an empty bed, so I just made sure to water it daily. Cats don't like wet!

(I tried stomping some moth balls around the perimeter as I had heard that was a deterrent -- but it was a deterrent to me too! I couldn't take the fumes and pulled them all up).
LiseP

I laid a piece of wire fence on top of my empty garden beds. They don't like the feel of the wire. You could also cover it with newspaper or cardboard or landscaping cloth or heavy mulch, that will keep the weeds down while you're not using it.

Thanks, Ya'll!

Dr. Carolyn Male (who taught pathology at university) has assured me that I can scoop the poop and be okay with planting my veggie seedlings come August 1st. The only danger of pathogens is if I were or were planning to become pregnant -- WHICH I AM NOT!

Linda (who will sprinkle red pepper flakes, black pepper, coffee grinds, and mothballs, and spread paper under the wire screen, after she waters the soil!)

Linda - You got it - just give everything a try!!
Jo-Ann

Linda~ also try the vinyl carpet runner protector placed upside down around your garden, the stray won't like that one either. Read that hint somewhere here on Daves and tried it a few weeks ago.. as a neighbor's cat kept coming over inspite of everything else I tried. After several days of the upside down runner ... the unwelcomed cat is visiting elsewhere.

Not saying this is how I would handle it, but gosh it would be tempting........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENngzZdUMEM&feature=related

Spread citrus peels around, too. Not only can you just turn them into your bed, it will help deter the cats.

I so totally get the frustration of dealing with neighbors' cats in the garden. I would not allow my 4 pumpkins to wander, poop, trash and play in my neighbors' gardens....

Oh! A water hose works well, too! DH wanted to devise a motion activated sprinkler that would shoot water at the cat when it triggered the motion detector! LOL I told him no!

Don't tell anyone but I bought a motion activated sprinkler for just that purpose. Sorry, cat poo and organic gardening just don't mix. It's my yard; it's not my cat.

Thanks ya'll. But after careful inspection I've got 2 declare my three small raised beds unsalvageable and will be breaking them down today. I actually tossed & turned last night over how I could avoid this, but I really don't think I could stomach any of the produce that's currently growing. That's what hurts most. Losing the 6 contender plants just starting 2 crank out some lovely beans, 3 Bonnie Bells loaded with blooms, and strawberry plants just standing up ready to start pumping. Now I'm agonizing over rebuilding them but having this as ongoing problem. These are strays and I'm considering animal cage traps. I have 8 weeks 2 deal with this. I'm sowing my cole crop seeds next week. Once I dig out these boxes. I'll use suggestions and pray the cats will be deterred or caught by August 1st. There IS one good possible outcome -- I can finally EXPAND the beds now! I'll let you know how it turns out. Linda.

Linda~ I'm sorry you have to start all over...but I certainly can understand not wanting to eat contaminated produce....praying quick success over the strays......

G6 et al, have animal trap set. Only a matter of time. My Handyman beat the rain and leveled the ground along fence for my eBuckets and EBs. We moved 5 EBs with 6 Feet tomato vines in em. Not much sacrifice cause maters not doing well. Only 2 outta 10 cranking. But lost branches full of the good tomatoes.

You may trap those cats but will never render the cat population extinct. Cats breed prolifically and people are irresponsible about dumping them so it will not end. Work at avoiding the problem on your new beds. I am not sure I would want to eat produce from beds that have been "treated" with repellents either. Something along these lines came to mind. http://www.gardeners.com/Safe-Cat-Deterrent/YardPests_DogsCats,31-954,default,cp.html Perhaps you could devise something similar but cheaper? Good luck!

Podster ~ you are so right about irresponsible cat owners. Not too long ago a neighbor of my friend moved out of state and left their 3 cats to roam and wander all over their neighborhood.They were later trapped and sent to the animal shelter with their tags still on.

Wish the shelter could find and fine them! We get dumped animals all the time. I like animals but hate those kinds of owners. We just rescued a pair of kittens this weekend. Brought them from town to the woods. They will be neutered/spayed and allowed to live their lives here with the other four we had salvaged. I wish folks would be less ignorant and thoughtless to others about these animals. I guarantee mine won't be bothering the neighbors flower beds and gardens but can't say the same about theirs coming over here!

Ok, the 3 month old baby kitty managed to get into the cage, eat ALL the sardines, and then skip merrily along...evidently not enough weight to spring the trap...and the mama cat is PREGNANT again!

I know this isn't funny, but I just have to laugh at the kitty getting away. Being owned by two cats, they can be quite nimble and sneaky. Maybe you can find a no-kill rescue group in your area to help you and work with you. I'm sure there's plenty that will help.

When we first moved into our current home there were cats that pooped in our yard (before it was a vegetable garden.) Now that we have two dogs, the cats don't come around. Our dogs have been trained not to step into the vegetable beds.

Gymgirl ~ can you set the trap lighter? Also, if you don't mind my suggesting use something like canned cat food and smush it to a plate or paper plate. They have to work harder to get it off and the paper plate will move around on them, sometimes helping to trigger the set.

Thanks Podster! Gotta but cat food. I thought about that little kitty walking round just fat and fed today after my free meal.

Buy a cheap smelly catfood... with fish in it. $ store cheap will work fine. Good luck.

I planted 4 O'Clocks in my garden & that has deterred cats.. only problem is it's toxic to them if they eat it.. however I haven't had them come around so I am not worried they may eat it.

Call animal control everytime somebodies loose animal gets on your property. Your neighbors will get highly ticked off when they are forced to register and immunize all their animals. I know you got a sabre saw and a 3.49231 pound maul to use for self defense in case you have mean neighbors. After a few weeks of this, the neighbors will get rid of any excess animals they may have......saving you the trouble. You can grab peoples attention when you hit them in the pocket book and most people with loose animals have not registered or immunized them because they dont wont to spend the money.

This is an extreme case but I live in a country sub-division and feral cats are a really bad problem. One of my neighbors has a teen age son that was feeding his cats plus any others which showed up. They also had a bunch of dogs. My front flower beds were the community bath room for cats and I almost had to guard my trash bags untill the trash truck picked them up. Talking to the neighbor did no good. He was recovering from a heart attack so I couldn't slug him. I fed his dogs little tiny chips of ex-lax mashed into a buttery piece of bread. They became rather listless, quit barking so much, and laid around using his porch and yard as a bath room. I got ashamed of myself for doing that so let up on the dogs. Another neighbor and I agreed to trap and haul cats. I hauled 12 and he claims to have hauled more than that. One night I trapped two full grown cats in my trap at the same time. While I was hauling them in the trunk of my car, they got to fighting each other and danged near killed each other. Im still picking cat hair out of the trunk of my car.

I finally called animal control and insisted on them doing something. They came out and found 10 cats and 9 dogs. All they did was give a warning. I called again and so did my other neighbor. They finally issued tickets and took away one dog that looked to have pit bull ancestry and acted mean. Finally, my sorry neighbor started getting rid of some of his animals and had the nerve to complain to me about what it cost him to register and immunize the three he decided to keep. But he "fenced" in his front porch and back deck area and keeps his dogs there. Cats seem to be multiplying again around here so I guess its time to grease up the trap and start hauling them again. I didn't mean to get so long winded but this subject sort of struck a nerve with me.

I know you have got a chainsaw too, gymgirl. If you fire that thing up and chase cats and dogs around the neighborhood, maybe you can get some action. :-)

I live not too far from summer camps on a lake. It's appalling to me that so many people leave in the fall and leave cats behind. Don't they ever stop to think of how the cats will survive a Vermont winter. I'd like to see one of them stay in an unheated camp over the winter. I believe people can be judged by how they treat the defenseless, whether it is an animal, senior citizen or child. I know that when there are too many wild cats they have to be put down, it's horrible that there are so many losers causing this problem.

One lady said that she bought a whole lot of mice trap's she put them in her garden up side down so the cat would not be hurt. When the cats walked on the trap t would snap open and scare the cat. She would reset the trap and after a little while the cats stayed out they didn't like the noise.

Just a comment about mothballs - I wouldn't eat anything from a garden that had them sprinkled around it because they're toxic.

We have sometimes had the same problem with dogs, and finally had to take our neighbor to court. When you have lambs and kids, which we did at the time, it's scary to see neighborhood dogs beginning to come visit, so we persevered. Occasionally we do have problems with cats hanging around, but we have a barn cat of our own and I think she keeps the territory clear of interlopers. She also doesn't seem to bother the veggies, although my dog gets jealous when she sees the cat wandering down the asparagus or tomato rows - she's not allowed off the brick path and she knows it!

Hey ya'll,
Thanks for keeping this alive. I had just about resigned to giving the beds over to the cats, but over the weekend, I've decided to dig them out and rebuild them with new compost and Black Kow. I still need them to grow my root veggies, and it's one of the few spots in my yard that gets the sun I need. I was gonna cover em up and just sit my 5 gallone grow bags in the spot, but that cuts my production in half. This time, when I sow the seeds, I'll put a wire screen on top of the beds until the seeds grow up through the screen. If there's enough space between the grid, I can leave the screen in place. Otherwise, once the veggies have taken root and grown up a bit, I can remove the screen. I will pray the cats don't venture in on my developing veggies to poop in the inbetween spaces! Guess I better make sure there are no inbetween spaces, huh?

I have found that wire fence with 2" by 4" openings works pretty well. The openings are small enough to keep the cats from digging but big enough to let the veggies grow through. I was at the nursery last week and they had bags of hazelnut shells in the mulch section. The guy who runs the place said they are good for keeping cats and dogs out of gardens because the broken edges of the shells are sharp and unpleasant to step on.

Kaitlan,
Thanks so much re: wire fencing!

You think I could use pecan shells? Our local farmers market has a shelling machine. LMK.

Linda

Couldn't hurt to try pecans as lond as the machine produces fairly large jagged chunks of shell. I guess the effectiveness depends on how persistent the cats are. If it works you'll have to let us know.

I was going to suggest putting some chicken wire or something up around it. We have lots of cats that are wild/let loose to run where I live.

I have put chicken wire on the ground. It works like a charm keeping the cats off the garden bed. It is inexpensive and easy to cut to fit just where you want so you can even put it around plants.. And its easy to take up later.
Helen

Helen,
You sure it's gonna work the FIRST time, right? I think what I'll do is dig out the existing bed and refill, sow my seeds, lay the chicken wire on the bed and, since it is raised 2-brick-levels high, I'll add an additional sheet of chicken wire across the bed until the seedlings start to come up through the first sheet. By then, if the cats have encountered the 1ST sheet on top, they'll not be interested in it if/when they land on it again inside the bed.

Ya'll pray for me, here, 'cause that very same cat that I've been trying to catch for all these weeks, is the one that has now had a second kitten inside our garage. The same cat that my DH has been setting food out for! If ya'll hear a tremendous, highpitched scream, IT AIN'T THE CAT!

Gymgirl,
The chicken wire works because the cats don't like to even walk on but especially they don't or I should say can't dig in the ground with the wire. And kitty cats are fastidious and won't do their business without digging and burying it before and after.
Good luck Girl.... and happy gardening.
Helen

Thanks, Helen!

Does it have to be "chicken" wire, cause I had just bought a roll of wire to make a potato bin. What is particular about "chicken" wire?

I think Hot coffee will work, but you need to pour it on their tails :P