# I love cats but not THIS one...



## Neelam (Oct 24, 2013)

Hi everyone, 

Maybe some of you have a great idea how to get rid of a very persistent cat.
I do love cats, all my life I used to have cats but now we have rabbits and they live outdoors free range.

Any cat was scared away within seconds the second our "Killer Fluffy" jumped into her way but this black one is different.
None of the rabbits bothers with it but the cat bothers with them and having baby bunnies I definitively don't need the cat hunting in our backyard neither do I need injured rabbits as the cat might have a try with them.

I put cactus spikes all around the fence from where the cat could come. Not only on top but from both sides a few inches lower as well so somehow it should hit them with the paws. Still, just in the morning while feeding the rabbits and the pigeons being round to get their share from the rest of last night's rabbit food, I was wondering why today they seem to flatter around quite a lot while pecking their grains. So having a look I found the cat being busy with one of the pigeons and I guess it saved its life that I was there and the cat run away the second I came out of the shed. Poor pigeon lost quite a lot of feathers. But today a pigeon tomorrow a rabbit.

I am not willing to limit the rabbit's space into a small run because of the cat and obviously I cannot turn the entire backyard in a kind of a jail yard, guess my OH would rather kill the rabbits and kick me out of the house if I would try something like that...

So I really wonder what keeps cats away if they don't mind having pricked paws. 

Do I have to keep the world's ugliest dog to scare it away? Or should I try one of those large water pumpguns? But then I still cannot sleep peaceful at night as I have to keep an ear down in the yard :sad2:

No clue what such a persistent fellow could make stay away in future. 

Any suggestions?

Thanks 
Neelam


----------



## Guest (Nov 3, 2013)

Your very irrasponsable if you think a dog is worth having for that reason.

Keep your rabbits in a large run its very selfish of you to leave them out all night knowing full well their are cats and other predetors aroundd.


----------



## Summersky (Aug 11, 2012)

Hi there.

You won't be able to frighten it away, I'm afraid. It would only come back when you are not there.

The only way you will be able to keep the cat out, is to make the garden more secure.

How tall is your fencing?

How about attaching wooden trellising (sometimes at Poundland), or willow screening or similar to the top of your fencing, all the way round the garden, to raise the height of the fence, but without it being too intrusive? 

It is probably only a matter of time before your rabbits are injured.

It's lovely for rabbits to be able to run in a secure and safe garden, but my concern with total free range is that they are vulnerable to predators - not only cats, but foxes - foxes are everywhere, and the frst we know is when we lose our pets.

Could you squeeze in a bunny shed perhaps, to put them in at night?


----------



## StormyThai (Sep 11, 2013)

Only one solution to this.....

Predator proof your rabbits areas, if a cat can get in then so can a fox, BOP, or anything else that fancies a snack...

The cat is doing what cats do, it is your responsibility to protect your pets :thumbsup:


----------



## Neelam (Oct 24, 2013)

The dog was a joke. I definitively would never get any pet for such a reason.

Our fencing is already 6 feet to the neighbor side and the walls are about 7 feet height. I should have mentioned that at night and if really bad weather the bunnies are in a shed and they do have more shelter to hide if they don't want to be in the shed in daytime but as we have Giants, too, the openings are big enough for a cat, only shed is closed at nighttime. 

Will check with a handyman if he could get something on top of the walls as I do not have the right tools to fix anything to a brick wall (plus my husband gets upset if I dare getting on a ladder higher than the 3-steps we have for the house, he's scared I could hurt myself after scattering my toe while doing gardening...).


----------



## HoneyFern (Aug 27, 2009)

It would probably be kinder to build a large pen, as Stormy Thai says, it's not just cats you need to worry about. Just the other day I had a sparrowhawk in my garden and I'm in a residential area. Birds of pray are as much of a risk to rabbits as foxes and cats are. By all means let them have supervised play but they need to be kept safe while you're not around too.


----------



## Guest (Nov 4, 2013)

Please don't leave it till the cat gets one to do something about it I see too many threads were I think if only they had done this like this and that they maybe safe.

Your small pets are too vunrable to leave unattended they did not ask you to buy them you now have a duty and responsability to insure their safety. You will not do that leaving things to fate.


----------



## Neelam (Oct 24, 2013)

I definitively work on it. Is just not something that can be done in a few hours if you have nobody to help and two little adorable arm extensions. I can only build a little bit at a time. So the Dwarfs are already safe packed now from all sides and the Giants have to stay in the shed if I'm not at home till I get my parts I need for their enclosure.


----------



## Funky (Dec 8, 2012)

It is better for them to stay in the shed than being unsafe.
Where do you keep your Netherlands?
Do you not have family members who could help you to build enclosures quicker? Still it is wise to shut your bunnies away while you not there to keep eye on them!


----------



## tallmama (Sep 8, 2013)

Hi Prowl don't mean to be cheeky but what is the white thing in the picture on your post? I have looked at it from all angles and can't make it out lol


----------



## Neelam (Oct 24, 2013)

They are Continental Giants not Netherlands.

No, neither my husband nor I have any family in this country. I asked around in the neighborhood but seems they become always very busy when it comes to helping others but if they need something... 

I tried two different handymen to come for that and they never showed up and I finally just gave in with those people and do it myself, slowly maybe, but doing it.


Didn't know there are any other birds here around... :scared: 
I am a Resident for 2 years in this area and all I have seen are pigeons, pigeons, pigeons... Oh, some sea gulls and 2 magpies and one tiny little sparrow, not even heard any other bird and are wondering since long why there are no others around.


----------



## Guest (Nov 5, 2013)

tallmama said:


> Hi Prowl don't mean to be cheeky but what is the white thing in the picture on your post? I have looked at it from all angles and can't make it out lol


She is Blondie, Blondie is a breed of chicken known as a Polish. Rubbish layers but make excellent pets when bought young. I have hadher nearly 10 years now :>


----------



## Funky (Dec 8, 2012)

You slowly manage to sort out your bunnies.
Just keep them safe until everything is ready.
We have now and had previously nice neighbours but not everybody are so lucky - shame there is nobody to give you hand!


----------



## tallmama (Sep 8, 2013)

Prowl said:


> She is Blondie, Blondie is a breed of chicken known as a Polish. Rubbish layers but make excellent pets when bought young. I have hadher nearly 10 years now :>


Well she is very unusual, quite a talking point I should think. Thanks


----------



## Guest (Nov 5, 2013)

tallmama said:


> Well she is very unusual, quite a talking point I should think. Thanks


I have been asked a few times now what she is they certainly are unusual as they don't sound like normal chickens do either.


----------



## StormyThai (Sep 11, 2013)

Just because you haven't seen a BOP, does not mean that they aren't in the area. I don't see them daily here, but I know for a fact we have plenty


----------



## *Amber* (Oct 22, 2010)

My bunnies have half of our garden in the Spring and Summer months, and we have Sparrowhawks all the time. Sparrowhawks are no threat to rabbits, they eat birds. We also have next doors pesky cats sometimes come over, but they've never seemed to bother the rabbits. Our bunnies are in our dining room now for the Winter. Do you think the cat would actually harm the rabbits, I've only seen a cat catch a baby rabbit.


----------



## Neelam (Oct 24, 2013)

I do think a cat can harm even a bigger rabbit but it depends on the basic instincts in the cat. All through my teenager years I had rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, rats, birds... and always one or two cats underneath the same room, most of them even shared my bedroom in the cold months, it was never a problem. But I had one tomcat who caught and ate whatever he could get and the biggest I've seen was our neighbors Sunday roast... :001_tt2:

But they can harm the rabbits when "playing", touching them with their claws. 

A sparrow hawk I think is a danger as one, back in my Germany life, must have killed two of my rabbits as two times in winter I found half of our rabbits in the garden, half gone and there was a sparrow hawk couple year after year in the neighbors fir. Have no other explanation as a cat would have taken the hole prey home and I think a marten would have done the same.


----------



## lilythepink (Jul 24, 2013)

I have several outdoor only cats and we live surrounded by fields and woodlands. My cats often bring home rabbits that are fully grown and as big as the cats are almost. They even brought a hare home once and several times they have hunted and killed and brought pheasant back.

They eat what they kill unless its a rat.

My point is, your rabbits are at serious risk of being eaten or damaged by keeping them like this.Its not just night time when there is a risk either, and foxes.rural and urban....are bold when they have young to feed.

Only this past weekend there was a buzzard flying overhead and watching my daughters puppy. There are plenty birds of prey all over, even if you live in the town.


----------



## emzybabe (Jun 30, 2009)

My last house had a very small walled court yard just big enough for the rabbits and a small shed. A young cat kept turning up and I would scare it off by throwing a cup of water at it. This did put him off a bit, one day I threw some water oat him and he did his usual and jumped up the 7ft wall only he fell and then lept again. Many months later I saw him out the front of the houses
With only 3 legs, Ive always felt slightly guilty that it couldn't have been mean me!


----------



## moggiemum (Mar 28, 2013)

^^^aww thats really sad, i dont mean you,i maean just that he has 3 legs now, he was probably always getting himself into trouble, i dont like to scare cats off as i worry they will run into the road, and also they love a challange too so would probably make them more determined, dont blame yourself , very unfortunate accident


----------



## Neelam (Oct 24, 2013)

The rabbits are "almost" fully save now. All I am waiting for is the delivery of my panels (like for chicken runs) to use them to cover the area around the part, the cat often comes in from the neighbor's side. That's the only part still not fully secure yet, the rest is meantime luckily fully enclosed and the cat has no chance to get it without having something like fingers to open the door.

Just hope those panels will be delivered soon, should have been here since yesterday already.

But the open part is actually hardly used by the rabbits due to the weather, the cat can't come through from this side, even the giants have to go all the way around which they only can now, if I'm home and outside anyway.


----------



## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

What about a strip of electric fencing tape on top of the fence...it scares the daylights out of horses...would cost a few quid...energizer...car battery and the tape. It would also deter foxes from jumping over.


----------



## Neelam (Oct 24, 2013)

Calvine said:


> What about a strip of electric fencing tape on top of the fence...it scares the daylights out of horses...would cost a few quid...energizer...car battery and the tape. It would also deter foxes from jumping over.


I've thought about electric fencing but haven't heard about electric fencing tape. Is it like an ordinary tape? Need to google it, sounds quite simple and effective 

Will even stop neighborhood kids from climbing over the wall to get their ball back if I don't open the door within a second .... sounds really attractive to consider it seriously 

Thanks!


----------

