Uhhhh ...is there a way to "get rid of" stray cats near us?

[veronica]

I have called our animal control but it seems to be useless. last week, I came into the kitchen with our two dogs at 6 am and through the sliding door, there was a cat roaming around our deck looking for food. Yesterday , we pull into the driveway and there is one sniffing our trash cans.

DH and I worked hard to train our dogs to go in a certain place of our yard so we could have a "pet-free" side for our kids to play in. Now I have strays roaming around , and we are fenced in!!! They must be getting over the fence, or under. Is there something I can do without permanently hurting them but encourage them to go elsewhere?

[Melanie]

What about making some kind of cat-deterrent spray and spritzing it around?
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=cat+deterrent+spray+recipe

Leaving your dogs out more often?

Also, if there is some kind of feral cat rescue in your area.

[lisams]

I've heard of people sprinkling coyote urine flakes in their yard to keep cats out (especially male cats). It's mating season for cats, so that may be why you're seeing cats show up all of the sudden.

We have a huge stray cat problem in our neighborhood. We've noticed more here recently - particularly males trying to mark their territory. It's very frustrating. Hopefully having a dog will help you out!

[Nooknookmom]

Aaaah, yes, it's getting close to kitten season! You're going to see more strays this time of year.

I'll second going to PSmart or the like and trying a yard spray deterrant. Usually works pretty well.

Does your area have a catch-neuter-release program? If so it would cut down on future strays.

[elektra]

We had this situation at our old house. We had a deck and I can only guess at how many cats lived under there. Our current kitty found us that way actually. She was mewing at our door as a kitten in the rain one night and we (mostly DH!) couldn't resist her.
The cat thing never bothered us all that much though actually.
Anyway, I know you can get feral cat traps at certain vet offices. Have you seen/heard of those? I believe the vets loan them out for free. You just catch the cats and bring them in inside the trap cage. I have no idea if they would be dangerous for kids though.
It wouldn't eradicate the whole slew of them but if it's the same few hanging around maybe the traps would at least make a difference.