You mess with me, I mess with YOU! -_-

[applestar]

My next door neighbor is a cat rescuer, and she feeds some local homeless cats -- some of them had been abandoned when their humans moved away. She does all the usual things like catching them and getting them vet checked and neutered, trying to find homes for them, etc. and I applaud her efforts and have helped set out food/water while she is away.

I feel my own issues with not wanting these cats in my garden are my own. And for the most part, I content myself with chasing them out of "my territory". But there is one problem that has been a thorn in my side. Some of the cats, on their way or leaving the neighbor's, poop in MY front yard, a few feet outside of the garden gate, right on the lawn.

This has been going on, and I have tried spraying noxious stuff like garlic and hot pepper water, scattering thorny clippings around, etc. But nothing has been effective for long. I know part of the problem is that they have become habituated, and I have to break their routine.

...so I came up with a new idea...

I have a clump of catnip in the protected part of garden and it's starting to bloom but looks scraggly right now due to some insect infestation. They were also in the way when I was re-planting the next bed after harvesting potatoes and I wanted to cut them back. Then I had an idea

I cut them down by half, then took them outside the garden gate to the problem area, and chopped them up with my pruners and scattered them. I especially put a bouquet of the flowering tops on top of the latest pile (I didn't have time to go get the paraphernalia necessary to clean that up).

Best part of this is that the thorny clippings all get munched up when DH mows with his mulching mower, so I have to put out more each time, but the dried up catnip will just get ground up and spread around some more.

...DD and I giggled over all the possible scenarios that might happen when the cats found the massively catnip scented area. What do YOU think will happen?

[Toxic1979]

LOL... buy a live duck! It will chase them out of the garden!

[Allyn]

(image source: beheadingboredom.com)

You will let us know, yes?

[gumbo2176]

(image source: beheadingboredom.com)

You will let us know, yes?

LOL, looks like an opium den for cats.

[rainbowgardener]

I tried growing catnip once. It started growing fine, but then all the neighborhood cats found it and rolled it to death. In the beginning they would roll on it and it would spring back up. Eventually it just got squashed.

But if the cats try and roll on yours intermixed with poo and thorns they are in for a rude surprise!

[applestar]

I'm hoping for this kind of response --

[imafan26]

Catnip is a hallucinagen to cats and to dogs. It may actually make them show up more not less. Unfortunately they will continue to poop in the same spot because the smell will call them back even after the poop has been removed.
Cats especially like freshly cleaned and ready to plant garden bed because the soil is soft and there are no plants to get around. I try to clean and plant my beds the same day, but if I can't I water it well since cats don't really like wet mud and I put down the plastic temporary fencing I get at the hardware store. I hold it down with large gallon size mayo jars filled with water. to keep the fencing down. People have been leaving gallons of water on their fences for years. It is supossed to stop cats from coming because they will see their reflection and think it is another cat defending their territory. Try leaving citrus peels instead. Cats don't like the smell of lemon. That and an unpleasant barrier to walk on usually makes them go somewhere else. If you let your grass grow tall there they will usually stop coming. They don't like grass poking their butt.

[applestar]

Good ideas @imafan. I will definitely add them to my arsenal. I actually also plan to make a sandbox between the two properties -- there's one of those large green cable junction boxes on mostly our side of the property (which means technically we can "landscape" around it as long as it's within code) I'm going to make a small framed area behind it and fill it with sand which I intend to get via a craigslist free offer as soon as I find the next one -- I missed one recently at the beginning of June because I was so busy.


But we are having fun with this latest defense scheme. I don't expect them to show up less, but was hoping they wouldn't poop where they want to roll around. My DD speculated that the cats will want to roll in the catnip, but would be repelled by the poop. She thought they would have an internal struggle ---

"catnip! Oh! Oh! Catnip! I want to roll in it... But ugh there's poop... But catnip... But poop... Catnip....."

...or...

(Skipping or jumping at a run into the area) "Caaaatniiiiiip! OW Ow Ow Ow eeeek!"

I contributed by saying ... Then the cat will go join the fellow strays and they would be gathering around, "Say, you smell soooo gooooood... Eh... Um you got some uh poo...." "Shut up."

[tomf]

I grew catnip and it seeded it's self now I have it in all kinds of places.

[applestar]

So far no new poop pile -- haha

[imafan26]

Cats actually are very fastideous and they do not like to poop where they eat or sleep. If they are sleeping in the catnip they won't poop in it.

[Taiji]

There is a device they make now that is triggered by motion and will spray water in an arc and is adjustable to length of spray. Can't think of the name of the product. And what cat likes being sprayed with water.

I'm thinking of getting one myself hoping it might startle the deer too. When the spray starts it make a noise too which startles them. You just have to remember to turn it off when you're in the garden!

[applestar]

DH mowed the lawn this weekend, then we had buckets of rain. Today, there was a fresh pile.

I picked it up, and replaced with about 2 ft wild (very thorny) blackberry shoot chopped up into 4-5" pieces and two sprigs of catnip.

[Toxic1979]

LOL... Evil!

[cyberdan]

"catnip! Oh! Oh! Catnip! I want to roll in it... But ugh there's poop... But catnip... But poop... Catnip....."

...or...

(Skipping or jumping at a run into the area) "Caaaatniiiiiip! OW Ow Ow Ow eeeek!"

I was thinking something like that too and the pic of all those cats just lying around. looked like a bunch of stoned hippies.

I saw on one of the discovery type channels where a guy got fed up with the same tomcat marking his territory on the guys tires. He set up an electric eye and connected it to a high pressure water hose. (and of course he video taped it) He never quite got the cat directly but it was some funny shots of a cat launching straight up and then it was gone.

[HoneyBerry]

I hope you all don't mind that my 'Mess With Me' story is about humans rather than cats. So the other day, I picked up some litter that somebody left next to my log on the corner of my place, a cigarette pack with 2 cigarettes left in it and an empty lip gloss package. It is irritating that people litter. Well, today there was a young teenage girl sitting in the same spot on that same log when I pulled up. I got out of my car and asked her about the cigarettes and she fessed up, said they were her friend's. Then I asked her if she dropped lip gloss packaging that said 'Baby Lips' on it. She fessed up, said that the lip gloss package was hers, and quietly said "sorry". Then I said to her "I wouldn't sit there if I was you." She asked why. I responded with "People pee on that log all the time. It reeks of urine. Can't you smell it? " The girl that left me the litter present shot up faster than lighting and then walked away while brushing her back side with her hands. I could hear her saying "oooooh gross" as she walked away. Actually, I have never seen anyone pee on that log. I just said that to get her back. Ha-Ha.

[digitS']

We have been invaded by cats! Just as we are surrounded by dogs! Three dogs, two small one large on one side. Three dogs, two large one small on the other.

Across the road, there is only one tiny dog in 4 houses. I think that the 3 cats that live over there like to show up in my yard to taunt my dog neighbors! Please. I'm sick of all this!

You are right, AppleStar, cat poop kills the grass. It isn't just the surprise packages they leave in the loose soil and bark mulch. Some surprise - stinks and you only need to follow the flies to find it! I very nearly took the last pile back to the neighbor across the road who owns those 3 female cats. But no, I decided to be the good neighbor and continue using my garbage can.

I like pets but unless I'm dogsitting one of DD's, I have none of my own. I like dogs and cats. Two of the neighbors dogs are my friends. I threw water on one of the cats who decided she could ignore me because she was watching a squirrel ... Be glad when the ground is frozen and covered with snow!

Steve

[Plantdoctor_IA]

I have a little catnip info:
I live in NE Iowa and there are many Amish in our area. I visited one of their gardens once and the Amish lady pointed out to me that they plant catnip in each corner of their gardens. When they enter the gardens, they pick a leaf or 2 and rub it on their exposed skin (not much with Amish ladies) That is their mosquito repellent. They also said that the cats do not enter the gardens to use them as a litter box...instead they roll around by the catnip at the edge of the garden.

[Gary350]

I have 3 cats, neighbor across the street has 4 cats, neighbor 2 houses to the south has 2 cats, neighbor behind us has 1 cat. Cats are my garden friends. I planted catnip several times in the herb garden my cats will sleep in there all day every day. In the spring when I till the garden the cats think the garden is a giant cat box. After it rains a few times and the soil gets hard cats are in search for a soft place to dig and poop. I tilled a small place in the corner of the yard and like magic the cats were pooping there 2 minutes after put the tiller in the garage. After it rained a few times and the cat box area became hard cats were looking for a soft place to poop. That is when I realized if I keep the cat box area in the corner of the yard tilled about once a week cats will go there all the time, it worked. I like the cats, squirrels, moles, rabbits, birds, and deer. I get up with the sun, set outside with my coffee and watch the animals. The cats keep the rabbits away until the garden gets tall. Squirrels and birds are smart enough to keep their distance from the cats. For some strange reason deer are no problem this year they never came to eat my sweet corn but they ate my neighbors lettuce. None of these animals are a problem in my garden, not even the rabbits they eat the small tender, plants like new weeds but nothing I plant in the garden once it has grown tall. Once the garden plants are tall rabbits have no interest in hard woody plants or any other plants not even the tender leaves of the beans. Rabbits will eat dandelions in the yard before they eat anything in the garden. Moles are no problem either. I never plant lettuce it is not a valued crop rabbits will probably eat it.

[cyberdan]

Then I said to her "I wouldn't sit there if I was you." She asked why. I responded with "People pee on that log all the time...........I just said that to get her back. Ha-Ha.

Good thing I have carpeting in my office. I almost fell on the floor laughing. Thanks

[HoneyBerry]

I'm keeping that strategy in my back pocket in case I need to use it again.
A while back, a dog pooped by that same log. The dog was on a leash. I yelled at the guy "Clean it up!" He did not have any pooper scooper equipment on him. He shouted back "I can't help it that she decided to go there." I shouted back "Clean it up!" He finally said that he would come back in a little while and clean it up. He did indeed return with some paper towels, etc that he bought at the store. While he was cleaning it up, he repeatedly jumped up and yelled "I'm cleaning it up! I'm cleaning it up!" It was hilarious. I never thought that I could be so scary.

[cyberdan]

he repeatedly jumped up and yelled "I'm cleaning it up! I'm cleaning it up!" It was hilarious. I never thought that I could be so scary.

You should have got it on video. you tubers would love it.

[HoneyBerry]

Yes, it would have made a great video. I have another funny story but it doesn't fit here. I will post it on a new thread.

[ButterflyLady29]

Seems like most dog walkers don't come prepared for Fido to drop a log on a walk. Either they don't expect it or they just don't care as long as it's not their yard. I had been finding dog droppings in my yard nearly every day for a couple weeks. Then one day I was out there working when a woman walked by with her child and small unleashed dog came by. So of course the dog dropped one in the same spot where I had been finding it's droppings. The woman said, "oh I'm so sorry. I don't have a bag." I happened to have several and said, "Here you go". Never found dog droppings in my front yard again.

Most of the cats in our neighborhood are wild feral monsters. Too bad Animal control won't take them unless you pay them $25 each.

[HoneyBerry]

I never heard of that before, animal control charging $25. Here, they pick them up for free. They keep them for a while, in case somebody claims them. They put them down if they aren't claimed. People can be so irresponsible, especially when it comes to animals. I'm one of the responsible people. I get to pay the taxes that pay for that kind of stuff.

[ButterflyLady29]

What's funny is that the main office put up cameras so they can charge people who drop off animals with abandonment. AC and the local humane society are jokes.