Paula, I feel your pain. I have been dealing with this problem for over 25 years. It's our front bed, which usually had annuals, and every spring when we would go out and cultivate the bed we would be digging up oodles of cat poop. Then the laws changed and cats had to be tethered or they were picked up and it stopped a bit. Now it's back with feral cats, and two neighbours who put out food for the cats. Two years ago, we trapped nine and had them delivered to the Humane Society. One year, they had a nest behind my wood pile and I was alerted when I saw three kittens gamboling in my backyard. They keep breeding, and I am now in the process of keeping a new litter of 4 out of my yard. I have used just about everything, including the citrus, cayenne, garlic, but they work for a while. Last year, I lifted all the soil and replaced it, mixed in a good amount of used coffee grounds, and sprayed the earth and the walkways with a mixture of dettol and water. That kept them away. But I also chase them (I think they know me now and run once they see me), I turn the hose on them if I see them, but there was one place right next to my door that I could not keep them from. Last week, a neighbour gave me a plant of rue (it's dangerous and can cause awful blisters). She uses it in her garden to keep them away. Apparently there's something about the smell of the plant that will keep them away. For me, I will continue to use the dettol because that works, it's cheap and easy to use. They just hate the smell. I spray it before planting out seedlings which they will dig out, across the path they will use to my garden, and if they come near, I spray it on them. If they ever do their stuff, I dig that lot of soil out, then soak the soil there with dettol so they lose the scent. It's a horrible problem to have especially because the feral cats keep reproducing. It seems things may be getting better soon: a For Sale sign went up on the lawn of one of the 'feeders'. That may cut things down a bit. They enticed one, took her and got her spayed, but there are too many for that to matter. The Humane Society said the only answer is to campaign to get them to stop feeding the feral cats. Then they move on.

I went to a local nursery today and spoke with the manager, who was very helpful, they had a variety of citrus trees there which he told me had been there for quite some time, and should be safe for my gst cats to eat. So i purchased an Improved Meyer Lemon tree, it has lots of new growth on it, and I remember reading that GSTs like the leaves of this tree, i think. Anyway, the manager at the nursery told me that the only required insecticide or pesticide by the state of louisiana for citrus trees, is sprayed onto the leaves, and that it is not a systemic type, so that was good to know, Missherry had mentioned that was probably the case seeing as how a systemic could contaminate fruit of citrus. I have already ran out of new growth on my second navel tree, I thought it would last me until these cats pupate, but did not happen, so now I have some more host leaves for the remaining cats, I am just going to make sure I rinse the leaves thoroughly before I give to the cats, to make sure there is nothing left on them that could harm them. THe cat with the damaged mouthparts was able to eat a little today, he seems to be able to eat the stems better than the leaves, I cut little slits along the tender stems, and pinch them to where pieces are still attached but easier for him to pull off, I am hoping this will get him through, he has not given up, and seems to be fine, just hungry, poor guy. There are only two left from his group that have not purged and started hung sling, so I am hoping that he is getting enough nourishment in order to pupate, he doesn't pass hardly any frass, maybe once per day, but he hasn't lost as much weight as I would have figured since he is eating so little, so maybe his body is hanging on to all it can and that is why he isn't passing much frass or waste. He also doesn't move much at all unless he is trying to eat, so he isn't wasting his energy, I am hoping that he will make it, surely he cannot starve to death if he is getting some nourishment everyday. And maybe he will adjust better in order to eat more with each day. I have driven myself crazy trying to figure out what happened to him, because I cannot think of how in the world he ended up with part of his face missing. Unless maybe it was deformed to begin with and I did not notice, and just deteriorated with time, because up until a few days age, he was able to eat just like the rest, so it doesn't make sense. His cage is not real deep and I have papertowels at the bottom, so he could not have fallen and injured himself, there are no other cats in there with him, and he isn't one of my free spirit cats that try to escape frequently, I don't think I have ever found him on the tulle that encloses his little habitat, and had to move him back inside, he has been one of the easy ones that stay put, so I just don't know what in the world could have happened to him, and i wonder if he is in pain, because it looks like he is missing part of his face or mouth, could he have injured himself while eating?? and if so, how? I wish I could find info about this, but haven't been able to, just wondering if it could be a disease, or even a parasite that would cause this type of deformity. SInce i do not know what is wrong with him, I am keeping him a good distance from the others, just in case. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions on how to make it easier for this guy to eat, please let me know, I will try anything. cutting slits into the sides of the stem seemed to help him out a bit. I watched him trying to eat the middle stem of the leaf earlier, and noticed he had eaten about an inch of it, but then he moved his had back and all of it came out of his mouth, so apparently he was able to get it into his mouth but was unable to sever it and could not swallow it. I have tried cutting slits into the sides of his leaves, not sure if that has helped out though, and i also tried cutting a leaf up into tiny pieces like the size they sever off when they eat, but apparently, he only knows to "tear" pieces off and either physically cannot, or hasn't figured out how to eat little pieces that are already torn off. Like I said, if anyone can think of something that might help, I will try it, so let me know!! And thanks

Just trim it off all the way around and chop off its head. Don't remove more than one-third of total growth at any one time, then allow the plant to regenerate before trimming again. Pruning is not an exact science with most plants, especially the shrubby ones. Dry the prunings and put them in sachets and toys etc for your cats to enjoy!

Mmontina, I like the light colour of your sans but it's no 'Moomshine'. It is a Sansevieria trifasciata Futura of some type. I have a Silver Laurenttii and when it pups, they look exactly like Moonshine until it gets a little bigger then the yellow margins show up. They get big and darken with age. Now my Moonshine and I have plenty. Stush