[nippa&pippa]

In same problem as tia's with mice, I got problem with cats! (before i go on, I am cat lover, used to own two cats, ok, so I am not cat hater...but)
There are few cats in this areas where I live and they have been causing problems with raid into our plastic bag, rip them up and scatter rubbish all over the garden or outside our house while waiting for bin man to collect it....
How I can deal with it as bin man refuse to clean up the mess:( ???
(I actually thought of throw water at them while they do it but worry about neighbours see us.....)

[willsken]

Water pistol.....??:exit

[nippa&pippa]

Water pistol.....??:exit

:laugh in front of neighbours?? will be fun if i can catch them :nice1

[jubjub]

They dont like citrus smell or pepper, so you could always spray your bags after you put them out, with either kitchen citrus smelling cleaner, or some essential oil?

I used to put pepper on the bonnet of my white car, as I got sick of paw prints, they soon got the message!

[nippa&pippa]

thanks jubjub, I forgot they hate lemon or orange, D'oh! will try that...

Just spoken to my OH about it, brought back memory of our cat, chilli used go into other people's house :o and eat shoelaces off trainers....One neighbour came to us complained, and told her that she had to deal with herself by throw water at him! Surely one day, he did came home soaking wet!! serve him right:laugh

[Singel]

A neighbour's cat poo on our door entrance during a hot summer day and it stinks :mad:
I pour a lot of hot chilli powder and black pepper to get rid of the smell. Don't have any more poo problem ever since.

[aberdian]

Chilli powder or dried chilli is good. A big water gun is even better. Another cat of yr own is great, ours keep all the neighbours cats away (apart from over Easter when they were in the cattery and I stupidly left the catflap on one way, in and no out. The neighbours cat came in and crapped in our full laundry basket and peed all over my clean shirts. If I ever catch it, it'll make a nice hat!)

[Juniper]

How about a trash can? I'm surprised the collection service doesn't provide you with a can, but perhaps you can buy one yourself. If you're talking about overflow bags that don't fit in the can, you may be able to upgrade your service and get an additional can. Not sure how it works in NZ, but can't be all that different...

If they still get in the can, you can secure the lid with a bungee cord. Should keep all the pesky critters out! We live in the woods, so we're used to the idea that you can't leave bags out without them getting ripped up...

If these ideas don't work, try calling your trash collection company. They probably deal with these issues a lot, might have some good tips.

[nippa&pippa]

How about a trash can? I'm surprised the collection service doesn't provide you with a can, but perhaps you can buy one yourself.

There is no bin.....even if you buy one, they refused to empty it :( cos they just run and grab and threw into truck, before run for another bag...

[Ana&Steve]

Vinegar works, too if you don't mind sprinkling it on the bags when you put out the trash. My neighbor squirts my cats with the hose when they go in her yard. I don't mind, it doesn't hurt them, just helps make their decisions faster!
If the cats are feral, is there a program for spaying/neutering cats in your area? It takes a bit of effort, but with cats being rather territorial, it helps reduce your local population. You will still have the now sterile cats, but they won't make more and other feral cats won't be tempted to move in.
Ana

[Juniper]

There is no bin.....even if you buy one, they refused to empty it :( cos they just run and grab and threw into truck, before run for another bag...'

What a drag! Is this pretty common in other towns, do you suppose?

Trash is one of the things I don't like about my street - the roads aren't wide enough for garbage trucks, so I have to pull the cans down to the crossroads. Ah well, at least it's a pretty walk, if I remember before dark :roll

But at least we get cans! :confused:

[Trigirl]

no bins here in wellington either. you put the rubbish out in yellow bags that you buy from the council. you can have a bin if you want one but you have to pay a private company to come and empty it - the council collectors wont do it.

[wiki]

There are wheelie bins in Invercargill and Te Anau, that I know of - and also I think in Dunedin, since I recall a story about a student who died riding in a wheelie bin down Baldwin Street (steepest street in the world).

Each council has their own policy.

[saralou]

You could fill up some old clear bottles with water and leave them on the garden. Apparently is distorts their eyesight or something like that and they don't like it. It may be an old wives tale but my gran swears by it

[Juniper]

no bins here in wellington either. you put the rubbish out in yellow bags that you buy from the council. you can have a bin if you want one but you have to pay a private company to come and empty it - the council collectors wont do it.

So, does that mean the council collects trash for free, besides buying the bags, or does it just cost less than the private collection?

[Trigirl]

council collection is paid for as part of your council rates (local property tax - not sure what you would call it in the US). so you don't pay for the service directly. you pay a small amount for the bags to discourage people from throwing away more than necessary and encourage recycling.

if you want a private collection of your wheeliebin you have to pay the private company yourself.

[Juniper]

Ah ok. Sounds like more options than we have in Santa Cruz :-)

Maybe there is a private collection service near nippa&pippa...?

[britchik]

Chilli powder or dried chilli is good. A big water gun is even better. Another cat of yr own is great, ours keep all the neighbours cats away (apart from over Easter when they were in the cattery and I stupidly left the catflap on one way, in and no out. The neighbours cat came in and crapped in our full laundry basket and peed all over my clean shirts. If I ever catch it, it'll make a nice hat!)

What about this problem ?!!
We have 2 cats, and unfortunately god knows how many of the neighbours cats sneaking through the cat flap at night, or when no-one is around and eats all their food !
Oscar seems to think it great fun and quite happily watches while they eat it, but Nala is of a rather nervous disposition (!) and once they have left sprays her scent everywhere - believe me, it smells as bad as a tom cats !
I never see them quickly enough to spray them with water, and can't do the chilli thing as it is then going to stop my cats from using the cat flap.
There isnt really anywhere else I can put their food and I don't really want to put it away everytime I go out as it's not fair on my cats as they don't eat all their food in one go....
Any great suggestions ? ........please !!!!:)

[jubjub]

Only thing I can think of is that you can get collars that have a chip in them that only lets your cats in the cat flap, no other cat has the unlocking chip... so flap stays shut Bit like an electronic garage door idea.

Probably pricey though?

[Marie P]

When we lived in our rental we had a small wheelie bin .

But where we live now doesnt ,so I bought a black bin from placemakers and I put the rubbish bags into black bin bags ,keep them in the big bin outside and the night before rubbish collection ,take the bags out of the bin and leave on the kerb.They also take cardboard and paper and the bottle box which can take tins ,plastic bottles and the one or two beer and wine bottles that we may have had during the week :exit ]

Marie x

[britchik]

Thanx for your suggestion Sal
I did think of the cat flap suggestion, but yeah I agree - could be pricey, but hey, if it works then it's all worth it !

While I am on the subject, does anyone know of any other female cat to spray (and smell !) like a Tom cat and does anyone have any suggestions on what might be the answer for her to stop ? I have tried the Herbal Remedies to help calm her hoping this might help her but nitto !!!

[Juniper]

I had an unspayed female who liked to spray. Or at least, she went through the motions of spraying, kind of weird...

It's related to the onset of estrus (going into heat), so it's possible that if you spay an unaltered cat, that could change her behavior. No more mood swings :-P

I've also heard about a product called Feliway, that is basically cat pheromones. If you spray the pheromones on stuff she likes to mark, she will see that it's already marked and will be less inclined to deliver her pheremones via urine. That's the theory at least...it's supposed to be calming as well. You can even get it in a plug-in vaporizer, like those "Glade" air fresheners, lol...saves you the trouble of spraying everything by hand.

I hope your vet can tell you more about this or a similar product.

[nippa&pippa]

Thanx for your suggestion Sal
I did think of the cat flap suggestion, but yeah I agree - could be pricey, but hey, if it works then it's all worth it !



cat flap is good as there was 11 cats in the close in old house we had same problem with another cats came in. So my OH worked out the plan and it work. All cats stopped came in! What he did kept our cats in the safe room with litter tray, turn the flap into one way that cats came in but can't get out. They were trapped in the tiny hallway all night, then next morning, their faces was panic when they saw looking through the glass!! But more panic when they met our big old english sheepdog!!! So my OH went outside using other door to prepare to open the door with flap while I let go the dog.....they didn't dare to come back after this :D

Another house (last one) as my cats then live in cat run outside the house and we had few cats teased our cats. So we had two golden retreiver, simple said 'cats' to them, they run off and chased all cats out of the garden till they didn't dare to put their foot into our garden again. :D

Wish we got dog now to chase this stupid cat are main cause of litter problem....grrrrr.