How can I get a stray cat to stop hanging out in my yard?

[Melonfeud]

Off topic, but there's a feral/stray/whatever that seems to love to hang out in my yard. I don't really want to have to trap this thing, but I just want it to go away. Any suggestions?

Well,Hoofie! I had a huge feral/ neighborhood cat problem when I'd bought my current place& having a 6'x6'x3" deep pile of mortar sand out in the yard didn't help, I think it was a sportsman's warehouse is where I'd bought one of those Hav-a-Hart catch 'em alive traps,,,bet I'd snagged 8 in about 90 days,the half way decent acting one's I'd hauled off & turned loose downstream of the wastewater plant on the Santa Cruz river,,,,er,,,, the vile,nasty acting Tom's got popped in the head with a .22 subsonic round& slung in a dumpster


*I've still got one big black& white Tom that still thinks he owns the joint& he's savvy of that wire box with the can of tuna in it, for 8 years now

Posed this very question to a Home Depot guy but we had several feral cats hanging around and they were killing the birds. He suggested fox urine as a deterrent and I know people spray that in their attics to keep varmints out so I decided to give that a shot. How bad could that be?

There isn't a word to describe the smell of fox urine, I could have strapped a skunk butt on my face for protection. I sprayed it on the outside of the fence and was on the backside when it hit me and I began puking and my wife came back to ask me something, it hit her and she yelled "Oh my God, whaaaaaaaaaaa" and she puked. So I am thinking, this is what it does? Makes one puke? I am going to have this smell plus cat puke all over the back yard? I also discovered I just might have gone overboard on the spraying. Little is good? A lotta more much mo bettah. Not so with fox urine.

My wife told me if I sprayed that again, I was going to have a feral wife on my hands. So, Hoofy, I do not suggest fox urine for anything except as maybe a replacement for those that can't stick their finger down their throat when they need to.

 

[Longboysfan]

Best I could do on short notice.

 

[Melonfeud]

Well,Hoofie! I had a huge feral/ neighborhood cat problem when I'd bought my current place& having a 6'x6'x3" deep pile of mortar sand out in the yard didn't help, I think it was a sportsman's warehouse is where I'd bought one of those Hav-a-Hart catch 'em alive traps,,,bet I'd snagged 8 in about 90 days,the half way decent acting one's I'd hauled off & turned loose downstream of the wastewater plant on the Santa Cruz river,,,,er,,,, the vile,nasty acting Tom's got popped in the head with a .22 subsonic round& slung in a dumpster


*I've still got one big black& white Tom that still thinks he owns the joint& he's savvy of that wire box with the can of tuna in it, for 8 years now

Just a couple of drops of that stuff on a weed stem is enough to draw another fox into yer' leghold trap sets

 

[triplets_93]

I'm sure you neighbour was appreciative as well ...

Just grow a crop of cannabis, and that should overcome the smell of the fox urine. Might even help with the neighbors...

 

[Hoofbite]

Try ammonia in a squirt gun....or maybe try water first.

Cats hate citrus, lemon juice and water in a spray gun, orange peel scattered around that kinda thing.

spray him with the water hose.

It'd be nice if it were that easy, but this damn thing sees me before I see it. More practically, I can't always carry a squirt bottle with lemon juice or ammonia in it for the purposes of getting the drop on a cat. Pretty sure people get placed on mental holds for that kind of behavior.

 

[Idgit]

Try fox urine.

 

[Idgit]

Did it look like this stray cat?

Take his dough so he doesn't have enough to pay the rent.

 

[Vegas_Cowboy]

Either someone is feeding it or there is something in your yard that the cat eats or drinks.

Or maybe the cat just want's a home and chose you.

Why don't you just let it stay?

This cat may just be protecting you from something and you just don't know it.

https://www.petful.com/behaviors/cats-protect-people/

 

[cowboyec]

It'd be nice if it were that easy, but this damn thing sees me before I see it. More practically, I can't always carry a squirt bottle with lemon juice or ammonia in it for the purposes of getting the drop on a cat. Pretty sure people get placed on mental holds for that kind of behavior.

hide on the side of your house....hose at the ready.
is there a window facing your yard where he goes?....open the window....remove the screen with the hose at the ready.
are you good with heights?.....position yourself on the roof...lying on your belly.....hose at the ready.
THIS IS WAR.
YOU NEED TO GO RAMBO.

 

[CouchCoach]

Either someone is feeding it or there is something in your yard that the cat eats or drinks.

Or maybe the cat just want's a home and chose you.

Why don't you just let it stay?

This cat may just be protecting you from something and you just don't know it.

https://www.petful.com/behaviors/cats-protect-people/

Didn't think of that, maybe there's a little troll out there headed to his house to suck the wind out of someone.

 

[CouchCoach]

hide on the side of your house....hose at the ready.
is there a window facing your yard where he goes?....open the window....remove the screen with the hose at the ready.
are you good with heights?.....position yourself on the roof...lying on your belly.....hose at the ready.
THIS IS WAR.
YOU NEED TO GO RAMBO.

You left out having someone on the standby to dial 911.

 

[Runwildboys]

Either someone is feeding it or there is something in your yard that the cat eats or drinks.

Or maybe the cat just want's a home and chose you.

Why don't you just let it stay?

This cat may just be protecting you from something and you just don't know it.

https://www.petful.com/behaviors/cats-protect-people/

On the other hand, it could be some witch's familiar, in which case you should just move.

 

[Melonfeud]

It'd be nice if it were that easy, but this damn thing sees me before I see it. More practically, I can't always carry a squirt bottle with lemon juice or ammonia in it for the purposes of getting the drop on a cat. Pretty sure people get placed on mental holds for that kind of behavior.

, ,,,,COPY THAT!
Man, I HAD to declare WAR concern my predicament,,,as those 3 TOM CATS that thought they ruled the roost ,,,would piss spray my front door,,,
* it was stained twice as dark 2' up from the bottom door sweep

 

[big dog cowboy]

Off topic, but there's a feral/stray/whatever that seems to love to hang out in my yard. I don't really want to have to trap this thing, but I just want it to go away. Any suggestions?

Lead poisoning.

 

[Ranched]

Best I could do on short notice.

 

[Ranched]

Off topic, but there's a feral/stray/whatever that seems to love to hang out in my yard. I don't really want to have to trap this thing, but I just want it to go away. Any suggestions?

I recall back in the day we had one of our neighbors cats always hanging around. My mom got so mad at that cat that she coerced the cat on coming to her. Once the cat accpeted my mom's petting etc...she quickly reached into her apron, got out the string she had cut earlier with a can attached. She quickly tied the string to the cats tail. That cat took off like there was no tomorrow. In short, we never seen that cat again.

 

[Ranched]

Well then, how about a .306?

 

[bb721]

He suggested fox urine as a deterrent and I know people spray that in their attics to keep varmints out so I decided to give that a shot.

Do you know why that stuff is so expensive? Getting the fox to pee into a spray bottle is REALLY hard.

 

[CouchCoach]

Do you know why that stuff is so expensive? Getting the fox to pee into a spray bottle is REALLY hard.

Getting someone to hold it would be harder.

 

[lukin2006]

Cats also keep snakes away ...