DEAR JOAN: The neighborhood cat is destroying my iris plants by lying on them at night after climbing my fence. Any suggestions?
— Sidney M., Los Gatos
DEAR SIDNEY: Controlling cats, even under the best circumstances, isn’t easy, and trying to stop the actions of a wandering cat that treats the neighborhood as its personal territory isn’t the best of circumstances.
But there are things you can try, and I’m confident one of them will have some success.
Whenever an animal is getting into some place they’re not wanted, the first suggestion is to put a physical barrier in place. As cats can scale fences, a traditional barricade won’t work unless it completely covers the area, including on top. That’s not realistic in your case.
The next option is to use deterrents. You can try spreading orange peelings among your irises, or spraying around the garden bed with vinegar, or ringing the bed with coffee grounds.
Physical deterrents include things that make the irises less comfy for a nighttime snooze. Try burying plastic forks, tine side up, throughout the bed, leaving just a little of the tines exposed, or doing the same with chop sticks. Scattering pine cones or the spikey balls off liquidambar (sweet gum) trees also make flower beds less appealing.
Motion activated sprinklers also can discourage the cat.
If you want to take a less confrontational approach, try planting catnip in bed or pot some place far away from the iris. The cat is likely to focus its attention there, then wander off to another neighbor’s yard to sleep it off.
DEAR JOAN: About this time in past years the pyracanthas in our yard and neighborhood have been full of robins feasting on berries. This year, I haven’t seen any.
Is it just my neighborhood, or is this part of a broader phenomenon?
— Gary Summers, Walnut Creek
DEAR GARY: It’s hard to say why the robins aren’t beating a path to your pyracantha. While worldwide, there is a decline in the overall number of birds, there is nothing specific going on with the Bay Area robin population that I’m aware of.
As to the possible reasons, it could be the regular visitors to your yard have been attracted to other berries elsewhere. It also could be that the cold and rain are having an effect.
If the robins and cedar waxwings are dining on other people’s berries, trust that they will soon go through the supply and eventually seek out your pyracantha. Before they do, make sure there isn’t anything in your yard that might be discouraging them, such as a threat from a predator.
DEAR JOAN: Regarding the dog that’s pooping in the house at night, our older dog started doing this. I asked the Point Isabel Dog Owners Facebook page for advice and, as counterintuitive as it sounds, what worked best — of course not always — was feeding him around 9 p.m.
— Corinne, Pleasant Hill
DEAR CORINNE: That does make sense. If feeding early doesn’t result in a bowel elimination before bedtime, then maybe eating later will delay things until the morning. Thanks for sharing.
The Animal Life column runs on Mondays. Contact Joan Morris at AskJoanMorris@gmail.com.
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