Cat damage

Last year I planted several flowering cherries - all now very well established.

Unfortunately a neighbour's cat has taken to using one of these trees as a scratching post. Presumably I need to put some sort of protective mesh around the trunk.

Ideas wanted, please, for:

a. A cheap but effective and not unsightly anti-cat screen

 

Prastio, sorry I can't help you as I allow my cats to scratch on tree trunks ... better than the furniture. :thumb:

One of my cats had a Rottie under it's tiny toe and the dog came over to play with it every day ... but the cat always won. k-l

Lovely dog John and a beautiful photo too.

 

Try a spray first, like Squirrel Deer keep away, or other keep away sprays found in pet stores.

I just love that face of the Rottie. Oh so cute.

 

Something like this you'll be after: http://www.tubex.com/

Only thing is that I don't know whether they'll provide small numbers to sell. Might be better off looking in garden centres/nurseries etc.

 

Chicken wire and spacers between the tree and wire to keep a collapse gap between the tree and the wire so the cat's weight is too much should it jump up.

Nail a board at the scratch point ?

 

The chicken wire option sounds good.

 

So thats what they are called "Tubex Treeshelters ", I see sometimes fields of them things with little trees inside them.

 

Get a plastic rabbit guard from your local garden centre.:thumb:

 

Rather than chicken wire, see if you can get hold of a sheet of the mesh used in building rabbit hutches etc and use this about £5 for a 1m square. Its a bit more rigid than chicken wire and will self support itself. If you spray the mesh with brown or grey spray paint you will be able to make it virtualy unnnoticable.

If you see the cat, use a water pistol or hose pipe, it wont harm them but they wont like it.

I might add, that although your remark about killing the cat is obviusly a joke and one that I as a cat owner take no offence too, In the past comments like this have caused a lot of past friction.

 

I can tell you with knowledge that it is NOT an option. Killing an 'owned cat' is totally illegal and you would be risking prosecution. Suggesting this on a public forum is very unwise and extremely very bad taste.

 

Paladin,

I also love my cat however I can accept that he does stray into the neighbors gardens and probably defecates in the beds as well. Working as a gardener I know how unpleasant cat or dog mess is ditto damage to tree bark.

I would farr prefer it if they left him alone however a squirt with a water pistol or hose will do no physical harm at all and will deter him from the garden. My neighbors know that they have my blessing to do this.

The use of a squirty bottle is often recommended by vets as a way to deter furniture scratching or other miss behavior in both dogs and cats.

I would Farr rather advocate this method than see someone driven to such distraction that they might attempt to poison, shoot or cause REAL harm to him or other cats.

To me this is the atitude of a responsible pet owner.

 

Pal and Pro ... I think you are both responsible cat owners and are speaking the same language ... so

..... can we agree to agree and go to bed on a nice note for once? ... perhaps with our little furry critters tucked up with us?

Night, night guys ...

k-l