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Bad Kitty!

© Mel. White

In terms of love-hate relationships, cats and gardeners pretty much exemplify the problem. Many of us just adore our fuzzy little buddies (long-time readers know how I feel about Tuan, the Lawn Ornament That Walks Like A Cat) although our neighbors may want to stick a dynamite charge in the britches of our fine fuzzy friend. When you have any outdoor pet (including children), you need to take steps to make sure that they aren't being an unreasonable nuisance to the neighborhood.

You can send kids to their rooms and lock up the dogs (usually). Cats are another matter.

We've all heard the lecture on how deadly cats and dogs are to wildlife, and those of us who own pets have seen the sad results of our animals' hunting instincts. But a little foresight can insure that you enjoy your critter and your neighbors enjoy their land and nobody gets into ferocious feuds over the actions of a companion animal. So I'll start with cats (my cat, in fact) and talk about what you can do to manage both cat and ecology.

There are two kinds of cat populations (other than feral (stray) cats): the "working cat" whose job it is to hunt mice and rats around barns and warehouses, and the housecat-companion. The housecat's hunting is easier to control (just keep them inside most of the time) but managing the hunting patterns of working cats is harder. In spite of all your efforts, any cat who goes outdoors will almost certainly kill some wild creatures. One way to limit his hunting is to let him out in the evenings. Evening and nightflying birds seldom land on bird feeders or sit on bird baths -- so there's fewer targets to tempt Senor Gato.

There's several critters I don't want Tuan molesting. I want him to quit eating bugs, to not kill lizards, and to leave the birds alone. Luckily, like many housecats, he's a very bad hunter. His technique of luring birds into his grasp is to sit under the tree and meow persuasively at them. This has never worked, but he never gives up hope that somehow he'll hit on the right combination of vowels and howls to lure birds into his bewhiskered maw.

Putting a collar and VERY noisy bell on Tuan was enough to warn away most of the birds -- but it didn't do much for the lizards. I moved the birdbath to a more open area (fewer hiding places) and moved the feeder so that it hung from a tree. There are no nearby flowers where he can hide -- there's only lawn under the tree

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