Re: Coleus canina,
Has anyone tried, with success, these plants, as cat deterents
Inundated with cats around us. There already is a blog on Cats somewhere but I'm unable to find it. Maybe these plants have already been mentioned.
All I ask is the chance to prove that money can't make me happy. Spike Milligan
Hi Soosin
I also have a problem with neighbours' cats (5 of) coming into my garden and yard. I haven't tried these plants and I don't know anyone who has - although I know a number of companies who sell them say they are effective. I do wonder though, and this is only conjecture on my part, quite why they are called Coleus Canina - and particularly the Canina part of that. Canina is very similar to canine and if (big IF, you understand) the smell is repulsive to cats because the plant smells of dog then I can't see it working terribly well with any cat which co-habits with a dog.
The one thing I do know of which is effective is the hose which blasts a jet of water. However that has its own problems in that it is totally indiscriminate so, depending on where it is sited, it will also "get" larger birds and any other animals and humans - including you! A while back there were a few entertaining videos on You Tube illustrating that.
Sorry I can't be of more help
Squirrel
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!
Same thoughts as you Squirrel. The Ad that I saw claimed to deter both cats and dogs.
Hi Soosin,
I have a problem with my neighbour's cats (2 of them) who seem to think that my back garden (wildlife garden work in progress) is a buffet-***-toilet for them. Over the summer, by virtue of opening the patio doors, and shouting at them I've managed to train them into leaving my garden at high speed whenever they hear the key turn in the lock. There's a chance they may become de-sensitised to it, in which case I'd be looking for something more effective. My wife has given me permission to invest in an ultrasonic cat scarer, but I'd rather spend £50 on plants, bushes, etc for the garden if at all possible, and I'd also be worried that the local foxes would be scared away. (there's a long, long story about why I love foxes....)
My friend suggested a high velocity water pistol, I'm not entirely sure she was serious.....
I even love magpies
My little wildlife refuge has sadly also fallen fowl of someone’s cat and I would like ways of deterring it from seeing our garden as its night time hunting ground.
I've spent the 3 years since we moved in to this house building ponds, wildflower patches, planting insect attracting plants, putting up nest boxes and feeders and generally making it as wildlife friendly as possible, to now just feel saddened and angry because it’s a dining table for someone’s cat.
It really annoys me that I keep my dog under control and it has never gone uninvited onto anyone else’s property and now I am going to have to spend money because of someone else’s pet that society accepts should be allowed to roam where it wants.
To make matters worse I broke my back a couple of weeks ago (fortunately I should make a full recovery), so I can’t even chase the damn thing away.
Soosin, We tried these plants for the first time this summer and they do seem to have worked. We have planted them about a metre apart ( buried in their pots, so we can move them if needed ). The bed we have planted the plants in had become a regular toilet for a neighbour's two cats. I think they are certainly worth a try.
The other forum on cats and deterrents can be found here
And i would also recommend a high powered water pistol! :-)
Help swifts by letting us know what they're up to - fill in the 2010 survey
LRB - the water pistol works if you are always around to catch them but in my experience doesn't stop them coming back when you are not around, especially during the night.
I use the water pistol on the grey squirrels, who eat far too much of the bird seed!!!!
Hi Brenda
The Water pistols do work to a point as Cats/Squirrels hate to be soaked with water. They dislike water so they will not like to be wet through at all.
I remember one time when I had placed my Bird Box on a White Beam Tree within our open plan garden, The Tree was quite small so it did not have the height to deter cats at all. The Bird Box was home to Blue Tits for 3 years in a row.
One morning I woke up, and I looked through the window to see a cat sitting directly on the roof of the Bird box, and it was taking 'paw' swings at the Blue Tits as they flew in and out of the hole only to feed their young. I was not very happy seeing this situation at all.
So I curled a chunk of thick harsh barbed wire around the trunk of the tree, and placed a swirl of barbed wire on the lid of the bird box and the cat never came back. Simple but effective.
Simple solution in this case.
Regards
Kathy and Dave
The problem is that if I try to make my garden cat proof with barb wire on their entry points, then I'll also be stopping the foxes come in and I shouldn't be forced to do that, its a wildlife garden....
I'm in grumble mode over this... :O)
Thanks Brenda, good to know, will give them a try.
Hi Thomas
In reply to your concerns.
Yes, it is a bit touch and go in the Wildlife department.in your garden. You have me on your side any day,
To me what I have mentioned in connection to the bird boxes - is soley for the bird boxes,and nothing else..
Better to know all the background you need to know about .
Thomas Brown The problem is that if I try to make my garden cat proof with barb wire on their entry points, then I'll also be stopping the foxes come in and I shouldn't be forced to do that, its a wildlife garden.... I'm in grumble mode over this... :O)
Just to clarify - the cats and foxes definitely use the same entry points, yes? I ask as, if the cats come over a fence, those Prikka Strips definitely work and they are pretty permanent - weatherwise.
Sadly they both definitely use the same entry points, we're a city middle terrace and have a 20 foot high wall and fence at the back (seperates us from little infant school). So the only way in is up and over the fence from our neighbours on both sides.
I've even found the bloomin thing sitting on my log pile that's under the throny hawthorn I bought for the very purpose of giving the birds some good protection....
In that case, the decision now lies with you - most of the deterrents mentioned above and in the previous forum are likely to put the fox off too - you can try soaking the log pile in lemon juice/chilli paste/vinegar and also pasting the entrances with the same, this is likely to put the cat off, but also the fox. The same can be said for prikka strips and thorny plants laid across the entrance.
The only way to single out the cat is to make him unwelcome EVERY time you see him in your garden - condition it so it associates your garden with an unpleasant experience - hope that eventually he tires of being chased away or soaked whenever he does enter, and goes for an easier life elsewhere.
Apart from that, your choices are to either put up with both the cat and fox, or to exclude them both.