Keeping Your Cat out of the Sandbox or Garden

Keeping Your Cat out of the Sandbox or Garden

By: Christian Yost

March 24, 2009

In the summer, children love to spend time in the sandbox. Many adults enjoy the peace and tranquility of gardening. If your household includes a cat that also enjoys time outside, a sandbox or garden is often considered an attractive outdoor litterbox. Your cat’s natural preferences for elimination includes soft sand- or soil-type material so the attraction to these areas can be annoying or even hazardous to your health. Fortunately, there are methods that can be used to discourage this unwanted behavior.

Sandbox Covers

The most effective way to discourage your cat from using your child’s sandbox is to prevent access to it by covering it when not in use. A hard plastic cover available a local hardware stores does an excellent job. It has the extra advantage of protecting the area from rain and keeping young children from playing while unsupervised. These covers can be secured and are easy to clean.

On the downside, they can require more space to store. An alternative is to use a tarp, which is flexible and requires little space but may need to be secured around the edges to keep it from accumulating rainwater or blowing away.

For the do-it-yourself homeowner, a custom top can be constructed using lengths of PVC pipe. Make a frame slightly larger than the perimeter of the box. Cut a length of hardware cloth and attach in to the pipe with wire or staples. Eliminate all sharp edges. Cover the top with canvas fabric so the wire is not exposed. If your play area is a shape other than rectangular, PVC pipe is a flexible version of PVC and can be bent into curves and circles. Using large whole hardware cloth or chicken wire is not recommended because of the danger of your pet and children becoming entangled.

Spray Repellants

For both sandboxes and gardens, there are a variety of commercial sprays designed as animal deterrents. They contain preparations that are offensive, but not harmful, to cats. Applying these sprays around the box or garden border when it is first installed in the spring is often helpful. Rain and sunlight will decrease their effectiveness so they have to be reapplied regularly on a calm day to discourage drifting. A homemade preparation of garlic and onion works too. In a blender, add 2 cloves of garlic and 1 small chopped onion to 2 cups of hot water. Blend thoroughly. Strain the pulp through a cheesecloth or strainer and discard or add to the compost pile. Use the liquid in a garden sprayer around the perimeter of the sandbox or garden. Let it dry before children and pets have access.

Other Ideas

Some people have tried placing a thin layer of decorative rocks or stones over the soil to make the garden unattractive to cats. Unfortunately, this method is limited to the type of plants in your garden.

Some gardeners have tried mixing mothballs into the soil. The odor of the mothballs is a deterrent to some cats. You must be careful when using mothballs since overexposure can cause illness in your cat.

Given Their Own, They’ll Leave Yours Alone

If the above suggestion still aren’t deterring you determined feline, how about considering a space in the yard/garden that only your cat will enjoy? A small space with cat-attractive plants could be established in a quiet corner of the yard away from children’s activities. Common choices for plants would include catnip and catmint. Both are easy to grow, and provide attractive foliage for the yard. Take an extra litter pan and dig it into the soil so its surface is flush with the ground. Add a little sand and a handful of dirt. Since cats prefer privacy for their eliminations, a quiet hidden spot such as this may do the trick. It will, however, need to be cleaned like any other cat box. One word of caution, both catmint and catnip produce beautiful fragrant flowers that are attractive to bees. To prevent your cat from being stung, remove the flower stalks before they open with a gentle pinch. Don’t forget to dry some catnip for your cat as an extra treat!

If your cat does persist in soiling the sandbox or garden, it is a good idea to check for feces before children get into the sandbox or you start working in the garden. Cats can shed parasites in their feces that are harmful. The sand in the box may also need to be replaced on a regular basis, although replacing dirt is not practical. And all people playing in the sandbox or working in the garden should wash their hands when they are finished.

Please visit us at www.siamese-cattailscattery.com

Dealing with Pet Stains in Cats

Dealing with Pet Stains in Cats

By: Christian Yost

March 24, 2009

You walk into the living room and notice that your cat has soiled your carpet . There’s only one thing to do – clean it up. But you’ve got to make sure you clean it right or you’ll have more trouble.

The first issue is preventing a permanent stain. Here, time is of the essence. The faster you start working on a stain, the better. Leaving it may give it time to set, or worse, discolor the rug.

The second issue is deodorizing. It is important to eradicate not just the odors that you can smell but those that your pet    can smell as well. If a pet can pick up the scent, he may return to the same spot. So be wary of deodorizing products that simply mask smells instead of eliminating them chemically.

Finally, your clean up must be thorough and take hidden problems into account. When a liquid saturates an area, it can seep down into the carpet padding and flooring where it will generate odors out of sight.

The challenge you face depends on the kind of carpet you have. Different

fabrics such as wool, synthetic and cotton, react differently to various stains, water temperatures and cleaners. For instance, according to D.A. Burns and Sons Inc., of Seattle, Wash., a nylon carpet, although very resilient, will stain easily if it is not treated with a stain blocker. Almost all household stains can be removed from Olefin, which is a synthetic fiber. Berber carpets are particularly hard to clean since their fibers are tightly woven.

Products and Equipment

A cleaning agent. You can use anything from products that are specially designed to clean up after pets to common household cleaning staples like a combination of detergent, and vinegar (see instructions below). Pet-cleaning products like Get Serious! Pet Stain Odor and Pheromone Extractor®, Simple Solution’s Stain and Odor Remover® and Nature’s Miracle Stain and Odor Remover® are available at pet shops. Febreze® Antimicrobial Fabric Spray offers an effective way to deal with odor-causing bacteria on a wide variety of soft surfaces such as carpets, sofas, pet beds or even stuffed animals. According to the label, Febreze ® Antimicrobial will kill 99.9% of odor-causing bacteria that fester on these items. Whatever you choose, make sure that it is non-toxic and pet safe. Otherwise, a pet could get poisoned by licking his paws after walking across the spot.

Deodorizer. A number of products sold in supermarkets and pet stores are formulated as pet deodorizers. They include Non-Stop Marketing, Inc.’s Makes No-Scents Odor Control®, Ryter Corp.’s Odormute® and Arm & Hammer’s Pet Fresh Carpet and Room Deodorizer®. Ammonia and vinegar properly applied can serve the same purposed. Deodorizers, too, should be non-toxic and pet safe.

Wet/Dry vacuum. This is a vacuum cleaner that allows you to clean up both wet and dry spills. Some also dispense detergent and water. Use a machine like the Hoover Steamvac Jr.® or the Dirt Devil Easy Steamer® to shoot water deep into the fibers of the rug to get the stain out. Afterward, use it to suck the liquid back up out of the rug. It’s important to do this because otherwise, trapped liquid can cause mildew buildup in a rug.

Professional steam cleaner. When you get a really tough stain, it’s time to hire a professional steam cleaner. The hot steam penetrates the rug and lifts the stain out. Look in the phone book to find one in your area.Get the Job Done Right

Before using a cleaning product

try blotting the stain with warm water or club soda. Blot with a clean white cloth or non-printed paper towel. Don’t rub: You may damage the carpet fibers. Work from the outside of the stain ring inward to keep the mess from spreading.

Test your carpet’s color fastness before applying a cleaner or deodorizer by applying a small amount on a hidden part of the carpet. Wait 24 hours. If the carpet has not changed color, the cleaner or deodorizer should be safe to use.

Make sure you get the cleaning products out of the carpet and dry the carpet completely to keep carpet padding from rotting.

You may find that the stain works its way back to the surface of the carpet, reappearing a week or two after you cleaned it. If this happens, dilute the stain with water and use your cleaner again.
Remember that light-color carpets will show remnants of a stain more easily.

If that still doesn’t do the trick it’s probably time for steam cleaning.How to Make Your Own Cleaning Solution

The Association of Specialists in Cleaning and Restoration International suggests the following for cleaning and deodorizing a pet stain using common household products:

Detergent. As soon as you discover the stain, apply a bleach-free detergent solution (1 teaspoon neutral, white or colorless detergent dissolved in a cup of lukewarm water).

Vinegar. Last but not least, blot the area with a vinegar solution (1 part white vinegar to 2 parts water.) Absorb this again with towels and weigh several down over the spot for a minimum of 6 hours.

Please visit us at www.siamese-cattailscattery.com

Reducing Cat Urine Odor

Reducing Cat Urine Odor

By: Christian Yost

March 24, 2009

Cat’s urinate outside the litter box for various reasons and removing the odor of cat urine from carpet,  furniture or clothing can be difficult. To make matters worse, once the odor of urine becomes associated with an area other than the litter box, more urination in that area is likely.

There are several methods you can try to reduce the urine odor.

Wash the area with carbonated soda water or with soapy water and rinse well.

As a deterrent, mist the area with vinegar, perfumed soap, mouthwash or moth repellant spray.

Use commercial products. A variety of products are available to neutralize and break down the source of the urine odors. For most odors, this is the most successful way of eliminating the smell and eliminating the pet’s return to that area. Products include: SeaYu Petrotech Odor Eliminator, Urine-off, Anti Icky Poo (AIP), Nature’s Miracle, Odorban, Odornil, and Nilodor.

After cleaning 

the area, place a litter box or even small food bowls over the affected area to help deter the cat from future house soiling episodes. For cats, you also may want to change the texture of the area where they are urinating – for example if they are urinating on carpet, place down plastic. If they are urinating on hard word, place down carpet.

Caveat: Avoid any product that contains ammonia, since the odor of ammonia is similar to the odor of urine.

Please visit us at www.siamese-cattailscattery.com