Cat

Feral cats are the same species as the ordinary, domestic cat. The difference is that they don't live with humans and have become wild animals. Some are born into feral groups (called colonies), others become 'feral' after getting lost or abandoned. Colonies can form just about anywhere - on building sites, in hospital grounds and even in factories. Estimates of the UK feral cat population vary widely, but it is likely to be over one million. The big problem with an overpopulation of cats is the impact they have on the local birdlife and the fact that they like nice soft earth flower beds to deposit their faeces. This does not go down well with gardeners. Deter cats from your garden and from around your bird tables by planting Coleus canina, (available from this website). Other options are available.

How to Prevent Entry

There may be two areas you wish to exclude cats from:

Garden
House

Excluding cats from your garden:

If you are fortunate enough to have a reasonably secure walled or fenced garden, the problem of cat access is likely to be easily resolved. Having first ensured that there are no potential low level access points, look to preventing cats walking along the wall or fence tops. This can easily be achieved using plastic spike strips glued in place along the top of the fence or wall.

If you have an open garden and cats can access at any point, then you must rely on a deterrent system. The easiest, but least effective, are the many electronic deterrents on the market. Cats and other animals soon get used to these devices as they quickly realise that it is purely an irritating sound and there is no backup reinforcement.

The most effective deterrents tend to be the physical ones such as the water spray; cats hate water and will soon get the message if they are sprayed whenever they enter your garden.

Excluding cats from your house:

Here we assume that you have your own cats and they access your house through a cat flat. Furthermore, we guess that uninvited cats are also accessing your house. The best way to deal with this is to fit an electronic cat flap that is activated by a device on your own cats collar. Thus, your cat can go in and out, but other cats cannot.