Cat killing baby birds in my yard

What to do?

[Webwork]

We've got birds nesting all over the place as we are a bird friendly family: Lots of feeders and seed. Bird friendly flowers. Nice nesting spots.

A cat - owner unknown - has been busy killing the baby birds this year. I even encountered the cat one night climbing up a Wisteria vine to get to the slots between the rafters of the roof of our porch - a favorite place for birds to nest. This is a cat determined to take prey.

I've had to watch and listen to various mating pairs lamenting for days for their dead or missing babies. It is quite a sad thing to sit on your porch and hear the moms/dads trilling over and over for days - waiting for a reply.

My instincts are rather dark. "What's fair for the birds is fair for the cat", but I've been restraining that impulse. However, this cat just struck again, pulling down a nest and leaving 4 babies dead. I've had quite enough. I'm feeling vengeful.

I've never known trapping cages to work with a consistent effect. This cat strikes me as no fool.

We have a dog. This cat comes often late a night when our dog is inside.

Short of retaliation or stinking up my yard how do I convince a cat to stay away?

And yes, I've got a few soft spots . . Don't mess with my babies!

[digitalghost]

Cayenne pepper and coffee grounds. Keeps cats and dogs away from my chicken coop. I mix it up in bucket and toss the mixture into a broadcast spreader. 3' wide perimeter should do it. Helps if you grow your own cayenne.

Before that, coop security breaches were handled with a scoped 7mm-08. SSS Protocol- Shoot, shovel and shut up. (as Mivox says).

If you can catch the cat, you might be able to effect a solution with nothing more than a piece of tape [big-boys.com]. ;)

[tbear]

Ooops, I misread the title there....
Thought the baby birds were killing cats!

Well, it is 5:20 am and the fiesta (Moors and Christians) disco in the street outside (one of 4 in a very small village) is still in full swing.
Hmmm, that would keep the cat away......

[vabtz]

Any updates?

Did the ninjas work?

[oldpro]

mothballs spread out under the trees the birds are nesting in should do the trick

[lZakl]

You know, I had the same exact problem. I solved it with my Tippmann 98 paintball marker ("paintball gun" to you non-paintballers). Either the owner must have gotten sick of washing the non-toxic water-soluble paint of the beast, or the cat got sick of his bruised hiney... after about 2 week's he stopped coming around.

... Marked up the yard pretty good with yellow and red though ... lol

I heard that replacing 12 Guage shot with salt and lowering the grain count work's pretty good too!

-- Zak

[digitalghost]

Prikka Strips? [martleyelectronics.co.uk...]

Turn your yard into an anti-feline fortress. Much easier than digging a moat. They also have some citronella spikes that are supposed to work.

[larryhatch]

Stop encouraging the birds and the cats will find other things to do.
My problem is roof rats. I like to see the cats on patrol day and night. -Larry

[JAB Creations]

Good suggestion digitalghost.

I figure (haven't read all 7 bloody pages of the post but...) there must be something a cat specialist will know that they will smell and not like and avoid your area that humans can't smell. Natural inhibited detection capabilities can be a good thing in some cases! I don't know about lion dung though! I like all animals except for the ones that want to bite me! If I were you I'd be asking in a less technical field at least in addition to this great place. Best of luck for all three parties! ;-)