Home › Forums › WSB Reader Recommendations › Help – Keeping cats away from the bird feeder
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July 8, 2009 at 8:42 pm #591476
lindaParticipantAny suggestions for keeping the outdoor cats in my neighborhood away from my bird feeder? I have one cat in particular that I see lurking in my backyard all the time, still have not figured out where home is for him so I can just talk to his humans. Pondering some kind of aversion therapy involving getting the cat or cats soaking wet when they venture into my yard. With my luck though, they’ll be the kind of cats that love water….
July 8, 2009 at 9:31 pm #671573
pamMemberGet a dog????
July 8, 2009 at 9:49 pm #671574
flowerpetalMemberVisit your garden shop. There are sensors that work like light sensors and squirt a high powered hose. A friend of mine used it for herons eating his koi.
July 8, 2009 at 9:52 pm #671575
datamuseParticipantI’ve seen the suggestion of scattering citrus peels (oranges and lemons), or spraying with a mixture of citrus oil and water. Cats reportedly hate it. Haven’t tried it myself but it’d be a cheap thing to try.
Also keep the bird feeder away from ledges, branches, fences, etc.–things a cat could use to get to the feeder.
(Could be worse: some friends of mine out in Fall City had to stop filling their bird feeder entirely because BEARS were raiding it. O_o)
July 8, 2009 at 10:20 pm #671576
vincentMemberCatch them with a trap and call the pound to come pick them up.
July 8, 2009 at 10:33 pm #671577
Bikefor1MemberHow about the old fashioned ‘bell on the collar’?
July 8, 2009 at 11:21 pm #671578
datamuseParticipantThat would require Linda to catch the cats and put bells on them, since she hasn’t identified the owners.
It also doesn’t always work; birds don’t necessarily identify the bell sound as a threat.
July 9, 2009 at 12:40 am #671579
lindaParticipantThanks to all!
Pam: Can’t get a dog, lease specifically prohibits it and allergies make it problematic.
Flowerpetal: Forgot about the sensors with the hose, used to see those a lot on Vashon to scare the deer. I’ll definitely check this out.
Datamuse: Any chance the citrus peels or citrus would encourage the existing rats, raccoons and possums that have also been seen in the backyard? Not sure relocating the bird feeder will work, it’s a pocket size back yard so the bird feeder is close to everything. Instead I’ll work on removing some of the cover the shrubbery provides. And REALLY glad the worst thing the bird feeder has attracted is squirrels (besides the cats).
Vincent: hate to trap, it’s someone’s pet and many cat owners firmly beleive their animal is entitled and has a right to be an outdoor cat wandering the neighborhood. I personally am in the cats should be indoor pets camp primarily because they indiscrimanately kill song birds. Full disclosure: I am a cat person and have a cat who is an indoor cat who is not allowed outside. At one time I was also a dog person, we had both dogs and cats when I lived on Vashon.
July 9, 2009 at 1:05 am #671580
cjboffoliParticipantI’m a big cat lover but even I wouldn’t assume that a cat is “entitled” to roam freely in the neighborhood. In fact, most vets will tell you that if you truly love your cat you’ll keep it indoors. There are a lot of risk factors for outdoor cats in even a suburban area. Cats are an artificially introduced species that can really put a dent in local populations of wild birds.
July 9, 2009 at 1:28 am #671581
JoBParticipanta good baffle system will only slow down squirrels.. but it seems to stop cats..
July 9, 2009 at 1:45 am #671582
hammerheadParticipantfrom the cat expert here. FRIENDLY cats are only a small part of the bird “Dent” population. Belles do NOT work. I know of several cats that have belles and still catch birds even crows.
citrus stuff will not work, don’t waste your money. the hose/sprayer thing should work cats hate water. make sure they aren’t jumping from here to there does that make sense?
if not jumping and coming from the ground/underneath use a scat mat. very safe and effective. not sure how to place them but worth a try.
would be happy to come over and take a look and help you out a bit.
linda thanks for caring and not trapping and having the pound to take them away
July 9, 2009 at 1:50 am #671583
bluebirdMemberAny chance you can raise the feeder up higher on a pole?
July 9, 2009 at 4:08 am #671584
B-squaredParticipantThe cats are probably getting the ground feeding birds so changing the height of the feeder wouldn’t do much good. Your best bet is to clear away the shrubbery on the ground around the feeder so that cat can’t just lie and wait. the motion detector water thing might work – then it might make sense to move the bird feeder up higher, like maybe on a metal sheppards pole, so it doesn’t get constantly wet.
July 9, 2009 at 2:52 pm #671585
HomerParticipantYes, the motion sensor hose sprayer is great, expensive though and watch out if YOU forget it’s rigged up! I’ve been “hosed down” many a times!
What’s wrong with trapping these cats and bringing them to the pound? They are not “entitled” to roam the neighborhood, just as dogs are not. If I were to lurk in some random persons backyard, I would be cited for trespassing, why not a cat? If the owners don’t care enough to keep them indoors or buy an invisible fence, why should bird lovers or cat allergy sufferers have to suffer? If there’s a dog endangering my child by being in our backyard, or a person lurking there, I’d call the police so a trap is the next best thing. If you love your pets and you neighbors, keep your cats in your house or in a “dog run” with a full cage that allows them a good deal of room to roam but not jump out or get out of the yard.
July 9, 2009 at 3:06 pm #671586
lindaParticipantActually the bird feeder is on one of those metal sheperd’s poles, I mistakenly thought that would make it difficult for the squirrels to access. And was truly appalled when I saw one of the rats nimbly climb the pole to get to the feeder (smearing the pole with olive oil took care of that issue).
It is the ground feeding birds I’m concerned about, we have three varieties of sparrows that are ground feeders and I used to have a huge flock of black eyed juncos, also ground feeders (wish I knew what happened to them, if they moved on for the summer or if the cat scared them away).
I didn’t realize cats could catch crows, thought the crows were too smart. That might explain the dead crow we found with it’s neck broken in the shrubbery near the bird feeder.
I’m definitely going to look into the hose sprayer and the scat mat.
Not sure why cat owners feel it’s okay to let their animals roam the neighborhood freely while the same cannot be said of dogs. Animal control will pick up a loose cat just as quickly as a loose dog, if they can catch it.
July 10, 2009 at 1:31 am #671587
LjMemberA link to the Audubon Society has some interesting options that might help
http://www.audubon.org/bird/at_home/SafeCats.html
quote from the link
“House cats are non-native predators. Even with a full stomach, their instinct to hunt drives them to stalk and kill available prey. In a wildlife-friendly yard, birds, small mammals, and even large insects are sitting ducks for the well-designed feline carnivore. House cats are effective hunters but unnatural predators in any outdoor setting. By killing millions of birds each year in North America alone, cats have a negative and dangerous impact on bird populations. “
July 10, 2009 at 1:42 am #671588
furryfacesParticipantBased on the info you provided about the bird feeder location and your yard, it doesn’t sound possible to move the feeder way from shrubs, so here are some additional ideas as it generally takes multiple methods to be successful:
1. Cover the metal shepherd’s pole with a plastic plumbing tube.
2. Place a conical disc around the sheperd’s pole…cats ‘can’t climb around it.
3. Plant thorny shrubs around the perimeter of where the ground feeding birds feast. 4. Purchase Costco sized black pepper and sprinkle it around the perimeter of where the ground feeding birds feast. After rain, you will have to re-sprinkle
5. Build a Chicken Wire dome, with some structural integrity and secure it over the ground feeding area—the birds will be able to get in, but not the cat.
6. Turn the hose on any stray cats that come into your yard….just don’t spray them in the face as it could cause injury
7. Suggestion for your neighbor: Outdoor cat enclosures are a relatively inexpensive way to give your cat safe access to the outdoors. Cats will have less exposure to disease, fewer opportunities to have accidents (1.5 million cats are killed by autos annually), vet bills are less and the coyotes won’t eat them. I have two enclosures and my cats love them!
By The Way—the biggest killers of birds are:
#1 Us. Human encroachment on the habitat so the migratory songbirds have not place to rest during their migration; our use of toxic pesticides and herbicides which also kills bees, fish and other creatures; storm water runoff. If we spent more time and energy working on how we negatively impact the bird population, we may very well see a resurge in the bird populations.
Good luck and thank you not trapping /killing the cat. Cheers, F3
July 10, 2009 at 5:02 pm #671589
lindaParticipantOnce again thanks to all. I’ll be getting to work on these suggestions over the next week and I’ll let you all know how it works out. And will still be trying to track down the cat’s humans to talk.
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