SHWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

May 17, 2008 8:15 AM

Have you every used an electronic cat deterrent?

If you did, did you find it actually made any difference? Any particular brands or features I should look out for when purchasing? Any tips on placement or anything like that?

I've tried lots of other things, but nothing seems to work.

posted by Solomon to home & garden (6 comments total)

I bought one for an elderly neighbour who complained that my cats were pooing in her flowerbed. (There are loads of cats round here but she was convinced it was only my two who were the culprits.)

She says it works a treat.

I see you're in the UK. I bought mine from Robert Dyas.
posted by essexjan at 12:14 PM on May 17

YES I CAN HEAR THAT SHWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! FROM THE ROAD KTHX NO LOVE.

Umm. Sorry. But yes, there is a house on my road with one of those green things on a stick in the front garden, and whenever I walk past I can hear this horrible intermittent shrieking that goes right through my head. It seems to be pretty much line-of-sight, but if anyone under the age of about thirty is likely to be exposed to your garden it should probably be something to take into consideration.

OK, on actually *reading* a bit of your link, it would seem that the one I can see is one of the 'recent imitations' that aren't cat-sensing (and how do they know it is a cat not a person, hmm?), but all the same, motion sensor or not, no love. Surely a water pistol with a little bit of detergent in is more emotionally satisfying anyway....
posted by Lebannen at 5:27 PM on May 17

We had an indoor one that we set up in the bathroom to keep our toilet-paper-shredding cat out. Of course, it repelled only the other two cats, not the shredder.
posted by Joleta at 9:38 PM on May 17

Surely a water pistol with a little bit of detergent in is more emotionally satisfying anyway....

It is, but it's also way ineffective. The only thing I've found that's come close to working is Jeyes fluid, which smells very strongly of nastiness, but is also poisonous to cats. Everything else I've tried has been useless - citrus peel, "snakes", bottles of water, carrier bags flapping in the wind, etc.

My neighbours don't use their gardens, and unless the sensor can pick up movement through a 6" thick brick wall (wouldn't that be cool?), someone walking along the road wont trigger it.
posted by Solomon at 2:32 AM on May 18

Dog (and cat) Whistle
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 9:49 AM on May 18

My SO's landlady put one outside her back door, one of the ones that give out a low level beep continuously. Next door's cat kept well away after she did.
posted by biffa at 1:54 AM on May 19