I got up early on Saturday morning to go for a bike ride. I like to have my coffee sitting in my porch swing looking at the mountains. My peace was disturbed by my neighbor's cat. He walked by with a Lesser Goldfinch in his mouth.
We have a
native plant garden in our back yard that is my pride and joy. I've tried to recreate a natural environment complete with native plants and landscape features common to our area.
The primary reasons for the types of plants selected is their ability to both survive in the high desert and attract birds and pollinators. One area of the garden is focused on native wildflowers. Hummingbirds, butterflies and seed eaters, like the Lesser Goldfinch, just love this area. It's not uncommon to have a hummingbird and a Goldfinch feeding on the same plant.
Unfortunately my neighbors cat is using this area of the yard as his hunting blind. He lays in behind a large
Sacred Datura and waits patiently for an unsuspecting song bird or hummer to linger just a second too long.
Besides birds and plants, we love cats, too, so you can see we are in a tough spot. What do we do about this cat?
I've thought about talking to my neighbor but I'm not sure that would work. He doesn't seem to be that involved with his cat and if I asked him to keep the cat indoors he'd probably look at me like I was from Mars. I could tell him how the
life expectancy of an indoor cat is 80% greater than one that roams or that outdoor cats kill literally millions of songbirds a year. Not sure he would care. He seems young and clueless to me.
So it's my problem. Now how to deal with it in a humane way?
There are some ways to repel cats that are both humane and in keeping with my natural environment.
My current solution is to wake up when I hear the first chirp and run out into the yard and chase the cat off. He's learned to high tail it as soon as he hears the door open. The only problem with that solution is that I may want to sleep in. For instance, last Thursday night we had some friends over and finished off three bottles of wine. I didn't make the sunrise on Friday morning.
My next idea is to use the cat's fear of larger predators to my advantage. There is a product called
Shake Away that is advertised as natural and contains the scent of larger predators that a cat should fear. If he smells the marking scent of a coyote for instance, he should avoid the area. We'll see.
If that doesn't work I'll bring in the heavy artillery. Most cats really don't like water and I can use this to my advantage. There is another product on the market called the
Scarecrow Sprinkler.
This device uses a motion detector and delivers about two cups of water on whatever walks by. Could be useful in the skunk department, too. We have no shortage of skunks.
I'll let you know how these ideas work. Both have some drawbacks. The predator scent has to be reapplied and the sprinkler is kind of pricey.
Plus, if the hose leaks I've wasted water which is a sin in the Southwest. I'm also a little worried that a Western Tanager or other beautiful winged visitor might set off the sprinkler. That would defeat the whole purpose.