Cats Are Killing My Lawn
I’ve re-seeded the bare patches of my tiny lawn three times this fall (I started in late summer, each time I found I missed a few holes so I kept filling in with seed and fertilizer.) I had JUST gotten to the point when I thought “Oh joy, I’m going to have a great lawn…
I’ve re-seeded the bare patches of my tiny lawn three times this fall (I started in late summer, each time I found I missed a few holes so I kept filling in with seed and fertilizer.) I had JUST gotten to the point when I thought “Oh joy, I’m going to have a great lawn next spring!” when BAM my neighbor’s cats came through and dug up ALL the new grass. They tore it up by the roots and placed the new grass all in one corner of my lawn with just a tad bit of earth still attached. QUESTIONS: 1) Is this grass toast now or can I stick it back in the ground somehow? 2) How do I prevent these pests from doing it again? 3) Are the cats attracted to the grass for some reason or are they doing it to torment me?
Contech Electronics CRO101 Scarecrow Motion-Activated Sprinkler
That is not a cat. Bare soft soil yes, but grass, they will attempt to cover but will not spend the time or even be able to dig in the dirt to do what you are talking about. Sounds like squirrels
The fox or coyote urine comes either in liquid or shake form. A hunting store would have it. Remember to reapply after rain or watering. You can also use it around the perimeter to train the beasties to ‘not cross that line’!
An organic garden supply has remedy for the grub/nematode if that is the issue.
Your kitchen holds the hot peppers probably. Mix up a 4 alarm fire and spray it on the bald patches. Wear rubber gloves! A few applications of all should do it! (The cats’ll sneeze and ‘turn tail’. No real harm, no more foul(ing)!
Reseed with high traffic grass seed. And don’t forget those birds, they are pretty quick to grab grass seed!
Cats aren’t doing it. I’ve caught squirrels digging up my grass also.
I am so sick of reseeding, watering, cutting, and generally fussing over our pathetic 8 ft x 12 ft “lawn” that I’m moments from replacing it with artifical turf. It drains like grass, feels like carpet, looks gorgeous year round and is much more enviromentally friendly. And yes, the squirrels have pretty much destroyed my most recent efforts to overseed.
Cats will eat young tender grass as a digestive aid. But I agree that a cat would be “daintier” about pulling up grass.
There are a few natural animal repellents made from fox or coyote urine which will keep cats and critters away. They basically smell this as a predator marking and will avoid the area. Try looking for something called Shake-away. It’s natural, and the odor isn’t apparent to humans, you do need to reapply periodically and after a rain or heavy garden/lawn watering.
I agree it’s probably not cats but whatever it is, you can try liberally sprinkling hot red pepper all over it – get one of those huge containers at a Dollar Store for a dollar – it doesn’t have to be great quality.
I have to agree with everyone- doesn’t sound like typical cat behavior. They do like to eat grass, which they then vomit up, but unless you’ve done something to piss them off, they usually aren’t out to torment anyone 🙂
And definitely do not put out poison- NYC has laws and it’s a horribly painful death. A lawn isn’t worth killing an animal over. And the ASPCA will come after you.If it is the neighbor’s cats- assuming you know this for sure- talk to them and see if something can be done.
I bet if you fertilized it with traditional dry bag fertilizer it’d keep all of the pests off the lawn. Never heard of any of these types of animals digging up a lawn unless you have grubs. Then you use milk spores to get rid of the grubs.