Cats!!! Would It Be Ilegal To.......

[trt]

run a 12volt, wire around my three small garden plots outside my bungalow.
It wouldn't be permanent, as the cats would soon learn not to go on there.

I have just had them covered with white stones, and already the local cat/cats are using them as a toilet.

There is no children living by, and I live in a small cul-de-sac.

[Retrochic]

Our electric fencing works on a solar power unit which cost £125 and it electrifies the full parameter, around the top of traditional fencing, of a 5 acre field plus dividing into two paddocks. It will turn horsesO and cows and they won't go near it -goats,sheep and Shetland ponies seem to be immune though lol! Your problem would be at what height to put the wire -high enough that the cats could not jump over, low enough they could not crawl under -obviously two strands are necessary. An effect method is to dowse the gravel in jeyes fluid (as long as no plants are near) or proprietary cat repellent, then criss-cross fishing line tightly across the area about 1 inch off the ground. Cats will avoid getting their paws trapped and hopefully go elsewhere. This method (without the jeyes fluid) worked on my seed beds this year.

[Peaspeculiars]

To reiterate Ouzel's comment - Don't use antifreeze - don't even think about it - one of my cats was poisoned with it last year and it was the most horrendous death with the most cruel intent. I never, ever wish to see it happen again.

There are more humane ways to deter cats than an electric fence - I urge you to consider these first please.

[Retrochic]

Peaspeculiar -electric fencing is not inhumane - it gives the animal a small 'zap' bit like a sharp slap -they are not stupid they will avoid the area from then on. My horses know what electric fencing is -our little foal (now three) had to learn, bless her,the hard way -a short sniff at the fence on a wet day and she got 'stung' now she won't even go within 3 ft of it and in the winter I don't even turn the electric on and they still go no where near the fence.

[TWR]

Save your self some money & purchase a pair of size 9s

[ladybirder]

Mosaic at 08.57 yesterday has the answer. Chilli powder will do it and much kinder.
My 16 year old dog was so so distressed when zapped by an electric fence - no warning.

[Retrochic]

of course your dog was distressed (unfortunately) that is the whole point -an electric fence is a deterrent . To be honest chili powder on cats paws could cause far more distress and last much longer than a quick zap.-try licking chili powder and see how long you suffer!

[ladybirder]

Yes amazingly I realise it is the point retro, but chilli powder mixed in water is much kinder. They smell it and clear off somewhere else.

Cats don't bother me, it's fox poo I get in my garden, and that doesn't really bother me either.

I do wonder if a bird would survive an electric shock if it lands on the wire or is foraging around and touches it.

[Canary42]

Birds land on the electric railway line live rail all the time (more than 12 volts) and survive.

Ditto farmers' electric fencing.


Shock only occurs if also earthed at the same time. (foraging is different, of course, they will then be earthed, but I wouldn't have thought harmful shock would result).

[trt]

maggiebee:
## trt, how could you even contemplate being so cruel? ##

If you read the answers, its not cruel, and there is only you and another that have complained.

Why should I have to clear up neighbours cat crap, they should keep them on a chain in their own garden, and clear it up themselves.

[Retrochic]

ladybirder - 'Amazingly' chili powder mixed in water will turn the OP's nice white gravel into a glamorous pink !

[ladybirder]

Thanks Canary, glad about that.

Ha ha Retro, how lovely - a bonus there then;-)) At least it won't look like a grave.

[Mosaic]

Retrochic - you'd need to use an industrial quantity of chilli powder to turn a gravel bed pink, and even if it happened, it would be drawn down into the substrate at the first rain.

[Peaspeculiars]

Retrochick - yes, thank you for your comment - I was born yesterday and have never seen the reaction a horse has to an electric fence before....
What I requested was perhaps that alternative and more humane methods of deterrent are investigated first. Nothing else. Jeez.

[Retrochic]

peaspeculiar -why get so agitated and sarcastic? I was merely responding to your comment that you should use something, quote ' more humane' than electric fencing. Jeez........

[DTCwordfan]

get one of those bird-scarers that hook up to a pressurised garden hose...beastie comes in, the sensor picks it up, spins the nozzle around and zap, a dash of water.....great for herons etc and cats and does no harm other than a wet mooch.

[DTCwordfan]

http://www.pondkeeper.co.uk/tensor-water-blaster-animal-chaser/p1392

[lyndylou]

Borrow a dog let him wee over your garden the cats will think he lives there and stop coming in

[Peaspeculiars]

Retrochick: 'why get so agitated and sarcastic?'
This is a subject very close to my heart as I have seen 2 of my cats die horrifically as a result of 'friendly neighbours' deterrents in recent times.
To expand - can you imagine not being able to do anything to help your most beloved pet? Your heart and your soul whom you have rescued from the shotgun on a farm, to bring them back, from skin and bones and spend hours - and hours! trying to get them back into good health, feed them up and to try slowly, over weeks and months to get them to trust humans again, step by step, movement by movement - through hours of patience and love - only to find them shattered, rear leg bones broken from a shovel, puking antifreeze as much as they can to save themselves, bleeding, *** blood, screaming and convulsing at your feet due to some idiot not wanting them to pee in their garden and putting down a dish of antifreeze.
You can now plainly see why I am so 'agitated' about the subject.

I will not respond to your 'sarcastic' response to my post. I simply couldn't give less of a *** what you think.

[Davemano]

Did say earlier that electric fence should work, but this thread reminded me of a keen (show) gardener and also a long distance driver who has taken many a cat for a ride with him, purely for company of course. The cats seemed to like there new habitat so much that they didn't bother about the ride back.