Dear Mary-anne. Cats poo in my garden and I’m sick of it.
QUESTION:
I live in inner-city Auckland in a house with a section. We are inundated with cats from neighbours. We have no pets due to our son's allergies. There would be half a dozen or more different cats strolling through our garden at all hours sometimes coming into the house when we have open doors enjoying the summer. They poo on our lawn and paths, dig in our garden and chase the birds. Mostly they look very expensive well cared for cats. Most have collars but I can't get close enough to pick them up or catch them. I don't want to complain to my neighbours, particularly if something happens to their cat as they might think I am responsible. I don't want to call the council as they too record names etc. Often people post 'lost cat' signs in the neighbourhood. I see too, in today's paper, that someone took matters into their own hands with a bow and arrow. Apparently it is not illegal to shoot feral cats, indeed, hunters I believe are encouraged to do so as feral cats destroy our native wildlife. People often post on hunting forums, pictures of cats they have shot in the bush. They are applauded. So clearly it's not bad to shoot cats per se, just someone's pet right? So that is not an avenue open to me. Especially in the city. Otherwise I could hire a hunter. If I succeeded in trapping a pet cat, would the owner then be able to prevent it coming back to my section? I don't think so. Again I ask, what am I to do? Some people have more than one cat. One cat poo trodden into my house is one too many. I collect several a week. If I knew which cat a poo belonged to, and who the cat belonged to, I could return the poo. But that is too hard. Please advise me, what is the solution?
ANSWER:
I don’t think anyone could call you unreasonable for wanting these cats off your property. Even if your son didn’t have allergies, you’d be justified in attempting to end the cat-fouling and garden digging.
Animals always prefer to conduct their business away from their own designated areas and it’s bad luck that you live in an area heavily populated by cats. It’s hard to tell from your letter if these cats come from just one house or if you’re living in some sort of cat-mad neighbourhood. It can be hard enough controlling one pet, so why anyone would want to a menagerie, beats me.
As with many neighbourhood issues that people face every day, it’s easy to become consumed by the problem and I see that you’ve toyed with the idea of cat-murder-most-foul. I can’t actually see the point in talking to your neighbours or the council, because the neighbours will be cat obsessed and really, once the cats have decided your property is perfect for their cat business then no amount of admonishing or training is going to change them.
I know there’s a cost to this idea, but why don’t you do some investigations and find the best way to cat-proof your property — get in expert advice perhaps. Make a decision, set-to and get the job done.
I see there are electronic fences which deliver mild but unpleasant jolts. There’s also a water sprinkling system that detects a visiting animal and shoots out a surprising burst of water. Ingenious! Then I found a cat-watch device which emits a high frequency alarm that cats can’t tolerate. It senses movement in a 100 degree angle and overall it’s range is about 60 feet. I’m particularly impressed by this idea. The ultrasonic burst keeps going until the cat leaves and then you get a satisfying sort of alert to say it’s been triggered. How can you resist? None of these deterrents seem to harm birds and you’re not wounding the cats or resorting to barbaric methods.
I reckon this solution beats weeks of anguish, letters and chats over the fence that go nowhere and I’m sure the cats will learn pretty fast that your property is not one to be ‘messed’ with.