Pesky Neighborhood Cats
OK, serious question, and I’m not asking this just to get a rise out of the cat people. I have a real problem I need to solve. There are a couple of neighborhood cats that have taken to pissing and humping and fighting in my back yard. They like to hang out under the back…
OK, serious question, and I’m not asking this just to get a rise out of the cat people. I have a real problem I need to solve.
There are a couple of neighborhood cats that have taken to pissing and humping and fighting in my back yard. They like to hang out under the back steps, right next to my bedroom window, and it’s starting to smell like cat piss and they are waking me and my wife up at night. I have started opening the back door and throwing rocks and stuff at them, but they haven’t gotten the point. I assume it’s illegal to deal with the problem the old fashioned way, so I have to resort to other measures. Is there any kind of cat repellant out there? Do I just need to borrow a friend’s mean dog for a while? Any suggestions?
TNR is the only way to handle this. Unfortunately most people are not willing to put in the work so the problem gets bigger and bigger. Try reaching out to neighborhood cats – they may be able to help you. Re: neighbor’s free-roaming cats…that shouldn’t stop you. If you know they belong to someone you can request that their ears not be snipped. Taking the cats to the pound will not fix anything as new cats will just replace them. If you fix the existing population they protect their territory and don’t let other cats in. Also, the howling at night and spraying stops and the cats are less visible while still providing the added benefit of rodent control.
I’m going to 2nd (and 3rd) the trap and release idea… I lived in a neighborhood that had a decent feral cat population, and in the 3 years that I lived there, I never once saw a rat. The cats did a great job keeping the rodents away.
To save yourself some time and money, you may want to find out if there’s a “cat lady” who will help you with the trapping and neutering. (Or possibly do it all herself.) Our neighborhood had a great CL who happily did most of the work, and the rest of us benefited.
Not to promote stereotypes, but if you’re trying to figure out who the cat lady in your neighborhood is, you might want to look for the single, older gals who wear holiday-themed sweaters. Just sayin’.
“id rather have rats than cats anyday. cats are nothing buy more colorful rats that meow. they are just as (if not more) nasty than rats.
*rob*”
What a surprise. Another deep thought from rob. I take it you’ve never been around rats before. Please- take a few. Take a lot. Name them all Willard.
I am glad I do not live on any of your blocks! I catch, fix and try and find them homes. The feral ones take awhile to become used to people. Best to get them as kittens.
“High-power air rifle and a trash bag.”
Air guns illegal in NYC, believe it or not.
I wouldn’t worry so much about the cats,
looks like coyotes are moving in
and the cats will be busy watching their backs.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/coyotes_roaming_manhattan_yAm8a3Yl2ZdmClz3C28CPN
I did a TNR on my block. Yes it is work, but not as hard as it sounds, it also controls the population. The noise generally is when the females go into heat and all the males can smell her.
If you fix the cat’s the females will not go into heat and will stop spraying, the noise will be reduced and the male cats will find another home.
It is really the only true way to stop them from spraying and pissing in your yard. I did 20 cats and it has made a HUGE difference on our block! The cat fights stop, my yard is no longer a pissing ground.
The ASPCA has mobile clinic vans that go all around NYC where you can fix the cats for FREE!! You can also rent cages for FREE..
quote:
And don’t forget the upside of having a few, well behaved cats around- less rats and mice. When I lived on Schermerhorn someone call Animal control on a feral cat colony that someone on the street took care of. Not long after the street was overrun with rats fleeing nearby construction. They even got into the houses- my upstairs neighbor woke up one night to find a rat sitting on the edge of his bed. I didn’t know men could scream that loudly.
id rather have rats than cats anyday. cats are nothing buy more colorful rats that meow. they are just as (if not more) nasty than rats.
*rob*
Kelly, it was on some garden Web forum in a discussion about deer and ilux (holly). But see above post with link about the Water Scarecrow. It’s probably the same thing.