Last night I wandered away from the TV before I could get sucked into another program that I didn't really want to watch but could not pull myself away from. (Celebrity Impersonators? American Inventors? WTF?)
Anyway, I looked out the window into my backyard and saw an interesting sight:
Me: Honey, there's a whole family of cats out here…
D: A family of cats?
Me: Oh, wait, scratch that, it's just four cats. Kittens, actually.
Yes, we appear to have kittens in our back yard. There's an old barn just over our property line beyond our fence and I suspect the cat we have seen wandering around occasionally set up camp in there and had a litter. Last night they decided our lawn made a better playground than their barn, so they squeezed through the fence to romp on our lawn. We sat down by the window and watched until it started to rain and got too dark to see the three all-black kittens and we could barely make out the marmalade one.
Anyway, the wife's allergic to cats and we wouldn't really want to bring them in the house anyway without some sort of de-lousing treatment first. Any suggestions for what to do? They look reasonably healthy but I'm not sure it's a good idea to let a family of cats set up shop right behind our house, even if the owner of the barn doesn't care. Especially as my daughter has a little sandbox (currently covered) that we don't want becoming the neighborhood litter box.
Should I call animal control, or someone else? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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June 14th, 2007 on 10:59 AM
Some suggestions to try (this is according to my friend who is also allergic to cats & dogs) – this is if you want to get rid of them, nice to have cats and all but it's worse to have allergies – I think once she was sneezing non-stop for several hours!
These are potential solutions – not sure which will work for you.
And if you ever talk to the council – not sure about over in the US – but over there a standard letter will be sent out ultimately saying they can't really do anything about it – lazy council…
1. Month balls around the garden
2. CD's that reflect, during the day the reflection can be all too much and can scare them away
3. Water in a super soaker. Cats hate water; cats hate citrus. Lemon water is the worst for them (or orange peels – just citrus)
4. Red pepper
5. Walmart apparently has some plants and sprays to keep pets away
6. Plant zinnias. Cats hate the way they smell.
7. Gently spray at them water (that is if you have the time to monitor them) and eventually they will get the point.
Hope that helps!
June 14th, 2007 on 2:46 PM
Do you know anyone with a pet snake? J/K.
Animal control will take them to the pound which may or may not dispose of them. They are kittens so they have a better chance.
You could put them in a box and set up in front of a pet store that does not sell kittens and give them away.
You could post notices at pet stores, Vet offices, and on freecycle stating free kittens.