If you have a garden and you love cats, you may be thinking of helping those who are living in your area, right? Well, even if someone has told you that cats and garden are not compatible, they were wrong. 🙂 Yes it is true that some things have to be done so that the plants do not suffer damage, but of course both beings can live in perfect harmony.
So if you want to know how to take care of cats in the garden, do not hesitate, follow our advice to make them very happy.
Build them a shelter
This is very important. Cats need shelter from the cold, from the rain but also from high temperatures. That is why, first of all, you have to make them a refuge. For that purpose you can use:
- Liter plastic containers: like those of milk. You fill them with soil and the lids with a stopper. Then you just have to glue each other with, for example, superglue, so that they look like a little house. To make it more comfortable you can put a blanket that is soft.
- Dog's house: it can be second-or third-hand. A small doghouse can be a good shelter for stray cats. Clean it well with soap and water both inside and outside, dry it and put a blanket or bed on it.
- Little house with blocks and concrete: If you want to build a permanent shelter for them, I recommend you make them a little house out of masonry blocks - they can be the finest, weighing little. They are glued with concrete (3 parts of sand to 1 of cement) giving them the shape of a house, and that's it. As a ceiling you can also use blocks. I do not recommend using tiles because during the summer they will make the temperature inside very high, and during the winter they will not protect you much from the cold.
Put feeders and drinkers in the garden
If you know that there are cats in your area, what you have to do now is put feeders and drinkers around the garden. Although it is very possible that they will not be seen for a while, you will know that they begin to go to your garden observing the feeders. Anyway, if you want to be sure, buy some cans of wet cat food and pour the contents into a container. I assure you that the next day there will be no trace. 😉
But beware, for reasons more than anything of hygiene and economic, it is preferable to give them dry feed and, very occasionally, wet food, since the latter should be able to serve you to be able to attract the attention of someone in particular who needs, for example, veterinary attention.
Make piggy bank
Stray cats that are in your garden from my point of view are no longer strays, but "gardeners." They are not yours, but you become their caregiver; that is, the person who is responsible for them. Therefore, you must take care of them as if they were really yours: you must make sure that they have food and water, that they are in good health, put an antiparasitic treatment on them and you must also take them for neutering when they are six months old since otherwise you will end up having many kittens and cats.
All this entails expenses, so you have to go making piggy banks.
Remove stool daily
Cats that live in a garden relieve themselves on the ground. The problem, apart from the bad smell, is that the feces attract fleas. And fleas are VERY annoying parasites. To avoid this, in addition to treating cats with antiparasitics, you have to remove the feces every day with the help of a scooper and a bag -or bag, if there are many animals-. This way, everything will be fine.
Do not put plants in the area of more 'cat traffic'
If in addition to a garden you have a patio, if you don't want to end up with flowerpots on the ground, I recommend that you simply put a table ... and that's it. From experience I can tell you that it is the best. The only bad thing is that to find out which is the area with the most cat traffic you have to do tests; for example, putting many pots on a table.
Protect plants from kittens
Kittens are very playful. To prevent them from causing damage to plants, especially young ones, it is highly recommended to protect the trunk with metallic cloth. In this way, they will stay safe from the clutches of the little ones.
With these tips, you will have a happy cat family in your garden.