What is the best way to harass free roaming cats that stalk our bird feeders?

ChickenButt @lemmy.world to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 52 points –

In our backyard, we don't have to worry about it because our backyard is fenced, and the dogs keep a tight perimeter. However, out front I've recently been spooking cats hiding in the bushes beneath our bird feeders.

I hate putting my dog on a long lead(she gets tangled), but I'm thinking that putting her on a lead out front occasionally could help train the cats to avoid the area. Otherwise, I'm considering trapping them and dropping them off at animal control. Id rather not do this because our city's animal control is overwhelmed with stray cats and dogs, and I don't want to add to their workload.

So if anyone has an effective way they like to deter or harass cats and it's ethical, please let me know!

Thanks.

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When you think about it, bird feeders are also cat feeders.

motion sensor sprinkler will do it

This is the best option. Especially if you set the motion sensor lower to the ground so that the birds at the feeder aren't triggering it, just the cats when they come up.

We had one to keep animals away from our goldfish pond. It worked really well. We also found out that the mailman cut through our side yard after dropping off our mail.

This is the only thing that would work in my opinion.

In my experience, I don't believe you'll be able to "train" the cats that way. They'll be more cautious to keep an eye out for your dog, but if your dog is not around they're not gonna want to miss a hunting opportunity. I could be wrong, but that's the way my cats behave at home. Being trained not to do something is really just a "be more careful of when I should do this" to them

There's no controlling cats. Which is why letting yours free roam is bad. For the environment, they're safety, all around really.

Perhaps try raising your feeders above their jump height? Although that may be a tall order.

Birds are messy eaters, they knock the seeds to the ground and half the time there's more eating off the ground as off the feeder.

True. Natural selection it is, then. Bird side first, then cat side when the raptors show up.

I see what you did there. LoL.

The lowest feeder is about 6', and the highest is about 8'. I might be mistaken, but I don't see these overfed felines jumping that high. I'm pretty sure they're lazy hunters and wait for the birds to come down to their level.

Hmm, yeah that's pretty high. I agree, hunted from the ground when they're after the scattered feed.

Others have suggested planting things cats don't like, and that may work. Now I'm wondering if one can plant enough catnip they would be too high to care, or perhaps just too high to hunt well. Dunno.

Either way this situation highlights an important ecological lesson: add food to a system and different niches will show up to consume it. That being said, cats are obviously a very human addition to ecosystems.

Tangential note: this reminds me of the Love, Death, Robots episode with the Scottish farmer and the rats in his barn. Was on Netflix last I saw it. 5/5, fun and quick.

PPS: When the protected birds show up to do the same as the cats, I'd advise you to leave them be. Taking one of those down is a felony, I believe.

Definitely planning on adding some plants to the garden that might help us out here.

I know that there are some plants and herbs cats don’t like. You could try placing some.

The obvious answer is to move all the bird feeders to the back. If you're attracting them to an area with predators then you're better just not feeding them.

You can also use window feeders or similar to move the feeders up high, but I'd say the first option makes the most sense.

Indeed. Birds are capable of flight [citation needed] so for them taking a trip to the back yard to visit the feeder is super easy, barely an inconvenience.

There are odor repellents that can work in addition to making the environment around the feeders uncomfortable for the cats. If you can somehow make the ground sticky or wet it might be enough to keep the cats away without harming them.

We've taken to putting a basil plant anywhere we don't want the cat to go

Believe you can get high pitch things but that will probably irritate your dog. Could run out screaming at the cat and they will scarper, they then just collectively learn not to come by lol

Have you tried those ultrasonic cat scareres?

Those are detrimental to human health, too, even if you can't hear them.

Source?

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237198949_Effects_of_Ultrasonic_Noise_on_the_Human_Body-A_Bibliographic_Review section 5

Those are findings specifically from industrial areas, and specifies that it is levels over 75db that are dangerous for the most sensitive individuals (younger people). I'm not sure what the db exposure for a service on one's yard would be, but I doubt it's on the same level as working in a factory.

It seems that most amazon results for "ultrasound cat repellents" have around 90 but up to 120 db of acoustic pressure. (Interestingly enough I could find the 120db product only on German amazon, even though ultrasonic cat repellents are wildly illegal here.) Keep in mind that the repellents work by hurting cats' ears when they come too close, not by simply annoying them with a "rather loud" sound.

I lived in an apartment where someone set one of these up to keep dogs from pooping and peeing near their sliding door, except it went off every time you walked past it and scared my dog and annoyed me. Pissed me off to high heaven.

Ah, well I come from a more brutal rural background I guess, but if any cats cause me problems with the chickens it's a cage trap followed by a .22 to the head through the bars of the cage. Quick, painless, no burden on animal control but understandably some people would be reluctant to do it. I do the same for friends with feral cat problems who are uncomfortable with the final act.

I still find it abhorrent that people put animals in sacks and drown them. That really makes me feel ill (and angry), but I can swallow the lump in my throat when I have to dispatch a cat, sheep, chicken knowing that it's the way that causes the least stress, and there really are no better options.

Assuming you're in the US (I'm not) it can't be too hard to find a gun-toting maniac to do the deed! (sorry)

I'll take the downvotes for being evil now if you wish.

You can't murder peoples pets.

Feral cats are usually pretty easy to distinguish. They're often in poor condition; skinny, dull coats. They have outbreaks of cat flu when numbers build up, with gross mucus around their eyes, and they are mostly wildtype tabby. You know you have a problem when you start seeing them frequently stalking through the hedges and you start seeing the same cat causing trouble. They shit in the hay barns and cause toxoplasmosis-induced abortions in sheep and humans, not to mention the catastrophic impact on native birds. They need to be controlled. Taking every feral cat in to see if they are chipped is really not an option practically, financially or sensibly.

Even so, mistakes are possible, but if at any point they directly start attacking livestock, like chickens, it really doesn't matter if they are a pet or not. That's the outcome for any animal hassling livestock, including dogs, and it doesn't matter a jot if they are someone's pet.