Re: CULT: Pests: discouraging cats

I have a very annoying cat who has also turned out to have annoying
longevity.  He's an outdoor cat & is supposed to be keeping the mice
under control, but I seem to be the one trapping mice in the house and
putting them out in his food dish in the morning :-(  One of those black
and white, constantly complaining cats.

Turned soil around anything - freshly planted rhizomes, seeds, dug beds,
anything... is a bathroom target for this cat.  I admit that I haven't
tried many techniques to keep him away other than trying to encourage
the dog to chase him back to the barn.  Works until the cat gets really
mad, then he chases the dog.

What works for me is not attractive, so probably won't appeal to most,
but it's effective.  I have several of those tacky wire fencing
'borders' and surround fresh plantings with that, then either drape more
pieces of fence, old window screen or hardware 'cloth', empty upturned
mesh bottom flats from the local nursery, anything to keep him out.

Just putting a little fence around it doesn't work - he just hops
inside, if it has an opening more than about 8 inches in diameter.

After a while, he usually will find somewhere else more appealing and I
can remove the decorations, tho I've had to put them back up
occasionally.

I've thought about putting a big pile of kitty litter outside somewhere
to see if he might consider using it instead.

Has anybody tried that?
--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.korrnet.org/etis>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
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