Cat Deterrents for your Garden: Keep in mind that each cat is different (like people), what works for one may not necessarily work for another. On the plus side, most cats will keep pesty squirrels, moles and other critters out of your garden. They're great for keeping out moles, rabbits, squirrels, and other critters which can do more damage in your garden than a cat ever will. Birds aren't stupid, they watch for cats and stay away. Sometimes natural law comes into play and the quicker animal wins, it's natural law. If the cats have owners, talk to them without being confrontational. The cat owner who allows his cat to damage other peoples' property is as guilty as the cat hater who kills the cat for trespassing. Remember, cats will be cats, and it is unfair of us to blame them for being what they are and how nature intended them to participate in this world. After-all, we praise them when they catch mice or rats or other creatures we deem to be 'pests'. * amonia soaked (corncobs, etc) * aluminum foil * bamboo skewers * black pepper * blood meal fertilizer * bramble cuttings * Carefresh - "recycled" wood pulp * catnip - donated into your neighbor's yards (so they'll stay in their own yards) * cedar compost * chicken wire (metal or plastic) * cinnamon * citrus peels * citrus spray * cocoa bean shells * coffee grounds -fresh & unbrewed, not just a light sprinkling (highly recommended by MANY Gardenwebbers!) * dogs * electric fence for animals * essence of orange. essence of lemon, lime (citrus essential oils) * fresh manure(ditto) * garlic cloves * gumballs from the Sweet Gum Tree * gutter covers * hardware cloth * heavy bark mulch * holly leaves * keep the area damp, they like dry soil * lavender * liquid manure (good for your garden too) * motion sensor sprinkler * pennyroyal * pinecones * pipe tobacco * plastic forks * predator urine * red wine vinegar * river rocks over the exposed soil * rocks, crushed * rose bush clippings * rue, an herb (Ruta graveolens) (highly recommended in plant form only) * short twigs throughout the planted area about 6" apart * six-inch bamboo skewers (pointy side up) * Spray on your leaves (not the cat): fill a spray bottle with 1/2 t chili powder, 1/2 t cayenne pepper, 1 t dish soap and water * squirt gun with water * talk to your neighbors * tansy * thorny berry, lilac, hawthorn, rose clippings * toothpicks * upside down vinyl carpet * vinegar sprayed on areas where they roam * water bottle on "stream" NOT RECOMMENDED: *** chili powder, red crushed pepper, cayenne pepper (NOT recommended), it gets on the cat's paws then they wash themselves and they get it in their eyes, beware cats have literally scratched their eyes out because of this. Even if it's one cat out of 500 infected in this way, that's one too many for me. *** Don't ever use mothballs or flakes. Those little toxic waste pellets destroy cats' kidney function, could seriously harm people who handle them, and yes, contaminate your own garden soil. Their packaging even warns against using them this way. Give them their own areas: (To keep them out of where you don't want them) (If you don't mind them protecting your garden from other critters) + pick the cat up and bring it to eye level with the plant to see and smell it up close. She noted that once her cat has seen and sniffed at the plant, she usually doesn't bother with it later. + give them their own plants - i.e., pots of grass for her to chew on and a place in a large planted container on her balcony with some miscanthus grass in it (the cat likes to curl up in that for some reason) + if the cats are strictly indoors and attracted to your houseplants, grow catgrass for them. If someone forced you to remain inside one enclosed structure all your life, you might be attracted to the plants too. + Barley Grass + Any type of "catgrass" from the pet store + Carex elata 'Bolwes Golden' but put it in some shade + Catmint Nepeta mussinicultivars (Simply put, Catmints are Catnips without any culinary or feline use. In any case, they are, however, phenomenal, long flowering, hardy perennials that belong in every fairie or flower garden.) + Catnip Nepeta cataria (in your own yard) The oils of which also work as a mosquito repellent that works 10 times better than Deet! Catmint is the common name for all varieties of Nepeta. Catnip is the common name for the specific variety of Nepeta called nepeta cataria, which is the variety that cats are most attracted to. + Cat Thyme (Teucrium marum) + Flax + Oat Grass + Jacob's Ladder + Lemon Grass + Loose soil and mulch like small bark mulch + Mints + Purple Fountain Grass so the cat lays in the long leaves all day. Maybe put something in that the cats really like and - you know cats won't winky were they like to hang out. + Sandy area + Silver vine (Actinidia polygama) + Striped Ribbon Grass (can be invasive) + Sweet grass + Trificum aestivum (type of cat grass) + Various Varieties of Cat Mints (Catnips) + Wheat Grass + Wheat Berries + Valerian This list compiled by Violet_Z6, email at violetgw@care2.com for comments and suggestions regarding this list.

I think that wandering more than 5 or 10 miles each way is quite doable for a smaller dog that's in shape and should pose no problem for a larger dog. (Our 50-pound collie got out through the fences twice in her life and went visiting at least 5 miles away to our kind neighbor who rescues dogs and cats.) You might consider visiting the farms and asking if anyone owns a dog, what it looks like, and mention your concerns. Even people who don't think their animals will get hurt by wandering (and a surprising number believe that the animal will be OK no matter what) don't want problems with their neighbors and will do something if they know you are seriously considering calling Animal Control. Or, as cindyb said, the owners might have no idea their dog is roaming so far every day and will be glad you told them. When we moved here 12 years ago our farm neighbors warned us they would shoot to kill any dog they saw going after their livestock. (That position didn't make them wildly popular but people did keep their dogs in.) On a lighter note, my father solved a stray-dog problem when we were little and lived in a neighborhood where everyone let their dogs out to run. Our house was on the corner and ALL the neighborhood dogs would mess in our yard all the time. He politely asked the neighbors to keep their dogs in and was mostly ignored. He took drastic action when he had to stop a stray German Shephard from chasing my little sister. The next afternoon (Sunday) he put a 100' log chain between the two biggest trees in our yard. Every time a dog came into the yard, he called it to him (or bribed it with treats) and fastened it to that chain (or he rigged a collar and attached the dog to the chain. He was an engineer and had devised a dog-safe fastener that only he could open.) He monitored the yard, and by mid-afternoon there were at least 15 dogs out there and many very upset owners telephoning, yelling at him in person, or trying unsuccessfully to take their dogs off the chain. One furious fellow even called the cops to complain, but the officer who responded ended up watching the scene and getting the design for the dog-fastener from my father!) People kept their dogs in from then on.

"But what if the cat owner who allows the cat to roam into your yard objects to your spraying the cat?" Oh man....I am ROTF laughing at that one! Really,WHO CARES?Obviously the owner of the cat doesn't care enough to keep it inside or confined to their property in some way,and a little water is not going to kill the cat.I can think of a lot worse things I would consider or that someone not quite as nice as me might do,AND they would be perfectly within their legal right to do so if the animal is on their property! Good lord people,this is CATS we are talking about,not someones KID! Get one of those power attachments that you use to wash cars with and set it on a fine spray and use it! I'll bet Mr. Roamin' Cat will think twice before coming in your yard again.It works and I've never known a cat to melt in water! Cynthia has a good idea too!LOL Junebug-I feel for you.If all else has failed for you I don't blame you for resorting to the arsenal.Sometimes there is just no other way.If the owners don't care about them anyway then they won't miss them,or will just replace them with more roaming cats.It's a never ending viscious circle,huh? Oh,and about the pepper spray(someone said not to use it cause it could cause injury to the cat),if it can be used on humans with no permanent injury,why would it be dangerous to cats? I keep hearing that it isn't the cat's fault,it's the owner's fault and I'm really tired of that scenario.I guess the cat's just need to have a heart to heart talk with their owners! Yeah,that makes about as much sense as not doing anything about the problem because it isn't the cat's fault!

I love your new neighbors. I'd love them to be my new neigbors. They would be very welcome here really. I miss the fox family we had here. Construction around here chased them out a few years ago. They kept the feral cat population down real nice. CT