The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsAdvice from Cat lovers, please.
I'm generally welcoming to all of nature in my backyard, but sometimes you have to take sides. A rabbit decided to have babies in my yard and it appears that she thinks I'm an ally. I don't know if that's because she saw me running in circles like a wild woman under the branches of an oak a few weeks back in an effort to scare off a woodpecker that was attacking a hummingbird that was defending her nest. Spoiler: the woodpecker was persistent and woke up earlier than I did the next morning and managed to knock down the limb and nest - thankfully, the hummingbird hadn't laid its eggs yet.
Back to the cat: I've watched the rabbit babies make it through red shoulder hawk vigils, extreme weather conditions, chemical sprays from the neighbor's lawn service, a black racer and now a cat has decided to appear from no where. I am trying to come up with friendly ways to thwart its hunting nature, which by the looks of the cat, doesn't need the extra food. The cat only appears late at night so I'm thinking of growing catnip. It might attract the cat, but I'm hoping it will also slow it down. Not having owned a cat, not sure that is the right assumption.
What is the advice out there?
Merlot
(9,696 posts)Not only wil catnip attract MORE cats, in my experience it actually made my cats more aggressive and ready to play. Nothing says "fun" to a cat more than babies. Just ask my cat who did her best work with a family of baby rats. One a day for four days was left for me. The fith one actually got away with a little help from me ; )
Much as you hate to do it, if you really want to protect the bunnies you're going to have to tell the cat in no uncertain terms it's not welcome in your yard. I find stairing at them works as they then think you are a preditor.
Good luck, and if you don't succeed, just know there will be more bunnies.
Baitball Blogger
(46,769 posts)Lochloosa
(16,073 posts)Cats being pure carnivores have a strong dislike of most plant smells. Lavender, rue, geranium, absinthe and lemon thyme are especially unpleasant to them. Cats also hate eucalyptus oil and oil of wintergreen. Soak pieces of cloth or cotton balls in one of these and cats will keep their distance.
Baitball Blogger
(46,769 posts)Thanks for the reminder. I may have to mail order.
catrose
(5,075 posts)spooky3
(34,498 posts)That the cats cant enter? If not, does your county have an animal control and rescue unit who could take in the rabbits?
I dont mean to be overly dramatic but roaming cats can be ruthless killers. Years ago a neighbor kept pet rabbits in a cage in the backyard, and one day a roaming cat found a way in and killed them all in minutes. The screams were awful and there was no way to save them.
Baitball Blogger
(46,769 posts)I just want to try to even the odds out there.
And, yes, their cries sound like a human baby.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,900 posts)This means I have stoned cats and squashed catnip, but I also have no rabbits.
Baitball Blogger
(46,769 posts)Do you know that the rabbits haven't touched the kale and other vegetables that I planted for them to eat. Why would they avoid this easy food?
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,900 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,769 posts)lark
(23,166 posts)Try romaine instead, it's so much tastier,
cwydro
(51,308 posts)But cats do what they want lol.
KT2000
(20,591 posts)they are pure insecticide and are dangerous, sometimes lethal, for humans and animals.
http://npic.orst.edu/ingred/ptype/mothball/health.html