Feral Cats are Pests, not Pets, Part 2 – The Solutions

Now that my blood pressure has returned to safe levels, let’s continue with my anecdotal observations on feral cats.

After defining what feral cars are and discussing the problems they carry with them in my last essay entitled Feral Cats are Pests, not Pets, Part 1 – The Problems, I will be focusing on the actions I myself have taken over the decades to keep them off our property.

What can be done to stop them?

It is our barangay’s responsibility to capture feral cats and turn them over to the city pound. However, our barangay gave up chasing feral cats a long time ago because they have been unsuccessful. Unlike stray dogs, which can only escape from dog catchers horizontally, feral cats can do so vertically.

On one hand, dogs will run on streets and duck into the occasional street-level hole to avoid capture. On the other hand, feral cats jump on cars, climb fences, leap over walls, walk on the wall edges, scamper over roofs, and even run up trees to escape.

Due to this, residents in our neighborhood have effectively been on its own when it comes to dealing with feral cats.

As mentioned earlier, feral cats are relentless. And in their desire to mark their territory, they will do anything and everything to overcome obstacles that prevent them from urinating on your front door or tires. They will just find a way around, above, or below the barriers you place. I have tried just about everything you can think of from the internet, veterinarians, and even from hunters themselves.

The problem is that almost everyone underestimates intelligence of feral cats. Couple this with a relentless drive for territory and you have an animal that successfully bypasses anything you throw at it.

I’ve combed the internet for solution and tried them all one at a time only to be shocked that these so-called solutions are useless. Due to the glaring results, I cannot help but wonder if any of these people even tried out the things they recommend.

To save you all the trouble, I’ve listed down the things that work and things that don’t, starting with the useless things.

What are ineffective?

Ultrasonic devices

One of the most high tech and expensive solutions is to buy an ultrasonic device. These blast a high frequency sound that only feral cats can purportedly detect. The sound itself is supposed to be uncomfortable enough to drive them away.

Well, I’ve tried several brands and they only worked on the first day because they surprised the feral cats. After getting used to it, which was on the second day, the feral cats simply ignored it. To make matters worse, one cat urinated on it, prompting other cats to follow suit.

[And just in case you are wondering, they’re useless against mice too.]

Cat-repellent plants

At the cost of several thousand bucks, I bought various supposed cat-repellent plants in flowerpots and put them around my vehicle because feral cats have been using my wheels as their personal urinals. The next day, all my plants were torn to shreds and even more urine was sprayed on my tires.

I also put a mixture of cat-repellent plants by the front door because I would wake to the stench of urine in the mornings and got the same results – shredded plants and more urine sprayed on our wooden door.

The damage in both cases was so extensive that all the plants, literally every single one, died after a few days. These include Lavander, Calamansi, Lemon, Citronella, Lemongrass, among others.

Pepper

I have scattered powdered pepper on the driveway and stairs leading up to our front door. I have mixed hot sauce with oil and water then sprayed the concoction everywhere.

So what did I get for all my troubles? Paw prints. Lots and lots of paw prints walking around the areas I have powdered or sprayed.

I also still got a lot of urine in the same spots. At least now I know the path feral cats take as they approach my car and front door.

Oh, did I mention that a mild gust of wind blows away the tons of pepper powder I used? Did I also mention that a light amount of rainfall is also enough to wash away the hot sauce I sprayed? At least I didn’t need to exert effort to clean up this useless recommendation.

Animal poop

I have gotten so desperate that I even asked for the dog poop of our neighbor, which I scattered around our garden. Unfortunately, while it may have worked for my neighbor, it didn’t for me.

[Yes, I was that desperate.]

The reason why this failed is because I didn’t have a dog that was a threat to them at the time. Feral cats realized this after a few days and decided to ramp up their defecating on my yard to compete with the dog feces.

So if you’re planning on scooping up lion or any other large predator poop from the zoo near you, save your effort. Predator poop without the predator is a smoke screen feral cats detect easily.

Balloons

Whoever vouched for balloons probably tried it on house cats because they can be jumpy when they pop. However, when these are used on feral cats, they are simply ignored.

Yes, a popping balloon with get a feral cat to jump up in surprise, just like a house cat. But after that initial experience, they simply avoid making them pop.

Onion, garlic, citrus, or any other pungent fruit or vegetable

I have been scattering the peels of Onion, Garlic, Calamansi, Lemon, and other pungent fruits and vegetables. The problem is I think these are only pungent to humans and are easily ignored by feral cats because the defecation never stopped. However, I did notice that they don’t do it on the peels, preferring to move an inch or so away.

What are partially effective?

Egg shells

I don’t know where this old wive’s tale came from but it probably stems from the fact that egg shells are painful to people who crush or walk on them.

But what may be painful to humans doesn’t mean it will be painful to feral cats. Yes, I will acknowledge that if feral cats happen to step on egg shells, they may get hurt. But based on my own observations, feral cats aren’t stupid enough to walk on an egg shell in the first place.

The thing is, egg shells are easy to spot because they contrast with the surrounding foliage, cement, or wood. And for times of total darkness, the chances are high that feral cats can smell them.

Interestingly, I have noticed that feral cats will not dig up the soil where new egg shells have been scattered, hence it being classified here. Put enough and certain areas will remain feces-free until mother nature breaks down the egg shells.

Cat-repellent mats

These are spiked plastic mats that are advertised as a way to keep cats, and even birds, away. They are actually a great idea because the spikes are supposedly spaced close enough to make it impossible for feral cats to walk over without getting hurt in theory.

So how useless is it in practice? Well, I put several of them around my vehicle to create a no-feral cat zone. It initially worked but after a while there were signs that feral cats were breaching the perimeter.

[I would see broken spikes scattered around every morning.]

Confirmation arrived when I discovered that one feral cat deposited her kitten inside the no-cat zone because dogs cannot cross it.

[Yes, you heard that right, it is effective against dogs.]

However, the reason it is grouped here is that it is effective at preventing feral cats from jumping on or from them. Thanks to these mats, I do not see any paw prints on my vehicle anymore. To confirm if this was indeed due to the mats, I stayed up one night to observe their behavior.

Prior to these mats, feral cats would walk along our wall then hop on the roof of my car, walk down my windshield to the hood, before jumping to the ground.

When I placed the mats on the roof, feral cats stopped on portion beside my car in order to decide whether they will hop on the car. Each and every one of them never jumped on my car, opting to go to the end of the wall and drop directly to the ground.

Both behaviors, the avoidance of jumping and walking over them, were collaborated by one of the writers in this website after getting visual confirmation.

What are effective?

Among all the prospective solutions I have tried, only four have been effective at keeping feral cats away from my car or parts of the garden.

Motion-activated sprinkler

This is probably the most effective piece of equipment I have ever used. While I was skeptical when I purchased one off the internet, it has been the best deterrent within a limited coverage area.

Feral cats absolutely hate surprises. And to them, the motion-activated sprinkler is the pinnacle of unpredictability because there is no visual or auditory signal preceding the water spray.

To help clarify, feral cats spend a lot of time watching their territory to ascertain the best time to mark it. If you water your plants at 8:00 am, they will drop by after you are done so they don’t get chased away. If you jog at 5:00pm, they will drop by your house at around 5:15 pm as they know you house will be empty. If you let the dog out after his 9:00 pm dinner, they will wait for about an hour before coming in to do their business.

A motion-activated sprinkler has no pattern and they work twenty-four hours a day, without breaks. And since getting wet by a strong blast of water isn’t something feral cats enjoy, the protected area will be avoided. I put it in the front of my car and have confirmed that my bumper isn’t the neighborhood urinal anymore.

[The price to pay for this is that I need to wash the car more often to minimize the water marks.]

One major problem I have with the motion-activated sprinkler is the unreliability of the hose. Sure, the sprinkler itself works as advertised but the hose inevitably ends up leaking after a few weeks so I have to keep fixing it to save water.

Bougainvillea stems

Since the thorns of the bougainvillea are long sharp, and last relatively long after being cut from the main plant, I decided to experiment if they would be effective against feral cats.

So I asked for a few stems from my neighbor and tied a big bunch at both ends of the wall that feral cats use as a shortcut to get to and from the streets in the front and the back of our house.

After a couple of days, I began to see deep scratches on our wall indicating that they tried to bypass the stems. Ultimately, the feral cat began to avoid the wall altogether.

For the short term, I replace the stems with new ones on a regular basis to keep them off the wall. For the long term, I have planted a several of the stems in flower pots and around the perimeter of our walls. Hopefully, when they grow I should have an impenetrable barrier covering the walls.

Air Rifle, BB Gun, or Airsoft

Long before laws were passed to protect feral cats, my siblings and I would shoot them. Air Rifles were a permanent solution as feral cats never came back after getting hit: they’d just decompose somewhere else.

BB guns are a non-lethal deterrent as none of the feral cats we shot as children ever died. Sure, the BB’s will sting, but that was the point. If they didn’t sting, like the balled up sock I threw at one feral cat last week, they would not experience fear. And fear, as I mentioned is the only thing that will change the behavior of feral cats.

Unfortunately, I mentioned that feral cats are relentless. So hitting them once, twice, thrice, or more on separate occasions is never enough. This is a regular activity as they will come back whenever the threat – people – are not present. I remember having to shoot one particular feral cat for six months before he finally realized that he wasn’t getting in without pain.

He was then replaced by second one that saw the potential of unclaimed territory. This challenger also needed to be shot several times before being dissuaded. To make matters worse, the first one started coming back when he saw the other feral cat trying to muscle in on his territory. So I now had to deal with two relentless feral cats.

Airsoft rifles are relatively new, becoming popular after the law protecting feral cats was passed. Due to this, I haven’t tried them. However, they do share similarities with BB guns, so I presume they will be an equally effective as a deterrent.

Judging from the impact of the bullets on cardboard boxes, I expect it to sting as well. However, it will never be on the same level as BB guns because airsoft bullets have less energy due to the lower mass of plastic.

Dog

One of our writers once said, “Feral cats are a biological problem that can only be addressed through a biological solution.”

A dog is that solution.

Imhotep’s main purpose is to scare feral cats away just with his presence and it has worked so far. Firstly, he is bigger than any of the feral cats here so they avoid him like the plague. When we walk the streets, feral cats either backtrack or climb up the nearest wall because they know he will give chase.

[However, there is one street in our neighborhood with feral cats that aren’t scared.]

Secondly, he is one of those rare dogs that can climb a low wall. And just like his father Ramses II, Imhotep can chase a feral cat running on a somewhat wide wall. This is great for me because our walls are wider than the typical hollow block width. This means that feral cats have one less safe area for them.

Finally, Imhotep also marks his territory with urine and feces, something I am more tolerant of because they don’t smell as bad. And since my dog urinates on the same spots that feral cats do, outsiders know there is a new king in down.

The only thing that limits the effect of Imhotep is that he is an indoor dog. If he is kept outdoors, then our house would have twenty-four hour protection from feral cats.

Final Thoughts

I remember a time when feral cat populations were under control; this was way back during my childhood and long before a law was passed protecting them.

While I don’t profess to be a cat lover, I do not hate house cats. On the contrary, I will go as far as to say I am alright with them because I acknowledge the fact that some people love them.

[Different strokes for different folks.]

As long as these same cats never use other my garden as their bathrooms, treat my colleagues’ vehicles like scratching posts, or overturn neighbors’ garbage cans, I believe house cats have a place in this world.

[They do catch mice, after all.]

What I have a disdain for are feral cats. They carry disease and sow so much damage wherever they exist and many barangays have given up trying to capture them because they are so adept at escaping. Some have argued that neutering is the answer but that has only stopped feral cats from caterwauling and multiplying in our area. Neutered or not, they will still wreak havoc for years to come wherever they are.

No, the only permanent solution is to classify feral cats as pests instead of pets because that’s what they are in real life. They are not the cute cuddly balls of fluff that sleep on your lap; feral cats are wild animals that can never be tamed, trained, or adopted. They are a bane to society and the environment and they should be handled as such. It is only when they are treated as pests that the problems they bring can be better managed.