I am very proud to see that Sarah is guest blogging at Instapundit. Moreover, she is behaving in a very purrfessional manner!
It probably won’t surprise anyone that since I aspire to being the mad-cat-woman of science fiction (Yes, the competition is stiff. Well, actually it’s soft, fuzzy and on occasion purrs) I love the idea of cat cafes and I’m thrilled to see them expanding out of Japan. I wonder if the FDA would allow it to flourish here.
I could use a little mad-cat culture right here. I’m having a terrible time with squirrels ravaging my square foot garden, and I don’t know what to do about it. The dogs are not stealthy enough to catch the varmints; they just chase them, which not only doesn’t phase the squirrels, it seems to encourage them. They deliberately taunt the dogs — flicking their tails and chattering aggressively. Coco considers it to be anti-pit bull bullying — definitely hate speech — and she takes it very personally. I’d love to have some purrfessional help. Cats have more patience and cunning about these things. Plus, they know how to climb trees….
If it was food the little beasts were after I could almost understand. But what they are doing is digging up young seedlings, just as they are struggling to establish themselves. And they are not eating them. As this article points out, they “will destroy your garden by digging up the plants and discarding them.”
Little bastards. I could almost swear it was malice directed against me personally.
I have tried almost every legal means available to me. Cayenne pepper has not worked, nor has trapping. Coco and I need this Occupy Garden movement ended badly.
Please help! We’re desperate!
Comments
15 responses to “Plaintive plea for purrfessional help!”
Depending on who your neighbors are (and town/city regs), a good quality BB/pellet gun is all you need.
Board, big nail through it, corn on the cob on the nail, pellet gun place in a spot where stray pellets won’t hurt anyone.
An impudent sherry doesn’t hurt.
OMG! I never thought a post of mine would elicit such blatant eliminationist rhetoric!
Dig that freestyle back yard! Like crazy, man!
What do you think any decent cat will do with them?
At least with the pellet gun they die quickly.
All known experience to date says man cannot win in a non-lethal contest with squirrels. Yet there may be hope for the near future. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPgqfnKG_T4
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110522083547AAqEe7M
Scroll down for the answer. Another site says to plant onions along the outside of the garden, because apparently squirrels don’t like onions. Also, marigolds. I knew that marigolds were supposed to deter rabbits, but I didn’t realize they had the same effect on squirrels. Good to know.
Love Coco’s big smile. She’s one of my favorite dogs on the internet, other than pretty much all the pit bulls at http://www.badrap.org/.
my not-my-cat Greebo tends to take the squirrel tales… well, half of them. Lengthwise. This keeps squirrels off our backyard, BUT I live in fear of their plotted revenge. An army of half-tailed squirrels MUST be massing on the edge of our property, ready to strike. Or maybe they’re just going “What the? It was black and clawed and… the pain, the pain.”
Thanks for all of the useful comments as well as the compliment on my yard. I’m running Ubuntu on a thumb drive so I can’t go into much detail, but Coco thanks you too!
Not sure shooting them would really help, guys. Years ago I borrowed a havaheart live trap from my dad and started trapping squirrels and releasing them somewhere else far, far away. On the outside chance they might make their way back home like so many little Lassies, I started paying attention to what each individual looked like — so I know for certain it was futile. I’d relocate a squirrel, and next day there’s be a new one taking its place. I gave up finally but by then I’d trapped over 20. I suspect that if you lined up suburban squirrels and marched them into the sea the line would never end.
Eric, you might try covering your garden with 1-inch chicken wire until your plants have grown big enough to fend for themselves . . .
I’m thinking a couple of pet owls, or other raptors of some sort. That is, if you’re dead-set (no pun intended) against the pellet gun thing.
Shooting them with an air rifle is highly satisfying but futile unless you are an island. I shot 250 of them in a small backyard over several years but new ones just moved in. Some weekends I would get 7 or 8. I could tell the difference until Wednesday. Use poison, up high where the dogs can’t get it. Bird feeders are a good choice as squirrels love them and I don’t think birds are interested in the bait. Get the kind that makes them want to seek open spaces so they don’t crawl in your space and die.
Hero pit bull:
http://now.msn.com/now/0509-dog-saves-owner.aspx
[…] One’sFor Genes Posted on May 10, 2012 12:37 pm by Bill Quick Classical Values » Plaintive plea for purrfessional help! I have tried almost every legal means available to me. Cayenne pepper has not worked, nor has […]
Once one of your dogs gets close enough to get nipped the situation will change. It won’t be a game anymore, it’ll be personal and deadly.