C O M M U N I T Y CAT 🐱 CARE

Thank you for searching out peaceful solutions to living with cats. It’s important to understand outdoor cat behaviors and what draws them to certain areas. We have simple solutions to divert outdoor cats away from places they are not wanted. 

CATS GETTING INTO YOUR TRASH?

Reason: Cats are looking for food.

QUICK TIPS:

• Secure your trash can with a tight lid or bungee cords. This will protect your trash from wildlife as well.
• Find out if neighbors are feeding the cats. If they are, make sure they are following best practices. Learn more at alleycat.org/BestPractices.
• Consider feeding the cats yourself if you find no regular caregiver. Feeding cats using best practices will help ensure they don’t get hungry enough to get into trash.

CATS DIGGING (POOPING?) IN YOUR GARDEN?

Reason: It is a cat’s natural instinct to dig in soft or loose soil, moss, mulch, or sand. (Nice for kitties, not so much for us!)

QUICK TIPS:

• Put out fragrances that keep cats away. Scatter fresh orange or lemon peels. Wet coffee grounds—which you may be able to get for free from coffee houses and fast food chains—and metal pans filled with vinegar also deter cats.
• Make an outdoor litter box away from your garden by tilling the soil or placing sand in an out-of-the-way spot in your yard. Clean the area frequently.
• Use plastic carpet runners, spike-side up, covered lightly in soil. They can be found at hardware or office supply stores. You can also set chicken wire firmly into the dirt (roll sharp edges under), arrange branches or sticks in a lattice pattern, or put wooden or plastic fencing over soil.
• Get the "Cat Scat Mat", a non-chemical cat deterrent consisting of plastic mats that are cut into smaller pieces and pressed into the soil. Each mat has flexible plastic spikes that are harmless to cats and other animals but discourage digging.
• Get motion-activated sprinklers.
• Cover exposed ground in flower beds with large river rocks to prevent cats from digging. Rocks have the added benefit of deterring weeds.

CATS LOUNGING IN YOUR YARD, ON YOUR PORCH, OR ON YOUR CAR?

Reason: Cats tend to remain close to their food source.

QUICK TIPS:

• Shift the cats’ food source to a less central location, where you won’t mind if they hang out.
• Apply fragrances that deter cats around the edges of your yard, the tops of fences, and on any favorite digging areas or plants. See “Cats are digging in your garden” for a list of cat-deterring fragrances.
• Install an ultrasonic deterrent or a motion-activated sprinkler. You can find humane deterrent products at garden supply stores.
• Use a car cover or place carpet runners on top of your car to avoid paw prints.

CATS YOWLING, SPRAYING, FIGHTING, ROAMING, AND HAVING UNWANTED KITTENS?

Reason: These are mating behaviors. Once the cats are spayed or neutered, these behaviors will stop.

QUICK TIPS:

• Conduct TNR for the cats. TNR stops mating behaviors and ensures no new kittens are born.
• Contact us so we can help you!

                   THANK YOU.