Any Way Of Keeping Neighbour's Cat Out Of My Yard?

[dancinbcs]

Where I used to live, we had a male cat come and spray all over our outdoor furniture....so I got a water squirty bottle and filled it with vinegar and I squirted the cat everytime I saw it. It only took 2 days and the cat was NEVER in my yard again

A hose turned on full blast usually does the trick as well. Many years ago when we used to have cats that were mostly outdoors there was a tom from down the street somewhere that used to come and terrorise all the desexed cats belonging to us and our neighbours. We caught him coming up the street one day, blasted him with the hose and never saw him again.

[~tj~]

Another one agreeing with a hose and a good ol' fashion "HIISSSSSSSSS" - My dog, Willow was rehomed to me due to the fact he didnt like cats. Our street is rampant with cats and when they are out the front, it sets the dogs off like mad. My DP and I have had to start hissing at them and spraying them everytime they are on our property. They are getting better each time and its been a couple of weeks since they have been in the front yard

Actually, come to think of it, on my side of the street, we all have dogs, and on the opposite side, they all have cats... Bizzare!!!!

[dancinbcs]

Set up a sprinkler, super soaker, water gun or soaker hose to a sensor or wait up until it comes past turn on the water and wham cat scoots away remember cats don't like water.

It will take patience but it's worth it and nobody really gets hurt.

Cats are creature of habit so it will probaly return you will have to do this for a few nights until it gets the idea to bugger off.

I used to do this (the hose) with the high school students that sat on the front doorstep of a house we lived in a few years ago. Just because my doorstep is not far from the footpath and across from your school does not mean you can sit there talking trash, eating and leaving wrappers and cans etc you little germs, *ssssprrrrayyyyy*! Was amazing. Surely would also work for cats?

whilst i appreciate all the ideas to get rid of the cats i resent the fact that cat owners take no responsibility for their pets.

if my dog roamed at night, dug up neighbours plants and pooped on their lawn i think they would be very upset. it is not fair that i as a dog owner need to take more responsibility than a catowner.

and i don't like cats because i am allergic to them so the cat fur that is around the place is a real bother for me.

Yep our neighbours let us know if Atlas puts a toe out of line but their cat actually enters our house sometimes, not just the yard, OH said to them "if Atlas one day manages to catch it when it is teasing him like it does every day, don't blame us if he kills it" they just laughed. I'm not a huge fan of cats but no problem at all with them being inside, lying in sunny patches on windowsills like they're meant to do

While I agree that in the modern world cats need to be confined for their own safety, nature never intended them to be lying on sunny windowsills. Cats are nocturnal hunters and if they are to be of any use in rodent control they need to be outdoors at night. They are very territorial and many never leave their own yard. What I object to is entire cats roaming and fighting at night. If they were all desexed they would be a lot quieter and the dogs take little notice. They do however react to a cat fight.

In this case I think talk to the neighbour and try the hose/ water pistol first before resorting to traps.

[FranVT]

Yep, totally agree, but IMO nature never intended them to be in Australia. Though I suppose there were only dingoes prior to domesticated doggies too! Don't mind me I mean absolutely zero offence and don't want to fight I'll show myself out

[chichihuahua]

Sorry, been out all day and am just reading up on the replies now. I'm in VIC, I think that it is up to the council that decides on whether cats have to be kept indoors or not. When I rang up the other day I actually spoke to a lady who informed me that there are no legislation in place to keep cats contained in my area, and THEN she added that her cats were left to roam too. So basically I called to put in a complaint to another like-minded cat loving individual which probably didn't help my case.

I have talked to the neighbours in the past and also have done a letter drop but the damn thing still roams around so I guess they are just choosing to ignore me. And I definitely know it is their cat - I've followed it on one occasion to make sure. Yes, I am that obsessed! The thing is driving me crazy.

Someone mentioned doing a Ceaser Millan type exercise with my dog and training him not to bark? Please share your tips!! The thing is my dog is an indoor dog and generally it's okay BUT the cat has these trumpet-like bells around its neck which is what my dog barks at. Every time the cat walks around its bells start ringing. I can hear it with my human ears very clearly so my dog can hear it even better which leads to his hackles getting raised and him making growling noises etc.

I don't think I want to hurt it. I'm also pretty sure that the cat is microchipped, so I was thinking I would catnap it and take it to the pound so the owners get a huge scare which might knock some sense into them. Or else I was going to start ringing my own bells outside their bedroom windows which will set THEIR dog off and see how they like it.

Anyway, thanks for all the replies, I did get some good ideas. Will threaten the neighbours and tell them I've covered my entire back lawn with rat traps so god help their poor kitty if it wanders through my property again. Am also going to ring the council up again and hopefully I'll speak to someone who is less biased. The hosing thing sounds good too, I've done a google and read that apparently sprinkles would also work but alas I don't have them and I refuse to spend heaps on money on this which really, should not be my problem to begin with. The thing with hosing the cat down is that it normally only comes into my yard late at night, around 11pm - 3am so I can't just sit around outside waiting for it. I'd look like some crazy person in a rocking chair. I'll try sneak up on it but that might be hard.

Maybe if I bait it with some fish and trap it in a cage, then it might get the hint after a few nights to stay away from my property? I won't hurt it and will let it go in the morning but it wouldn't really like being trapped like that. The last resort is to catnap it but I will try some other options first. I was really hoping that there would be some kind of cat repellent spray out on the market but I guess not.

Edited January 18, 2010 by chichihuahua

[Tara and Sam]

Yates Keep Off worked wonders for all the cats that came to my front door and pee on door , and spread around my garden bed kept them off

just sprinkle it around the area they come to and the smell should keep them away

and when the cats started fighting I would spray them with vinegar and water and they didnt stay long

spray bottle does spray through windows screens

havve it set to high power spray and it works

there was about 12 cats that roamed our area

and 7 of them loved fighting under our windows during the night

Thankfully after many many calls to council , they did remove half the cats and desexed them

as the neighbours where they came from also didnt care that they roamed around

[Nekhbet]

http://innotek.com.au/products/animal-deterrent/cat-002

http://innotek.com.au/products/animal-deterrent/cro-101

[freysmum]

If it was me, and I had done everything that you have done to stop it, this is what I would do:

Catch it with a humane trap when it visits 11pm-3am, then RETURN it to the neighbours straight away. A couple of visits from you at those un-godly hours would surely make them make the effort to lock it inside at night.

We had a yappy dog up the 3 houses up from us years ago. Funnily enough, they could not hear it at night even though it was right outside their bedroom window. A couple of 'friendly' phone calls at 3 in the morning fixed the problem. I won't take all the credit because I think a couple of the neighbours might have done the same thing.

[FranVT]

Catch it with a humane trap when it visits 11pm-3am, then RETURN it to the neighbours straight away. A couple of visits from you at those un-godly hours would surely make them make the effort to lock it inside at night.

What a brilliant solution!

[voyagersaus]

Heaps of good ideas here.

I just wanted to add, in case your neighbour goes postal on you, is DOCUMENT RECORD DOCUMENT dates and times of actions and what was said.

For example, when the problem first occurred, what conversation was had with the neighbour, when the problem next occurred after your proactive contact to resolve etc etc.

You will probably need to inform not only the bad parent owner but your whole street that you will be trapping. It puts the wind up the bad pet owners if nothing else to keep their puds in at night! We have a pet yowler ourselves and he IS sterilized so neutering/speying does not always fix that unfortunately. (And yes, he is contained every night). Sterilization reduces the likelihood of midnight serenades beneath your window, but is not a sure fire fix.

Your local cat rescue might assist with the loan of a trap. This will also indicate that you wish no harm on the cat because lets face it, if you take it to the pound, it will most likely to be killed when unclaimed.