Repel Stray Cat from Vegetable Gardens

Repel Stray Cat from Vegetable Gardens

Stray cats are every homeowner’s nightmare. It gets worse when there is a vegetable garden in the home. Stray cats are known to roam the wild for food, mate and a place to call home. The problem, however, is that vegetable gardens look somewhat like a home to them.

If they find food in your yard or garden, expect them to bring along their entire family. The presence of stray cats in a vegetable garden poses a serious health risk as they carry deadly parasites. These parasites when they make contact with an unsuspecting victim can cause deadly infections.

Your first line of defense against unwelcome feral felines is using a deterrent, and they come in different forms. Let’s have a look at some of them

1. Wire Gauze Protection

Stray cats in their search for food won’t spare the tender plants on a vegetable garden. They will trample and stomp until the plant dies from its root. That’s a big loss, and it gets bigger when a large number of cats have turned their attention to a garden. To keep the plants on the affected garden safe, erect a fence made of wire gauze around the perimeter of the garden. That way, any stray cat that attempts to intrude will be deterred.

2. Avoid placing trash bins near a garden

If there is no attractant, chances are stray cats won’t even attempt in the first place. Attractants, mostly in the form of leftover meals, give off scent strong enough for a feline to pick up from a far distance. The simple solution here is avoiding placing trash bins close to where your garden is. Waste bins are where unfinished meals are kept, and so should be place at a far distance from the garden.

3. Use Humane Traps

Using non-lethal traps is a good strategy for scaring away stray cats from a vegetable garden. The idea is to trap them in without inflicting on them any sort of harm, and then handing them over to animal control. Mind you, the use of lethal traps against cats is completely prohibited in most States and Counties across the US, so using them is totally out of question.

4. Use Natural Repellents

The scent and taste of certain plants irritates the internal bowels of cats. They will gladly steer clear off any vegetable garden where such plants are grown. Some of these cat repellent plants include citrus, lemongrass, lavender and a bunch of others. The trick is to intermix the deterrent plant with the real plants.

5. Commercial repellents

As discussed previously, scents and taste work against stray cats. Basically, what repellents do is to simulate any sense of smell or taste that aren’t friendly to cats. However, some commercially produced cat repellents should are fit for use because they contain deadly chemicals.

The good news is that there are still some repellents that work. Once of such repellent is Cat Mace, produced by Nature Mace. It is affordable and safe.