GGG -- Boo Boo Kitty sounds like she earned a well-deserved retirement after years of being on duty. I have my other two kitties relegated to the indoors for medical reasons. Someday Starbuck will have to retire but she's only about 4 so hopefully she still has years of service to my gardening cause ahead of her. rjinga, love your babies too. Especially the white one staring into the camera. So far I haven't been able to train A.J. to stay out of my daylily field so I feel your pain. I can't tell you how many buds he's broken as he bounds by. He only showed up on our property as a starving pup last April and we're still working on some "issues". At the end of daylily blooming season last fall I put nylon pantyhose footies over all of my developing seed pods that I hybridized just like I always do to protect them from insect damage. Well, A.J. must have gotten bored and thought they looked fun to play with so when I got back from work one day I found somewhere between 30 or 40 nylon stockings littering my field, complete with huge broken off seed pods inside, slightly chewed of course. I could have killed him!!! All that time spent planning my crosses, gathering pollen, pollinating and waiting...all for nothing. Aaargh! I would have had far fewer casualties with the bugs, so this year no panty hose. Eventually maybe I'll get it fenced off with low voltage electric wire and hopefully he and any hungry deer will get the hint quickly. He only knows the difference between cats and everything else that moves. He actually ran down a HUGE wild turkey that just happened to walk out of the woods one day while we were on a walk. That was the day I learned my sweet, submissive wouldn't-hurt-a-kitten stray pooch had some serious hunting dog in his gene pool. The turkey and I just stood there and looked at each other for a minute, we were both so surprised by the other's sudden appearance. But the instant he got nervous and decided to run away he was doomed. A.J.'s chase instinct kicked in and they both disappeared over the hill just as the bird took flight low to the ground. I was concerned about the dog because those turkeys can actually inflict some serious damage when threatened. I looked and looked for him for over an hour with no luck. Finally later that evening I walked out of the house to look for him again and he was laying in the yard next to a giant turkey carcass. I was shocked! Not only had he killed it but he dragged it back home over a mile and that bird was much bigger than he was! So....who's craving a turkey sandwich? Danielle

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) Scarecrow Motion Activated Sprinkler (do a froogle.com search or www.safepetproducts.com) Shake-Away Domestic Cat Repellent Urine Powder (do a froogle.com search or www.safepetproducts.com) * 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.

Lol, thanks for the link ;) Sadly, the Milton Project here was totally lambasted by the GDA for releasing the cats back to their colony after being spayed/neutered. There are so many proponents for and against TNR that it makes this a really tricky slope, so GDA (Georgia Department of Agriculture) has pretty much stated releasing the cats is likened to abandonment. The cats were already abandoned or were never owned in the first place (depending on location of colony) so I don't see the logic in abandoning something already abandoned. I DO understand the issues with a huge colony laying waste to people's yards, gardens, wildlife, disrupting "the peace" with noise and smells, etc etc. I admit to being a sucker for cats, aka my cats. I am not "nice" to the neighborhood cats in that I don't pet them and I tend to shoo them off our property, especially when they get into a tangle with my only indoor/outdoor cat- and that is to be expected. I did contact the milton project though, which is when they gave me the news about being incapable to do their TNR, and they pointed me in the direction of another group. However I would have to be the one to front the money for the traps AND the spay/neuter. For what appears to be 16 cats, I don't have that cash. We aren't bad off, but we're not oozing money out our ears either, lol. And about feeding them...I've honestly considered that thought myself. I know that a few of the neighbors have claimed a few of the cats, when talking to them they've stated it. But the one lady who feeds the entire neighborhood, still not sure about her full feelings on them. (I kinda went a bit scatterbrained with this post, hopefully it makes sense!)

9 weeks is really young for a kitten to be away from it's mother. He is used to being with other cats. My cat actually spent two days (on and off) looking for the other cats, and he was 12 weeks old (which is the age most breeders seem to recommend for separating kittens from mothers). Kneading is normal, espcecially with a kitten that was probably not weaned. My current cat kneaded frequently for a week and then less frequently for a week, and then it stopped. My previous cats never did it. "Is there any tricks to getting him to go to bed when i do..." Hahaha! Sorry...I've been trying to figure this out over 20+ years of cat ownership. My current Ragdoll is the best so far. He goes up to the bedroom with whoever goes to bed first, but sometimes he howls because he likes us to be together. Now that he is a little older and understands the routine, he usually tucks DH into bed and then comes downstairs and hangs out with me until I go to bed. He then goes to bed with me, but sometimes he's a cat (no surprise there) and just doesn't want to sleep. Even when he does quiet down when we do, he ALWAYS gets up earlier than us. I would recommend that you never exclude him from the bedroom at this age no matter how crazy he is. Depending on the size of your house and the distance to the litter box you may need more than 1 (we had 2 for a month). Lot's of playing and handling of him will help with him bonding to you. You may feel funny, but talk to him a lot also. My Ragdoll is very bonded to me. My previous Ragdoll was more bonded to DH because I was out of state (except weekends) for the first 3 months we had her. Good luck!