Quickbeam
Flashlight Enthusiast
Kitty \"remnants\" in the flowerbeds problem
This is totally unrelated to flashlights, but the info may be helpful to someone who reads it.
We've been having a little problem with a cat who likes to use our flower beds as a litterbox. This has been going on for over a full year - at least once, sometimes 3 times a week we would find a new "pile" in the mulch. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif Anyone who has had this problem will know just how hard it is to take care of. Cats are creatures of habit and once they find a spot to do their business, the'll to almost anything to keep their routine. Cat urine and feces really stink and the "deposits" were right under our front windows... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
Plan A: We spent a bunch of money of "cat repellent" granules that you spread around, but you need to reapply after each rain. The container is $9 each and that equals ONE application to our flower beds. So it cost us $9 each time it rained. This gets really expensive really quick and cuts into my flashlight budget (!!!). Plus after a while it just didn't work anymore. Even fresh applications weren't acting as a deterrent.
Plan B: A couple months ago we went out and bought an ultrasonic repeller designed to repel larger animals which had marginal success - we found a couple of "pre-poop" dig holes, but no deposits. Unfortunately whenever the wind would blow the repeller would go off (and yes, we could hear it, since it had to be set to an audible range to deter the cat). After 7 weeks of constant random screeching we were ready to hit the thing with a large rock. We gave up on that and went to Plan C.
Plan C: This was a 3 part plan and was a serious escalation on our part. Realize that it has now been over a year that we have had to clean up after this cat and have been unable to open our front windows without the lovely scent of cat pee and poop wafting through the entire house. Spring is coming and we want to be able to open the frikkin' windows!
First I strung 25 lb. fishing wire all over the flowerbed, figuring if the cat was tripping or running into fish line every 10 inches or so, it wouldn't be able to squat. Part 2 is getting "Scat mats" that have a latticework plastic base that has semi-sharp 1" long hard rubber spikes that stick up, but are harmless - you place them around the garden partially covered with mulch to act as a deterrent. Kitty steps on them and doesn't like it, hopefully going elsewhere. They're on order and we're still waiting for them to come in. Part 3 was calling animal control and finding out if it was OK to use a havaheart trap. After I described what was going on they said this animal is considered by the law to be a "nuisance" animal and trapping was the preferred method to take care of it. They said they would come out and pick up the animal if we caught it. We bought one at Lowe's and set it right where the cat likes to "do it's business" - under the windows.
Now the real fun begins.
A week goes by with no luck, baiting with tuna. Since I can be just as persistant as any cat, we keep trying.
This morning: Hello, kitty!
We called animal control and they said they'd come and pick it up.
Animal control arrives just as one of the next door neighbors is coming out of the house to go to work.
Now, we get along good with this neighbor, but have had problems with their dogs in the past. After speaking to them about the dogs once, and only once, action was immediately taken to prevent the issues in the future.
Of course, the neighbor comes over to see what is going on, which is fine by me.
I think you see where this is going...
You guessed it, it's their cat in the trap... We didn't even know they had a cat, and, of course, they didn't know their cat was potentially doing it's business in our mulch under our window. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif
The Animal Control guy proceeded to "read him the riot act" about how we we had done everything according to what the law requires, we were within our legal rights to trap the animal and have it carted off, cats need to be kept indoors if they're pets, etc. and if he takes the cat away it's going to cost him $35 to get it back.
I don't want to be a bad neighbor, nor do I want bad neighbors, so I asked him if he would keep the cat indoors from now on. He said yes, and I have every reason to believe him, so I had the A.C. officer release the cat (am I a freakin' nice guy or what...).
Sure enough it made a beeline toward the back door of the neighbor's house. We're not positive it was his cat leaving the deposits, but the trap was in the middle of the garden, so it had already ventured into the beds under the window before encountering the trap and the bait. The A.C. officer said I had been more than fair about it, especially after dealing with the issue for over a year and puting so much effort and money into trying to repel and deter the cat over that period of time.
So the end result:
* 1 scruffed up cat (as a result of trying to get out of the trap it was missing some fur in spots and had somehow cut it's paw, but it seemed OK overall).
* 1 bruised relationship with our neighbor (hopefully not too badly).
* $100's of dollars spent on repellents, fish line, trap, "Scat mats", etc. that could have been spent on flashlights for reviews. ...oh yea, or other things /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif. No, I'm not going to sue the neighbors to recoup the cost...
* Flowerbeds that should now be free of kitty "remnants" provided that this was the cat causing the problem.
Needless to say, we're keeping the trap and if it happens again, out goes the trap into the flower beds again...
I'm going to talk to my neighbors and make sure the cat is OK tonight. Of course it's not my problem, but their my neighbors, they're not bad people, and they didn't know their cat was potentially causing problems.
Lessons Learned (this is the moral of the story):
1) Talk to the P.D. or A.C. officers (if you have one in your area) if you are having a problem with a nuisance animal to make sure you're not breaking any laws. We didn't have an issue, but I'm glad we did this before I tried to trap the animal. They were very sympathetic to our problem and told us what we needed to do for legal resolution of the problem so that they could back up our actions with fines, etc.
2) If you are having problems with an animal that may be someone's pet, talk to all your neighbors about it. (I suppose we should have done this first, but we had already talked to our neighbors about their pets and didn't know they had a cat.) If the neighbors have a pet matching the description of the potential nuisance animal, warn them that you are going to take the steps allowed by law to take care of the problem. Don't imply that it's their specific animal, just an animal of the kind (cat, dog, etc) that they have. Be specific as to what you will do, so they understand if their (pet animal) is affected, it's their responsibility. Of course, then you have to follow through and take the steps needed to (repel/catch/deter) the animal. Ask to see their animals so if it is trapped or caught you can go to them in the future.
3) If it is a neighbor's animal, and if you have a good relationship with them, confront them in a nice way and release the animal to them. Once. Explain that if it happens again, away it goes to [animal control, animal shelter, etc] and they'll have to pay to get it back.
Sorry for the long post, but I thought someone here may be able to garner a few tips from our rather lengthy experience. We came into this problem randomly trying things to solve it with marginal success. Hopefully this will help prevent someone from going through the same trial and error process if they have a similar issue.
Enjoy!
This is totally unrelated to flashlights, but the info may be helpful to someone who reads it.
We've been having a little problem with a cat who likes to use our flower beds as a litterbox. This has been going on for over a full year - at least once, sometimes 3 times a week we would find a new "pile" in the mulch. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif Anyone who has had this problem will know just how hard it is to take care of. Cats are creatures of habit and once they find a spot to do their business, the'll to almost anything to keep their routine. Cat urine and feces really stink and the "deposits" were right under our front windows... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
Plan A: We spent a bunch of money of "cat repellent" granules that you spread around, but you need to reapply after each rain. The container is $9 each and that equals ONE application to our flower beds. So it cost us $9 each time it rained. This gets really expensive really quick and cuts into my flashlight budget (!!!). Plus after a while it just didn't work anymore. Even fresh applications weren't acting as a deterrent.
Plan B: A couple months ago we went out and bought an ultrasonic repeller designed to repel larger animals which had marginal success - we found a couple of "pre-poop" dig holes, but no deposits. Unfortunately whenever the wind would blow the repeller would go off (and yes, we could hear it, since it had to be set to an audible range to deter the cat). After 7 weeks of constant random screeching we were ready to hit the thing with a large rock. We gave up on that and went to Plan C.
Plan C: This was a 3 part plan and was a serious escalation on our part. Realize that it has now been over a year that we have had to clean up after this cat and have been unable to open our front windows without the lovely scent of cat pee and poop wafting through the entire house. Spring is coming and we want to be able to open the frikkin' windows!
First I strung 25 lb. fishing wire all over the flowerbed, figuring if the cat was tripping or running into fish line every 10 inches or so, it wouldn't be able to squat. Part 2 is getting "Scat mats" that have a latticework plastic base that has semi-sharp 1" long hard rubber spikes that stick up, but are harmless - you place them around the garden partially covered with mulch to act as a deterrent. Kitty steps on them and doesn't like it, hopefully going elsewhere. They're on order and we're still waiting for them to come in. Part 3 was calling animal control and finding out if it was OK to use a havaheart trap. After I described what was going on they said this animal is considered by the law to be a "nuisance" animal and trapping was the preferred method to take care of it. They said they would come out and pick up the animal if we caught it. We bought one at Lowe's and set it right where the cat likes to "do it's business" - under the windows.
Now the real fun begins.
A week goes by with no luck, baiting with tuna. Since I can be just as persistant as any cat, we keep trying.
This morning: Hello, kitty!
We called animal control and they said they'd come and pick it up.
Animal control arrives just as one of the next door neighbors is coming out of the house to go to work.
Now, we get along good with this neighbor, but have had problems with their dogs in the past. After speaking to them about the dogs once, and only once, action was immediately taken to prevent the issues in the future.
Of course, the neighbor comes over to see what is going on, which is fine by me.
I think you see where this is going...
You guessed it, it's their cat in the trap... We didn't even know they had a cat, and, of course, they didn't know their cat was potentially doing it's business in our mulch under our window. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif
The Animal Control guy proceeded to "read him the riot act" about how we we had done everything according to what the law requires, we were within our legal rights to trap the animal and have it carted off, cats need to be kept indoors if they're pets, etc. and if he takes the cat away it's going to cost him $35 to get it back.
I don't want to be a bad neighbor, nor do I want bad neighbors, so I asked him if he would keep the cat indoors from now on. He said yes, and I have every reason to believe him, so I had the A.C. officer release the cat (am I a freakin' nice guy or what...).
Sure enough it made a beeline toward the back door of the neighbor's house. We're not positive it was his cat leaving the deposits, but the trap was in the middle of the garden, so it had already ventured into the beds under the window before encountering the trap and the bait. The A.C. officer said I had been more than fair about it, especially after dealing with the issue for over a year and puting so much effort and money into trying to repel and deter the cat over that period of time.
So the end result:
* 1 scruffed up cat (as a result of trying to get out of the trap it was missing some fur in spots and had somehow cut it's paw, but it seemed OK overall).
* 1 bruised relationship with our neighbor (hopefully not too badly).
* $100's of dollars spent on repellents, fish line, trap, "Scat mats", etc. that could have been spent on flashlights for reviews. ...oh yea, or other things /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif. No, I'm not going to sue the neighbors to recoup the cost...
* Flowerbeds that should now be free of kitty "remnants" provided that this was the cat causing the problem.
Needless to say, we're keeping the trap and if it happens again, out goes the trap into the flower beds again...
I'm going to talk to my neighbors and make sure the cat is OK tonight. Of course it's not my problem, but their my neighbors, they're not bad people, and they didn't know their cat was potentially causing problems.
Lessons Learned (this is the moral of the story):
1) Talk to the P.D. or A.C. officers (if you have one in your area) if you are having a problem with a nuisance animal to make sure you're not breaking any laws. We didn't have an issue, but I'm glad we did this before I tried to trap the animal. They were very sympathetic to our problem and told us what we needed to do for legal resolution of the problem so that they could back up our actions with fines, etc.
2) If you are having problems with an animal that may be someone's pet, talk to all your neighbors about it. (I suppose we should have done this first, but we had already talked to our neighbors about their pets and didn't know they had a cat.) If the neighbors have a pet matching the description of the potential nuisance animal, warn them that you are going to take the steps allowed by law to take care of the problem. Don't imply that it's their specific animal, just an animal of the kind (cat, dog, etc) that they have. Be specific as to what you will do, so they understand if their (pet animal) is affected, it's their responsibility. Of course, then you have to follow through and take the steps needed to (repel/catch/deter) the animal. Ask to see their animals so if it is trapped or caught you can go to them in the future.
3) If it is a neighbor's animal, and if you have a good relationship with them, confront them in a nice way and release the animal to them. Once. Explain that if it happens again, away it goes to [animal control, animal shelter, etc] and they'll have to pay to get it back.
Sorry for the long post, but I thought someone here may be able to garner a few tips from our rather lengthy experience. We came into this problem randomly trying things to solve it with marginal success. Hopefully this will help prevent someone from going through the same trial and error process if they have a similar issue.
Enjoy!
