Thanks so much for all the comments! Dee, I bought some oyster shell and tilled it into one of the beds where I've had trouble. I needed to till in some ammendments there anyway. It is certainly cheaper than the vole blocker/soil conditioner stuff. I'm sure the acidic pH of my soil will probably benefit and it might provide some calcium to the plants. Thanks for the tip! Gazania, I bought some of the live traps meant for mice over the weekend. I'll give them a try. Hopefully between these methods, combined with hardware cloth cages for roses, gravel, and the less tempting perennials, I'll have more success. Lacyvail, I think I'll bait the live traps with the apple, but it is really not worth the risk to my one year old and five to year old to use poisons in my garden. Chelone, I have a cat, but she is getting old. While we are still blessed with her, another cat or dog is not really an option. She gets enough torment from the kids. Linda, I have heard owls in our woods before, but that was before they built a bunch of houses around us. I keep meaning to build an owl house, but my to do list remains long and my garden time remains short. We do have black snakes. I found two babies in my compost pile in early spring, which I caught for the amusement of my son (and released again.) I saw an adult black snake near my "pot ghetto" over the weekend. I have learned to appreciate them and definately live and let live. That did give me an idea for what to do with voles that I might catch in the live traps though: I have a friend with pet snakes and there is an exotic pet shop near me. Maybe they need some free food for their snakes. -Stephanie

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

One difference between dogs and cats is that if a dog, and I'm not saying all dogs by any means, but if a dog runs loose, or gets loose, and if that dog attacks someone or another animal, then that person or animal is much more likely to be seriously injured. There was a case a while back that made big news about a cat that attacked people. It made the news because it was such an unusual case. Cats definately can annoy people to downright aggravation by pooping and peeing in their gardens or flower pots, but that's not exactly a dangerous activity. Now, remember, I'm not accusing all dogs of attacking people or animals, but just pointing out that dogs are more capable and more likely to attack and cause injury to others. Do a search of this forum and you'll find complaints about dogs off leash attacking other dogs, cats, and people. Cats rarely do that. I believe that is why the leash laws apply more to dogs than to cats. Sally

Well, I think everybody has an opinion on this and I also think everybody is right. Indoor cats that are never out are very happy with the life they know. Indoor/outdoor cats would never be happy with completely one or the other. Outdoor and feral cats are living with what they know and you would have a hard time bringing one inside. A feral cat has an average lifespan of just over a year and that is sad, but they are wild animals. If they live and mature outdoors, the predators loose the advantage. My two were feral kittens that we found with their other two litter mates and got them used to us. Two of them got taken in the night when they were well under a year old and the two remaining come inside our guest house to eat every day and spend the night when it is too cold for them to want to stay outdoors. It is completely up to them and they are happy kitties. (yes from a former post I told you they both have loose stools right now - I'm told it is probably parasites and comes with the territory for cats that hunt for lots of their food.) Even with that, they are extremely loving, healthy with shiny coats.