OT: Cats are crazy again, need something to keep strays away

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dirtybirdsoaps

dirtybirdsoaps

Member Since 2014
Well, it started again. The cats went nuts attacking each other again. Hidey once again the aggressor. I live in a wooded area and do not have a privacy fence yet so we end up with all sorts of animals in the back yard including stray/indoor outdoor cats. This of course has bothered them in the past but all theyd do is growl a bit at the cat outside. This time it upset Yuri, and he attacked Hidey sending him into freak mode again. Lucky it wasnt as bad, and both Hidey and Yuri have been able to be alone with Hot Rod, more so Yuri and Hot Rod. This started Saturday afternoon, and this morning that I could have Hidey and Yuri together. So today Im gonna give it a shot and see if all 3 can be together.

As tacky as it looks right now and as much as I hate it, the only thing I could do at the moment is cover the windows if shelf liner so they cant see outside and see any strays because they show up often. This looks HORRIBLE and obviously is not a permanent fix. We plan on putting a fence up but have about 10-15 trees we have to have removed, so its gonna be a while. I googled online and read about the SCAREcrow sprinkler, and also ultrasonic boxes. Has anyone had any luck with any of these? I need to be able to keep the strays away.
 
I haven t tried this, but I hear motion sensored sprinkler heads could work. Just make sure the sprinkler heads are aimed at areas the stray cats frequent the most.
 
I had a possum that kept visiting my back yard. I made a spray that I put along the top of the fence that seems to have deterred my unwanted visitor. I mixed up water, garlic and red pepper and let sit overnight. I then sprayed it along the top of the fence and so far, I have not seen the possum. I also noticed that I have not seen any of my neighbors cats in my back yard either since I put it on the fence.

Of course, you will periodically have to reapply it, but this is another option.
 
All you need is predator pee ... and yours may work. You spray it around the perimeter of the lot. And the urea breaks down into nitrogenous waste which acts as a fertilizer.
 
Shelf liner on the windows huh? Haven't tried that one yet myself. I have the lower 2 feet of my sliding doors in the family room blocked off with thin cardboard, using blue painters tape to hold the cardboard against the glass. My civie Monet freaks out and does his 'redirected aggression' attacks on my other cats if someone else gets up on "HIS" deck. Keeping the window shades down doesn't help me, as he has figured out how to sneak behind the shades and jump up on window sills. He's not as bad in other rooms in the house, so I only have the one set of windows blocked off. Whatever it takes to keep little 7 lb Dancer from being bullied in a knock down drag out fight by big bruiser bro 12 pound Monet, just because Monet saw "Stranger Kitty" in the yard.

Here's an article by Cats International on Redirected Agression. There are some ideas there for you to try.
 
Oh god, I feel your pain!!! Dweezil freaks out whenever a neighbourhood cat appears on our ground floor balcony. We live in a three storey 15 unit apartment block and have NO control over what cats come to "visit".

A couple of years ago we had trouble with multiple cats wandering around the back of our apartment building. Our boys used to be able to spend time in the study and our bedroom whenever they liked, but not anymore because there were so many incidents of major stress and freak outs for Dweezil, when he'd see these cats. There were a total of five different cats. I used to LOVE having cats come to visit, but this was before we had our own babies, heheh.

Then one day our boys had a major altercation, Dweezil would not stop growling and screaming at Monty and also my partner, and was "psychotic" after seeing another cat, this time out the front of our building, and thinking Monty was that strange cat. They had to be separated for eight days. It was very awkward in a small apartment, especially as Dweezil couldn't go in the study or bedroom anymore, lest he see another cat outside.

So we now too have wrapping paper / vinyl stuff stuck to the bottom half of ALL our windows / sliding glass doors. *SIGH* We've had it like this for two years. We've actually been trying to sell our property and move to an apartment higher up so the boys can't see any cats in their "territory", but it's a slow, slow process.
 
The redirected aggression with Monet got so bad, we had to put him on Prozac for about 4 months to help calm him down and have him "chill out". He's been off the prozac for 2 and a half years, but the windows have been blocked off for about 3 years now. Ok, so I can't see out of the lower part of the windows. No big deal. Monet occasionally jumps up on the footstool to get a peek out the window, but as long as "Stranger Kitty" isn't right in his face, he doesn't freak out as often.

Hope that Aggression in Cats article I posted may be useful to others. They talk about aggression towards people as well as towards other cats.
 
Thanks everyone! Luckily last night they were able to sleep together but the windows are still covered. Sadly, this is not a permanent fix. My husband bends a lot for me and the cats, but for the windows to be like this......neither of us is happy with this lol.

My plan is to basically try everything lol. I plan on buying the Scarecrow sprinkler, 1 or 2 ultrasonic repellents, chicken wire (my step mom said they dont like the feel of it?) to lay on the ground, and some spray. The bad part is I live on 1/2 acre and am surrounded by woods. My plan is to put the ultrasonic repellent and the scarecrow right by my back patio and then put the chicken wire on the ground near the woods and spray everywhere lol.

Its just so nerve wrecking. Its been a month since their last episode, at least it wasnt as bad since last time it took over a week to get them good, this time not even 3 days. Its just so weird to see Hidey as the aggressor.

As to the shelf liner, yup it actually doesnt look TOO bad, but its still tacky lol. $5 and different patterns. All walmart had was camo or tan marble or pink marble, I picked the tan lol. My thought was to use cardboard (my husband differently would of flipped lol) but oddly Hot Rod has an obsession with tape and eating it. Doesnt matter what type he wants it. He sees me open a package and comes running trying to get the tape off the box.
 
I feel SO much better knowing there are others like us!!!

We've had the stuff on the windows for about two years, and until we move, it's not coming down. I cannot WAIT to move!!!! We will never live in a ground floor apartment again, as there are just SO MANY CATS!!!!! I don't blame them for coming around. Their owners should keep them in at night (it's actually illegal not to here), but most don't. But it's just an unfortunate combination of many cats and poor threatened Dweezil. :)

Not only have we not seen outside properly for two years, but we can't usually OPEN the doors either. We have no windows that are not sliding glass floor to ceiling doors. So once you open the glass, the paper is not there...there's just the wire screen door. And so if there are cats outside, Dweezil can see them, smell them, etc.

We'd begun to relax having the door and curtains shut all the time for the past few months, as we'd seen no cats for a long time, but last week...a new cat arrived. We call her Meredith as she resembles one of Taylor Swift's cats. lol. She likes to come right onto our balcony, sit on our bench there, and look at our boys. SIGH. Four times in the past week we've had to quickly shut the balcony glass doors and close the curtains so Dweezil can't see her. It is a good solution I guess, as he doesn't get a chance to freak out, but god...it's SO HOT IN HERE IN SUMMER WITH NO AIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The other night she came around at almost midnight. Last night she turned up at 10.30pm and then after I'd shut the glass door, I heard cats yowling outside. Multiple cats. Poor Meredith. I mean, come on owners!!!! It is ILLEGAL to let cats roam at night here!
 
Update on Meredith - we got home from dinner to find Meredith stuck in the apartment stairwell, crying at the door of unit 2. The guy who lives there is weird. We were not pleased to know that is her home. It was so hot in there and she had no water. We heard music coming from the inside and we bashed on the door. Three tries later, he finally peeped his head around the door. Meredith ran inside. The guy was surly. We also noticed Meredith's collar was on too tight.
 
Poor Meredith. Hopefully this was an off day.....maybe he's weird but cares for Meredith.

I got the sprinkler & ultrasonic repellent in the mail yesterday so within the next couple days im going to install it, fingers crossed that it works. I'll probably leave the shelf liner on the doors in our bedroom for a while to be safe (plus it makes it a little darker) Thank you Debby for the static cling link because I will most likely order some for a permanent option in our bedroom. Its hard because we have french doors in our bedroom, our living room and a regular door in our kitchen.....not to mention windows. The windows have always been covered with blinds, although sometimes the cats force their way behind it to look out the window same with the doors but we'd pull the curtains up a few feet so the cats could look out without destroying the blinds. My thought is maybe the decorative for the bedroom just to limit the "look out" areas plus it makes it darker in the bedroom (easier to sleep in on Sundays lol) and remove the shelf liner from the living room and kitchen doors, install the scarecrow sprinkler along with the ultrasonic repellant and hopefully have success. Once in a blue moon we'll take a two day trip or so (no one we trust to care for the cats) and when those times come I think I'll cover the windows to be safe and put my mind at ease.
 
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