Some ideas for how to live in harmony with dogs and cats in your garden

For both dogs and cats Bunny Guiness** suggests:

For solving the tell-tale yellow rings left on the lawn by dogs try adding two dessertspoons of tomato juice to the dog’s food (less for a small dog).  After a few weeks the yellow rings are no longer produced.  Apparently the juice alters the level of ammonia in the urine.  It also stops the browning of bushes caused by male dogs.  Also ‘Odor Free’, a Yucca-based product by an American company called J&G Laboratories, achieves the same effect.   Within 45 – 60 days the yello—lawn problem disappears.  It also claims to eliminate that familiar ‘eau de dog’, as well as dogs’ gas odours, body odours and bad breath – and it does the same for cats, seewww.dogsodorfree.com.

Another common dog problem is their tendency to chase cats through your most delicate flowers or bury bones under a newly-acquired treasured plant.  Old-fashioned discipline is suggested.  Whenever I have a new puppy, I spend time weeding with it.  Every time the dog follows me onto the border, I say ‘off!’ and push them back.  I try to work round all the borders, and by the end of the first session they’ve pretty much got the drift.  Of course, dogs still pursue things, but only if they think you’re not watching!

There is a system whereby cables are run underground, enclosing the forbidden areas and under the gateway to the road.  The dogs have a tag on their collars and if they cross the cable they get the mildest shock.  These systems are humane and effective; they also eliminate the worry of animals getting out onto the road. A similar system is supplied by PAC Products Ltd, www.pacdog.com.

The issue of dogs and their parasite, the round-worm toxocara, is potentially more worrying.  The eggs of this tiny worm can be passé d in faeces, then transferred to children’s hands and ingested.  Alarmingly, the eggs can also be picked up from the animals’ fur and from foxes. The eggs take two to three weeks to mature, but they can live up to three years.  If the eggs are swallowed, there is a slight possibility of catching toxocariasis which produces ‘flu’-like symptoms.  In rare cases, vision is affected, blindness is rarer still.

For peace of mind, make sure hands are washed thoroughly after playing, clear up dog mess and preferably train dogs to soil in a specific out-of-the-way spot.  Good hygiene and worming your dog frequently sorts out these problems.

Cats can cause more ill-feeling in neighbours than loud music and conifers combined.  For people trying to encourage birds to nest in their garden, living check-by-jowl with feline enthusiasts is not a recipe for harmony.  One of the best ways to prevent unwanted visitors is to have your own cat; otherwise try a battery-operated device that picks up movement with an infra-red detector and emits ultra-sonic, high-pitched frequencies which scare of intruders over a range of about 10m.  These do help but work best in open gardens as ultrasound is not efficient through fences and shrubs.

To keep my own cats off your plants and seedlings I use a battery of scenic twigs, which works fairly effectively.  I also find that leaving a tray of clean sand and earth in a convenient spot helps; they make a beeline for this rather than scraping holes in my borders.

Other methods include chemical deterrents, such as pepper powder, essential oils and methyl nonyl ketone, which keep animals away without harming them.  They can be effective but, in our rainy climate, rather short-term.  One harassed client finds the best deterrent is a bucket of water slung out of the bedroom window.

I have often heard it said that if you put lion excrement down in your garden it works a treat.  I happened to sit next to the owner of a couple of safari parks at a barbecue recently and, over the beef burgers, quizzed him on this issue.  He reckoned, from feedback, that it was not always very effective.

Cats may also carry toxoplasmosis, a parasite of many birds and animals.  It is usually only harmful to pregnant women, and there’s a small risk to the foetus.  If you are pregnant, it’s worth wearing garden gloves when working in the garden.  Cover sandpits to prevent cats using them.

Yet despite all these frightening-sounding negatives, I, for one, would not enjoy the garden or gardening nearly as much if my cats and dogs were not there, padding around my feet.

** From an article by Bunny Guinness in the Sunday Telegraph.

Further ideas to discourage cats*:

• Sound: Catwatch has an infrared sensor that activates an untrasonic alarm when it detects body heat and movement.  The sound is inaudible to humans but intolerable to cats (not to other animals), which soon learn to avoid the area, see www.conceptresearch.co.uk.
• Pong power: cats have a useful Achilles heel – their delicate sense of smell.  Renardine 72-2 has such an offensive pong that it can be used to banish them -0 and other pests – from the garden.  Simply soak pieces of wood or rags in the formulation and lay or hang these at strategic places.  www.roebuck-eyot.co.uk.
• Smelly sticks: a pack of Green Bs Professional Cat Repeller contains four rods impregnated with a pungent citronella extract.  Each rod covers 1 sq yd and is effective for up to 10 weeks.  www.greenbs.co.uk.
• Bird Saver: Protect nesting birds from cats with this spike belt that circles the tree trunk.  Sections link together so it easily adapts to fit snugly around different trees.  There are two kit sizes, see www.jacobijayne.com.
• Aromatherapy: Non-toxic pellets are soaked in essence of lion dung, dired and then steralised.  They trick the local cats into thinking that a big cat is on the prowl.  Silent Roar, The Traditional Garden Supply Company.
• Water cannon: this scarecros from Drivall is fitted with a sensor and a notion-activated sprinkler that fires a harmless but startling 3-second blast of water when unwanted animals venture into its 2,000 sq ft range.  www.drivall.com.

* From an article in the Telegraph by Jean Vernon