Thursday, August 14, 2008

Kitty!


What Maggie likes:
  • Watching Winnie the Pooh and Nacho Libre and the second the movies end she points and shouts "SHOW!" which means "Start it again, Mom!"
  • Sucking on a binky while holding at least 2 other binkies in her hands and rotating which binky is in her mouth.
  • Kissing her brothers whom she calls "Tole" and "Wow."
  • Climbing in the boys' swing or bouncy chairs and doing impressions of them sleeping
What Maggie doesn't like:
  • Kitties.
The other day I was tending to the boys when I hear Maggie screaming in the kitchen. She had been eating her Marshmallow Mateys the last time I'd checked, so I didn't know what was wrong. I went running and Maggie was pointing through the sliding glass door and screaming "Kitty!" There sat one of the neighbor's chubby cats swishing her princess tail. Mags abandoned breakfast altogether and it was all I could do to coax her back into the kitchen for lunch. She is deathly afraid of cats.

Now the problem is, we always have kitties on our back porch. The kind folks that sold us our house moved into the house behind us. But their cats didn't get the memo. The first few weeks we lived here they ran into the house every time we opened a door. They don't do that anymore, but they do hang around all day. Maggie is not a fan. Neither is Dan. I don't care about it-- I just want Maggie to be able to eat in her own kitchen.

Any kitty repellent ideas that don't involve chasing them around with a stick (I had to tell Dan to abandon that idea)?

9 comments:

Marilyn said...

Sorry, no kitty ideas, but I do think "Tole" and "Wow" are about the cutest nicknames I've ever heard. Maybe the cutest names, period. Is it too late to change their birth certificates?

Rachel said...

Get a dog? :o)

The Tuck Family said...

SADly enough I know that blow gun darts get rid of all cats....thanks to my little brother Wyatt. Oh, and BB guns, sling-shots, and just plain old rocks also do the trick.

SORRY to all you cat lovers out there reading my comment....a redhead cannot be controlled!

Anonymous said...

We're having a somewhat similar problem. Someone suggested pepper. Haven't tried it yet, but going to soon. I guess I'll go look silly and sprinkle some black pepper all over! Maybe try it around your fence or something

Amanda D said...

Moth balls. You can buy a box, and sprinkle them around the yard. Non-toxic, and it works!

Denae said...

Megs we've had some of this same problem.. I found this on a website.. I hope it helps

* amonia soaked (corncobs, etc)
* aluminum foil
* bamboo skewers
* black pepper
* blood meal fertilizer
* bramble cuttings
* Carefresh - "recycled" wood pulp
* catnip - donated into your neighbor's yards (so they'll stay in their own yards)
* cedar compost
* chicken wire (metal or plastic)
* cinnamon
* citrus peels
* citrus spray
* cocoa bean shells
* coffee grounds -fresh & unbrewed, not just a light sprinkling (highly recommended by MANY Gardenwebbers!)
* dogs
* electric fence for animals
* essence of orange. essence of lemon, lime (citrus essential oils)
* fresh manure(ditto)
* garlic cloves
* gumballs from the Sweet Gum Tree
* gutter covers
* hardware cloth
* heavy bark mulch
* holly leaves
* keep the area damp, they like dry soil
* lavender
* liquid manure (good for your garden too)
* motion sensor sprinkler
* pennyroyal
* pinecones
* pipe tobacco
* plastic forks
* predator urine
* red wine vinegar
* river rocks over the exposed soil
* rocks, crushed
* rose bush clippings
* rue, an herb (Ruta graveolens) (highly recommended in plant form only)
* short twigs throughout the planted area about 6" apart
* six-inch bamboo skewers (pointy side up)
* Spray on your leaves (not the cat): fill a spray bottle with 1/2 t chili powder, 1/2 t cayenne pepper, 1 t dish soap and water
* squirt gun with water
* talk to your neighbors
* tansy
* thorny berry, lilac, hawthorn, rose clippings
* toothpicks
* upside down vinyl carpet
* vinegar sprayed on areas where they roam
* water bottle on "stream"

NOT RECOMMENDED:
*** chili powder, red crushed pepper, cayenne pepper (NOT recommended), it gets on the cat's paws then they wash themselves and they get it in their eyes, beware cats have literally scratched their eyes out because of this. Even if it's one cat out of 500 infected in this way, that's one too many for me.
*** Don't ever use mothballs or flakes. Those little toxic waste pellets destroy cats' kidney function, could seriously harm people who handle them, and yes, contaminate your own garden soil. Their packaging even warns against using them this way.

Holli and Billy said...

If Dan gets his way with chasing the cat with a stick and it goes a little too far, one of Billy's FAVORITE books is "101 Uses for a Dead Cat" by Simon Bond. Read this if you want a good laugh :) Oh, and many helpful solutions what to do with the now-dead cat... For your information, I do like cats for those animal activists out there :)

K said...

What Rachel said.

And you can get a chemical that people put on their lawns that chases off dogs and cats. Put it on the stairs up to your deck or whatever.

A bucket of water never did permanent damage to any feline person.

K said...

Oh, yeah - and if you go for the fresh manure thing? I got plenty.

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