Does anyone know of any wildlife friendly way of deterring cats from entering your garden?

I'm sure that cats do reduce the amount of wildlife in the garden, and I would love to keep them out. Obivously there is the classic of dogs, but that doesn't help at night or other times when the dog isn't there.

I have an electronic at scarer facing an area at the front when we have put down blue slate over as a mulch. Next doors cat was using it as a toilet( nice cat, but I didn't want the obvious). Although most didn't get good recommendations or write-ups I decided I was desperate enough to take a chance.
So I now have one installed (simple plug-in type) & the cat has not done it since, as for deterring other animals it doesn't affect my dog & it is covering an area where the front bird feeder is right in front of it & it doesn't deter the birds at all. It is a type that did claim this so I am quite pleased. Now the cat hasn't been in for months I am thinking of switching it off as she might have got out of the habit. RESULT!!!

vinegar does the job. no harm done to the cats they hate the smell

Tibbar, that machine sounds very useful, do you know how it works? I will look into getting one because it sounds great. Where the bad reviews it got saying it didn't work at all or that it had other side effects?


I haven't heard that cats don't like vinegar before so thanks for that. It sounds like a cheaper idea but I'm not sure I want my garden smelling of vingar either!

They work by emitting a high frequency sound which the cats don't like, but that humans and dogs can't hear. They usually have some sort of motion detector so they aren't emitting the sound all the time, only when they detect a cat.

Thanks for the reply, does that mean that cats have the higest hearing range of all the animals in the garden?

Yes, they can hear up to 100,000 cycles per second. Dogs hear up to only 45,000 cycles per second. Humans struggle up to 20,000 cycles per second.

Interestingly, I can still hear very high pitched sounds which most people cannot. In my physics class many years ago I could distinguish sounds up to around 21,000 cycles per second.

Kingfisher

Usually peoples hearing range decreases with age, so its amaing that you can still hear up and around 21000Hz. You must have looked after your ears very well

I didn't realise that cats had such a high hearing range, I had always assumed dogs had higher for some reason.

When I selecting one of these cat scarers I was very careful as one of my neighbours so had one & it didn't work so I would only recommend on what I find with mine. There were lotds of scareres for different animals so I presume that they work at different frequencies. There was one for rats which thinking about it may have been good for the previous thread about keeping rats away from compost bins.
Just to mention I would have tried other methods, ie the vinegar, proprietry lion droppings , etc but I didn't fancy keep refreshing them especially for the amount of rain we are getting, but I am pleased with the results. How a cat feel comfortable doing it's bits in my purple slate baffles me!!!!!!!

This post was last modified: 07-07-2007 09:43 AM by tibbar.

Usually peoples hearing range decreases with age, so its amaing that you can still hear up and around 21000Hz. You must have looked after your ears very well

I didn't realise that cats had such a high hearing range, I had always assumed dogs had higher for some reason.

I get migraines from excessive noise, so I've tended to shy away from it. Apparently that's helped preserve my hearing. I think the reason that people think of dogs having a higher range is because dogs respond to dog whistles. Cats undoubtedly hear dog whistles, but can't be bothered to respond, because, well, they are cats .

I laughed when I saw the 'proprietary lion droppings'! There is a big demand locally for 'ZooDoo'--the output of the Woodland Park Zoo animals. I think it's actually composted, though.

Purple slate does not sound comfortable to me either, but then again, cats are cats!

Kingfisher

Well thought of using the KIngfisher word 'scat' as in moose but shied away from it!!!!!

I don't know how common a use it has in the UK, but it's a useful word. Avoids naughty word filters, and conveys the message.

On the other hand, if you ever do a Google search for 'scat', my best advice is that you avoid most of the sites that come up .

I need to get Xeract to get us an 'Eek' smiley!

Kingfisher

Hi there!

I have an unusual method of scaring off cats from my garden - my sons waterpistol! It does work I promise you, but you have to have it primed and ready for action

Btw, I can hear bats, so I suppose I've got pretty sensitive hearing like you Kingfisher!

Waterpistols work indoors too! I have one cat who needed a bit of training and was gently correctly with that method.

Caz, if you can hear local bats, you probably do have exceptional hearing. Some of the 'megabats' (such as the Flying Fox, and various other fruit eating bats) have no need of echolocation, and therefore have audible clicks, but the megas aren't found in Yorkshire! So, you are hearing the lower end of the range of the bat, and your hearing is in the very upper end of normal human range.

Which bats are you seeing and hearing?

Kingfisher

Got no idea tbh, probably just pipistrelles but I know they're around before I see them lol!

Sorry for changing the subject btw