Cat Lovers, Beware

Today was a pretty lousy day. I know we all have them from time to time, and I won't go into all of the details, but I wasn't a happy camper today (and the pregnancy hormones don't help). The culminating moment came when, trying to salvage the morning, I took the girls out back to play (though poor Abby had to just sit there with her broken leg...another topic for another post, and a contributor to my lousy day, though not at all Abby's fault). A few minutes later, Brynn ran to me screaming and flailing: she had stepped barefoot in cat poop and somehow spread it all over her clothes, her hands, her face, her hair (I'm pretty sure even a bit went in the mouth by mistake). I testify that cleaning off cat poop is 10 times worse than cleaning off kid poop! Poor Brynn...she was a trooper and was excited to have a second bath. I, on the other hand, had had it.

I'm allergic to cats, I'm not all that fond of them anyway, yet some neighborhood cats have decided this year that my yard is the yard of choice. I have found many "gifts" the past few weeks that I have had to clean up, even though I don't own, and will never own, a cat!! It really irks me that my girls can't even play in their own FENCED backyard without fear of encountering these "gifts". So, if anyone knows of any methods to discourage cats from my yard, your opinions would be welcome. We'll start with humane suggestions, since I'm hopefully not that unfeeling. =)

9 comments:

Carrie said...

Oh darn, I don't have any suggestions that would be humane. hee hee

Jake and Shell said...

Poor Lisa. I have felt bad for you all day! Here is a link with a list of ideas:

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Stop-Cats-From-Pooping-in-Your-Yard&id=1494979

It's fairly recent. My favorite was a motion sensitive sprinkler...the kids would probably love it too!! Good luck and please let me know if you need any help!

LBP said...

That is interesting. We have the exact same problem. Every morning we have them on our porch or sitting in our flower garden by our porch! It isn't cool to have cat poo hanging around when you are pregnant either. Toxoplasmosis freaks ME out. I like the motion sprinkler idea...

DeAnna Dahl Kemple said...

Sorry about the cat problem.They run in our house when we open the door. We have had a lot of friends chase them out for us.I don't seem to be able to catch them very well.The problem we have is some dog has chosen our yard for its bathroom that really is bad because we do not even have a dog!!

Carrie said...

K, now I really feel your pain, we have a cat issue on our hands that just surfaced! It's a psycho little creature!

Richard Kemple said...

I feel bad for you we don't have cats or dogs just for that reason. I have trapped them before and taken them for a ride but they show up in the neighborhood again usually the next day. Our neighbor has several cats. We haven't had your problem yet but seems a dog has gotten attached to our yard. I usually come in contact with it while mowing the lawn. My sympathy's
Richard Kemple

Kimmy said...

I cannot stand cats either...I'm sorry you have that issue...I heard Cayanne pepper sprinked around your yard works, the cats get it on their paws, then lick and never go back to that spot...everything else I have isn't nice enough to print on a family blog...call me!!!!!!!!

MattnBeck said...

I like to throw rocks. Since I never hit them, I still consider it humane. It's also really easy.

Bethany said...

I wonder how much Cayanne Pepper it would take!!

Since I live next door to you I want to know the answer too! We have ecounterd it in our back yard as well, and a couple times we have hear them fighting in the backyard at night! Last night it was right under our bedroom window, Jarin finally went after them with a high powered squirt gun while I watched from the window, but they ran before he got to them under the fence and out to the street!
I am also allergic and just don't like the presents!