Help with a cat problem?

Lionfish Lair · Mar 20, 2016

I have a cat that keeps "visiting" my fountain and I want him GONE. He's eaten two birds that I know of and keeps dislodging the whole area, by trying to catch them. Someone owns him, as he has a collar on and it must be somewhat near by, as he comes everyday. I've tried vinegar, ammonia and cactus around the area as well as beach rocks. We put pigeon spikes on top of the fence, as I've seen it walking down it to get here. There's no place for a "squirt" - motion detection type thing that would hose it down, but and I have no desire to be doused myself. I'm currently looking up services to remove animals, but they seem to deal with only feral cats. I guess I'll have to call to see if they do "house cats". Does animal control live catch house cats, that you know of?

If I could catch it to look at the collar, I would. It's a skittish animal.

ngvu1 · Mar 20, 2016

I had similar problems in the past. Mine issue was a bit different. My neighbor had 10 cats (more or less). They did not come to eat my birds as I have never had any. They used my front and back lawns for their personal hygiene purposes. I have super sensitive nose so I can smell anything around! The cats don't have tags so I can't call the city nor I wanted to have friction with my next door neighbors. I talked to the neighbor once and the response was "Why would they use your lawns when they have their own lawn!"
I tried all you did plus this

or this

Those work but I don't want to get sprayed when I walked by, so this is/was my solution. Took me about a year to get out of the situation due to the number of cats they had and they do multiply....

Lionfish Lair · Mar 20, 2016

Where did you get that? Was it a professional service or ? I'd like to get this done before "ant season". I was thinking about one of those soakers for the other side of the lawn where I have some dog always pooping. I actually just need to aim the security cameras over there and catch them. Do you know what they ended up doing with all those cats?

Thanks for the response!

ReefQueen · Mar 20, 2016

That's what I was going to suggest. They are called have a heart traps and you should be able to order them online.

ReefQueen · Mar 20, 2016

I just checked and home depot has them, spelled havahart, they are around $50

ngvu1 · Mar 20, 2016

I don't know of simple way to get away from the issue with some inconsiderate dogs owners walking theirs early morning. When their dogs are done violate your lawns, they look around and if no one is around, they walk away leaving the problem to the residents. I did remove my front lawn a year ago but it was due to water shortage in CA. That helps but not 100%

I got the trap on ebay. Get the large size one as the small ones don't work quite as well. There are trick to get the shy and smart cats. If you got the trap pm me and I will transfer all my experience.

cloak · Mar 20, 2016

ngvu1 said:
I had similar problems in the past. Mine issue was a bit different. My neighbor had 10 cats (more or less). They did not come to eat my birds as I have never had any. They used my front and back lawns for their personal hygiene purposes. I have super sensitive nose so I can smell anything around! The cats don't have tags so I can't call the city nor I wanted to have friction with my next door neighbors. I talked to the neighbor once and the response was "Why would they use your lawns when they have their own lawn!"
I tried all you did plus this

or this

Those work but I don't want to get sprayed when I walked by, so this is/was my solution. Took me about a year to get out of the situation due to the number of cats they had and they do multiply....

What exactly did you use for bait?

ngvu1 · Mar 20, 2016

Cat treat.... bacon flavor works great
Pet stores have all kinds....you can also find that at Walmart.

cloak said:
What exactly did you use for bait?

cloak · Mar 20, 2016

Ok thanks.

Lionfish Lair · Mar 20, 2016

Do you think catnip would work to get him in there? The ants won't let me put anything else in there and I wouldn't want to trap a cat is a box with ants. Say I catch him and the tag doesn't actually have contact information and just says "Fluffy" or something. What do I do with them then? The pound or ?

When my dog died, I replaced the lawn. Now there are brown spots again because of someone else's dog.

I appreciate the help.

ReefQueen · Mar 20, 2016

Lionfish Lair said:
Do you think catnip would work to get him in there? The ants won't let me put anything else in there and I wouldn't want to trap a cat is a box with ants. Say I catch him and the tag doesn't actually have contact information and just says "Fluffy" or something. What do I do with them then? The pound or ?

When my dog died, I replaced the lawn. Now there are brown spots again because of someone else's dog.

I appreciate the help.

I would say try dry kibble first. The ants won't want that as much. And if he doesn't have any contact info try the humane society if you have one nearby. He could be microchipped. For the dogs I would say try and get photographic evidence and then give to the local police. The owners will get fined if the laws are like my area. That may get them to think twice about leaving their dogs poop in your yard.

ReefQueen · Mar 20, 2016

We also sell something at work that discourages dogs from using the same spot. It also has a green color that sort of dyes the grass back to green. I can find out what it's called tomorrow if you want.

ngvu1 · Mar 20, 2016

Ant issue ? Good point, I sprayed a circle of hot shot, home depot, around the trap and none of the ant came near the trap for weeks. Reapply if needed ;-)

evolved · Mar 21, 2016

Some consider this inhumane, but since there's already a trap discussion going on in here, you might consider some simple cayenne pepper in the area first. It's pretty akin to being pepper sprayed if they sniff it into their nose, hence why some consider it cruel.

Oceansize · Mar 21, 2016

There are sprays you can get with feline hormones in them. The idea is to mark your territory the same way a cat would. If that area is "claimed" then the cat will be more likely to find a different range. I'm afraid I can't recall the name, but it worked well for us. A simple google search for cat hormone sprays should do the trick. There was no odor that I could detect.