Cats!

[mark smyth]

Since I've removed my bedding to make way for Colchicums I have been plagued by cats using the beds as a toilet. Is there anything that they dont like?

[Maggi Young]

It is a galloping nuisance, Mark, and no mistake. Easiest thing is  to cover area with chicken wire.

[Martin Baxendale]

I think we've been here before!

[David Shaw]

Love 'em!
We live in a 'cat' village where many of us keep cats and it is only very occasionally that we have problems with them damaging beds or plants.

[David Nicholson]

Since I've removed my bedding to make way for Colchicums I have been plagued by cats using the beds as a toilet. Is there anything that they dont like?

2.2 rifles??
dried tea bags soaked in Albus Oil
angry old Yorkshiremen shouting at them
  "       "           "         throwing stones at them
pill bottles filled with strong bleach buried in the soil in ares where they sniff and then ----
etc etc etc

Yup, we've been here before.

[tonyg]

1 Stick some Holly sprigs around the area
2 Get your own custom built litter tray
3 Put a cat basket in the greenhouse (A bit of old shade netting on sunny space in your plunge will do)
4 Just trim the bedding to the ground, don't pull it out which loosens the surface

know what you mean though, having the same problem, will let you know how the holly thing works!

[Lesley Cox]

Heavy application of cayenne pepper works but you have to reapply it following rain.

[Heather Smith]

They say lion s**t works wonders. Make friends with the staff of your nearest zoo, perhaps.

[tonyg]

Should have added that I want the neighbours cat to be resident here - keeps the mice off my crocuses

[gote]

At least Cats do not dig up and devour my crocuses and corydalises and...
They devour the devourers.
Wish I had some
Göte

[Anthony Darby]

You need a Burmese cat Göte. They will eat anything up to the size of a rabbit and only leave the anal sphincter!!

[Rogan]

You need a Burmese cat Göte. They will  eat anything up to the size of a rabbit and only leave the anal sphincter!!

Details, details - only from a biology (?) teacher right?!  Loved your snake though... 

Here's Spicey showing off the size of her rotten lizzard-eatin' mouth - I love 'em but it's a great pity they're such destroyers of biodiversity.

[illingworth]

Rogan's Spicey reminds me very much of our late cat Nicky. She was a stray that Rob rescued from freezing to death one cold winter's night when she was about a year old. The first summer I discovered what a superb hunter she was - not only bits of mice ended up on our doormat, but also birds. When she started taking babies from nests it was the last straw. I bought a harness and leash, walked her and parked her nearby while I worked in the garden. She didn't like it but hadn't much choice. Then, at night, I let her out on her own, making sure she was in the house by dawn. Sometimes this meant walking around at 5:30 in the morning banging a spoon in her food dish to get her running to me. I knew I was taking a chance, as we have great horned owls here in the summer and they will take cats. However, we have a lot of wonderful birds in the garden, including hummingbirds, white throated sparrows, and vireos, and it was the only way for both Nicky and me to retain our sanity without sacrificing the birds. She made it through four summers, doing a great job at keeping the mouse population down, and then late last September met her nemesis. I hope it was quick.

Sharon

[Lesley Cox]

Poor pussy  But such is life - and death - for wild things. She had a good life while it lasted. And I imagine having the great horned owls at all, would be some compensation for the loss of Nicky.

[Anthony Darby]

Lovely cat Rogan. Yes I am a biology teacher and I could tell you why 99% of tortoiseshell cats are female.