I gotta ask hubby when he returns tonight about raccoons....but he was
surprised by all the skunks here in Ohio when he moved here 5 years ago from
Derbyshire England, so I don't think it would be skunks. (Had never seen one
before.)

As to are the cats overly aggressive there. Unlike here they roam freely
everywhere. Hubby had three who regularly came to his back garden (yard) all
three Toms. One was missing half an ear. When we went on a pub crawl one
evening, walking back we saw numerous cats out on the rooftops.....one
desperately trying to get back into it's upstairs window, while three others
were chasing it. I found this all interesting as people here would go spare
if a neighbors cat came to their yard/garden.

Many people have cat flaps and declawing is considered cruel there, unlike
here where nearly everyone has their cat's claws removed. (We tend to like
to remove things those in Europe leave in tact.....probably should have left
that one out....lol.)

Lisa
"Gary" wrote in message
om...
Marion Margoshes wrote in message
...
Scooby Don't wrote:

I've recently moved into my new house which has a lovely little pond
in
the garden - home to 3 goldfish.

The water was so murky that you couldn't see the fish, so I called a
guy from a local aquarium company who came out to clean the pond and
install a saftey grating (I have a 2 year old child). He also
attached
meshing to the grate to 'keep the cats from getting the fish'.

It hasn't worked! The fish have been terrorised by numerous cats and
2
of the poor buggers have somehow been dragged out and left to die.
The
remaining goldfish is in a right state, his fins are torn and he has
claw marks all over him.

How do I keep the cats away - my neighbour recommends trellis along
all
walls and nails on the gate, has anyone tried this or do you have any
other ideas.

I, too, suspect it's not cats. A racoon or maybe a skunk would be my
guess. Most cats don't like getting wet, but I suppose one might make
an exception if it was hungry. My cat and the 30+ goldfish in my pond
get along well together. When I feed the fish, the cat likes to lap
up some of their food from the surface of the water while the fish
nibble from down below. The cat has never made any attempts to catch
or play with the fish otherwise, and I have never had any missing
fish. Also, the fish come up to the top to say hi when the cat walks
by; obviously they are not terrorized.

Thanks
--
Scooby Don't

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Think RACOONS!