They can do a good job, but cats vary in their effectiveness against pests. It can take them a couple of years to learn the skills.

We were overrun with rabbits here, and I had a cat who took care of that problem very well. None of his successors, however, have been quite so good at it.

Yes and no. Some cats are "natural" predators, others prefer to be fed and "warmed."

Our calico does a lot of stalking - but as far as I know - hasn't caught anything yet. There is a neighboring cat that comes over to catch my lizards, which I would prefer to keep but we live near a canyon, which no doubt attracts a lot of critters - including coyotes, skunks, rats, snakes, hawks, coons, etc., etc. It is a known fact that all of these visit my yard - and their's quite frequently.

My only suggestion is to "cage" your plants. I do so with rabbit cages with bottoms removed, self-made PVC pipe structures with chicken wire surrounded, but some type of wire structure that keeps the critters OUT and veggies IN.

It has been the only way for me.

Also - we have lost nice pets to these critters - especially coyotes, when they are feeding their newborn pups. They actually come up into the paved streets to hunt during the summer months.

Sorry, I can't be more specific - or helpful. One added suggestion - try to keep fallen fruit, etc. composted as it will attract wild species at night to feed. We have a lot of falling fruit now - oranges, plums and apricots - trees loaded - and find it necessary to clean up each day, so as not to invite my canyon critters to a free feed.

Bejay

Yep, its hit or miss with cats. We live in an old neighborhood, where most the homes were built around 100 years ago ... and an amazing number have no garbage disposal, so their food garbage goes into the trash cans.

When we moved in, 20+ years ago ... people in the neighborhood had cats, but we still had a serious mouse and rat problem. Then someone didn't fix their cat, that cat had kittens, and we soon had a bazillion feral cats in the neighborhood ... we have zero mouse and rats problems. But now we have a cat problem ... and amazingly enough, a possum problem (and that's in Long Beach, CA).

I have two avid feline hunters and no rodent problem. They catch mice, birds, lizards, moles, you name it. And they eat everything but moles (no idea why that is). And only once have they used the garden as a litterbox (that I know of).

The downside is that when they catch something they bring it into the house, eat it, and if it's a rodent they leave one unidentified internal organ behind, so one must take care when walking in my house not to step on a rodent-organ-booby-trap. And, of course, picking up feathers is a daily chore.

Plus, their behavior otherwise is absolutely atrocious, to the point where my sister takes pride in it, because she believes that only extraordinary cats (they are brothers) can behave THAT badly.

So yeah, cats are often good for rodent problems, but there's a lot more that comes with rodent hunting ability.

Another cat downside is they are the largest killer of birds out there.

Dan

We're rural, so we have loads of wildlife around. I've never had any destruction in the garden whatsoever except from birds. I think the large dog has a lot more to do with it, but our two outdoor cats (strays who decided to stay) certainly must factor in there, too. Our black lab cross is the one who will case off things like larger rodents, foxes and deer. The cats go after the mice and occasionally the small birds, though the birds are pretty quick around here. In nice weather, Max sleeps on my pile of dry grass clipping to the side of the garden.

I think it depends entirely on the personality of the cat as to whether (s)he's a good hunter. Our two outside actually seem to hunt as a team - Twist stalks and does the initial capture, but I think more often than not, Max does the final kill. I know when we had mice in the house (it's old), our indoor cats operated the same way. Four of the five loved to stalk and chase, but only one would actually kill the mouse (on purpose). The fifth didn't want anything to do with any of it and prefered to have a nap or snack.

If we were in the city, I would actually get a dog rather than cats for rodent control. There are lines out there that have been bred specifically for small pest hunting; I believe terriers are the largest group. A small dog is less likely to cause a problem in most neighbourhoods since a fence is a real barrier to them, unlike cats. They make more noise, too, so their presence would be more likely to act as a deterent. Better to scare the rats away in the first place.

Whatever you choose, be sure to neuter/spay and please keep up with all the appropriate vaccinations to protect them as much as possible, especially since you are expecting them to confront vermin.

I agree with Dan , also you want birds,frogs,snakes to eat your pest. Cats and dogs seems to chase them away. Try a couple of mouse traps from the dollar store. Or put a small fence around the garden and let the cats roam around the outside of the garden to keep the rats out but not let the cats in the garden to chase and eat the birds,frogs, snakes.

The past 2 years I let my dog run in the garden and had to shut down the garden because it got over run with pest. This year (fingers crossed) I have not seen any pest so far. Well I did but the birds took them away. I have seen 2 frogs taking care of the stuff crawling on the ground and flying low. The ants will take care of anything walking to slow,lol.

We have loads of birds and so many frogs they keep me awake some nights, despite having a large dog and two cats outdoors. We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. The key perhaps is allowing or creating areas in your yard that are undisturbed so such creatures have a place to live and hide. I'm sure keeping our dog in at night gives them peace enough to come out and eat their fill. The scent of the dog outside still keeps the larger pests at bay.

I will agree, however, that we've had fewer snakes taking up residence in our yard. I think that has to do with mowing more than the dog, though. The cats never went after the snakes.

Cats tend to specialize in their prefered prey. I have a mouser and a vole/chipmunk guy who'll also work on the smaller rabbits. I'm fortunate that only one tries to get birds, and he's pretty inept. otoh, as far as I care, any of them can have the fruit thieving robins. But the cats ignore them and they multiply like feathered rats.

"""We have loads of birds and so many frogs they keep me awake some nights, despite having a large dog and two cats outdoors. We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. The key perhaps is allowing or creating areas in your yard that are undisturbed so such creatures have a place to live and hide. I'm sure keeping our dog in at night gives them peace enough to come out and eat their fill. The scent of the dog outside still keeps the larger pests at bay.

I will agree, however, that we've had fewer snakes taking up residence in our yard. I think that has to do with mowing more than the dog, though. The cats never went after the snakes."""

LOl, I was speaking of pets in general to give you the idea of where I was coming from, not being specific to cats,I guess I should of been clear on that. I have never seen a cat eating a snake,or a frog for that matter. But you did get close ,"the key", is to keep house hold pets out of the garden area to create "safe haven" for the birds frogs and snakes (its key for me anyways). In fact bring the snakes back and you will see a decrease in rats,lol. Even with the dogs and cats if you have lazy ones ya they wont be a problem, you cant scare a bird away if you cant chase it. My dog will quickly smell anything in the yard and dig it up.Keeping the dogs in at night will marginally help ,IMO. If the birds and frogs are chased out of the garden during the day its likely they will not create their homes there. Having birds and frogs in abundance around your house does no good if you cant get them to create their habitat in the garden. Now that I think about it a little more sounds like you have a HUGE rat problem if there attacking your veggies. Maybe try cleaning up the yard or areas where they are making their home for starters.

Just to be clear, I'm not the one with rats. ;) We have mice, gophers, muskrats and moles as far as rodents go out here in the country and none of them come near the garden. I have no plans to keep our pets out of the garden because I maintain they're the reason for that. ;) Kumquatlady is the original poster with the urban rats.

Our safe haven isn't in the garden, but immediately surrounding it. I'm not fond of frogs leaping up my arms when I disturb them while weeding, so no, I'd rather not have them around during the day. They do, in fact, come back into the garden at night. I know because I've had to avoid stepping on them when I've gone out to check something after dark (usually the rain gauge or thermometer).

Depends on the cat. I have two, one that will eat anything that moves from crickets to birds, the other who won't kill a mouse unless he accidentally sits on him (which has happened).

We have barn kitties (we live on a farm) and we have no critters in the gardens...at all. If the kitties could chase the deer away, we wouldn't have anything eating the plants :)

Kittens may or may not know how to hunt. Usually they're taught by the moms, so hopefully yours will figure it out. If not, maybe try to find an older, more experienced barn kitty for the serious work.

One of my cats died last year and now we are overrun with chipmunks. I don't think it's a conincidence.

In my yard, the biggest killer of birds are other birds. Hawks kill birds, birds raid the nests of other birds and kill the young, Mockingbirds harass the bluebirds trying to nest in the box, nature is very cruel.

Hey! Did Someone said creating safe haven for the birds, frogs and snakes in my garden? I don't know about you but I am not planting cucumbers, tomatoes and beans so that birds can eat em. I am not trying to create place for wild animals but home where my sweet family to feel safe and happy. As far as cleaning up the garden my garden is very very tidy with no fallen fruits or weeds but rats moved in anyway I am learning that they will come when they see food. My Kittens which I had for 4 days now are little bit on the lazy side. I am keeping them strictly outside and hoping they will learn to hunt quickly.

Snakes and toads won't eat your veggies, but they'll certainly eat a lot of the pests that eat your veggies. A good snake is a better rat predator than most cats.

I almost hate to mention this...but here goes: Keeping your cats slightly hungry helps kick in their hunting instincts. Don't get me wrong,I'm not saying to starve them -no animal cruelty here, just give them less than they would like.
SOS

Look up feeding a whole prey model raw diet. I feed my dogs raw and have seen great health benefits. I believe if cats are started on raw they would be much more likely to hunt rodents, since they are very suspicious about eating new foods. It can be difficult to convert an older cat to a raw diet, so that's why I'm suggesting your kitties start right away.

SOS,
I did see big difference in feeding less. When I fed them big bowl of food they ate to the full and whole lot left over. That day they just laid around slept most of the day and when I fed them less yesterday they were more active chasing flying insects, jumping on each other and patrolling good part of the garden looking for something to hunt. I didn't see any birds landing on the ground nor the rats also there are no bite marks on tomatoes and cucumbers so I am beginning to believe that yes. Cats do protect your garden from critters.

My experience with cats, is the hit or miss pest control they provide is greatly offset by their constant digging of holes to defecate in the garden. They love that fluffy, freshly dug garden dirt, and they don't seem to mind killing young seedlings in the process of going to the bathroom.

I'm with LTilton

Both snakes and birds are much more effective than cats
Hawks are good too

And I really dig the broad headed skinks
that have decimated the palmetto bug population in our compost bins

However, cats can be good at hunting the pests inside the house
...But not ours, unfortunately

Sos- That hasn't been our experience...actually most kitties hunt better when they are adequately fed. They hunt for sport, to teach their kittens, but not so much for food. We feed out barn kitties dry food, every night and make sure they have lots of fresh water. They're little mouse, mole, vole, etc. hunting machines :)

I consider myself a very lucky cat owner and gardener. Ginger is my "Garden Tiger" and im proud to show her off. She would rather be outside but is inside as much as I can keep her in inclimate weather. We feed her cat food but dont really need to, she doesnt even need a litter box. Ginger is always killin mice, rabbits, slow birds and squirrels. I never have unwanted critters in my yard with her around. I thought she had gone on strike this spring because I did have some rabbit damage early on but it turned out she just had a large job order, she has gotten the numbers under control. As you can see, she loves sunning in the vegetable garden and protects it like a tiger over a fallen zebra.

If you go witha can for garden protection, go with an American Shorthair, they are a very common breed and are considered the best mousers in the world.

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What a charming cat!

What a sweetheart, Mundy Gardener! Mine do that right on top of fresh little seedlings, lol. I plant enough so that a few lost isn't a big deal. Twist isn't so bad, but Max hides under larger plants and pounces on the dog when he walks by unaware. :) The resulting frakas sometimes does some damage (I've got half a dozen onions that look a little broken over), but the plants almost always recover.

What a sweetie! My kittens look just like your Cat. I love working animals who earns their keep.

Ginger is just adorable!!

If you have a cat that is a good mouser, they most definitely help keep the population of small rodents under control. That is what they were domesticated to do! Both houses I've owned were infested with mice when I moved in. Fortunately, both times I had a good mouser that took care of that problem. They have great patience, stealth, and determination; I watched a former cat wait for hours for a mouse to appear from under the refrigerator.

This past winter was brutal - 7 feet of snow in 6 weeks - and the voles were having a field day under all that snow. There was an unusual amount of vole damage to my perennials. Also, the chipmunks are out of control this Spring. They are (or were) running around EVERYWHERE. My "good hunter girl" is taking care of this problem, catching them daily.

I am conflicted about the fact that my cat occasionally kills birds too, and have taken great pains to locate the feeders and bird baths so that they are safe from the cat. However, cats are not the biggest killer of birds; by far, it is human destruction of their habitat, followed by collisions with buildings and other structures, windows, and cars. Cats are estimated to kill 200-300 million birds per year in the US; collisions kill up to 1 billion.