Warwick wrote:
In article ,
says...
In article , Harry Web
writes
"julie manns" wrote in message
...
can anyone offer advice on how to keep them off plants.
I don't know about the plants, but I'm having some luck keeping them
from defecating in the soil having buried wire mesh just below the
surface. Its the type with 20cm squares. A few have had a paw at the
soil, but having found the mesh didn't stay around. It's supposed to
be good for squirrels too. You can also use it hooped in a slightly
raised position around the top of a wall to stop them getting into the
garden that way. baiscally they can't tip-toe through it.
HTH
I have just ordered 6 "Scaredy Cat Plants" Coleus Canina from Thompson
Morgan Cost £7.99 I will see if that works . Supposed to scare the
hell out of cats - a smell that cats can detect but we can't.
We went to visit my sister on Saturday and I can iterate once again that
those "ultrasonic" cat scarers don't work. Our dog seemed a *bit*
uncomfortable up close to them, but a few cats wandered through the
garden happily.
um. Just to counter that, for some years we had the model sold by the
RSPB and it certainly did work -- we tested it on our own cats[1] to be
certain. The slightly deaf (many are) cat approached within c. 2m before
looking perturbed; a younger cat with (presumably) better hearing
actively avoided an area of about 4m around the thing after setting it
off. I can't remember what area it's supposed to cover, but that was
adequate for our purposes.
It's important to site the device correctly, and to move it about, but I
found it effective in preventing cats using their normal routes into the
garden.
In addition *I* can hear them. They're at the extreme end of the
frequencies I can hear, but standing in a garden with a loud high
pitched whine irritated the hell out of me.
Mine started whining -- and failing to deter cats -- during a very wet
winter after about 3 years of constant use. I assumed it was broken, but
have not bothered to replace it as the main nuisance cat has
disappeared. FWIW I used the mains adaptor rather than batteries.
regards
sarah
[1] House cats, allowed into the garden under supervision.
--
"Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view,
is silence about truth." Aldous Huxley