Fleas can be found on pets year-round, but populations tend to increase dramatically in spring and summer when temperatures are warmer. Larvae develop rapidly in areas where temperatures reach 70° to 90°F. Fleas are a major concern for pet owners as they can give dogs and cats tapeworms, but they can also transmit flea-borne typhus to people and spread plague to wild animals like ground squirrels. These blood-sucking pests can be introduced to backyards from feral cats, squirrels, opossums, and other wildlife.
To learn more about fleas, the diseases they can spread, and their management, check out the recording of UC IPM's Urban & Community IPM Webinar from June 2024 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-w7J6mkTeM. You'll hear from flea expert Dr. Laura Krueger of the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District on how you can protect yourself and pets from fleas.
Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Client's Request: Hi, I've created a new garden area this year. I've put down new dirt and compost but haven't had time this year to plant anything other than my green onions. I've recently noticed cat poop in the new garden from a neighbor's cat that roams at night.
1st question: is there something to deter the cat from coming in our yard or at least the garden area?
2nd question: Nw that there's poop and pee all in the garden, I'd hate to waste $ on all that dirt. I keep extracting the poop but is the dirt now contaminated to where i shouldn't use that dirt anymore???
Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk with your questions about cats in your garden. Your neighbor's house cat really doesn't belong in your garden. As you are finding, there is a lot of the "ick" factor about their feces.
Below are some ideas for keeping cats out of your garden. There are many levels of deterrent you can use, and it may take some experimenting to figure out what works best for you and the neighbor's cat.
- The most effective method is to block access. Use a chicken wire fence or wire cage around your bed, or use floating row covers. If you don't have children, a low voltage electrical wire can be effective. You can find these online or at some home improvement stores.
- Another idea for blocking access is to erect a flimsy chicken wire fence attached to the top of your fence to block access. Cats don't like to climb things that won't support their weight, so this may keep it out of your yard completely.
- Since cats like the garden's soft soil, you can make it less attractive by placing chopsticks or bamboo skewers every 8" or so, making it uncomfortable for a cat to do its business.
- Motion-activated sprinklers are another good way to deter visitors to the garden. Just make sure you turn it off when you want into the garden. You can find these online.
- Cat (and dog) repellents are available, but in my experience, they don't smell very good to humans either. You could try spraying along the top of the neighbor's fence or other access point. I wouldn't spray this in any planted areas, though.
Cat feces can carry diseases such as toxoplasmosis, salmonella, and intestinal parasites. You don't, however, need to replace all your soil. When you notice feces, remove it and the soil it's touching. It's a good idea to put it in a plastic bag and dispose of it in your garbage can. Cat urine should not pose a problem for your soil, unless there is a large quantity in a small area. Then, use plenty of water to dilute it in the soil. Cats return to an area to defecate because they can smell where they went before, so removing the soil around the feces should reduce the repeet visits.
Food safety with plants grown in your garden is important. I would avoid planting root crops (carrots, beets, etc.) or leafy greens that are eaten raw (lettuce) in areas heavily used by a cat. Other crops should be fine. This link is to information about food safety in the home vegetable garden. https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8366.pdf
I hope some of these ideas will help keep the neighbor's cat out and give you a cleaner garden experience. And we can always hope cat owners learn that it's better and safer for their cats to be indoor cats.
Good luck with your new garden. Please let us know if you have further questions.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SEH)
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Mark your calendars now! Our popular Fall for Plants gardening workshop will be returning to Walnut Creek on Saturday, September 8. For more information, visit the event main page and the workshop program page. |
Note: UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available almost year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays (e.g., last 2 weeks December), we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 2380 Bisso Lane, Concord, CA 94520. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 608-6683, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/. MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (//ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/)
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- Author: Rob Warren
- Contributor: Jeannette Warnert
Veterinarians at the University of California, Davis, warn pet owners to be careful about using rat poisons and similar compounds.
In recent weeks, veterinarians at the UC Davis William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital have seen a spike in accidental rodenticide poisonings. In the last two weeks of August alone, they diagnosed and treated six canine cases.
If not treated, a dog can die within a week of ingesting rodenticides.
"This is an all-too-common occurrence," said Karl Jandrey, assistant professor of clinical small animal emergency and intensive care at UC Davis. "People are trying to get rid of unwanted rodents, but are not realizing what these toxins do to the other animals who share that environment."
Keeping pets safe
Using proper pest control techniques can help keep family pets safe, said Roger Baldwin, UC Cooperative Extension advisor with the UC Integrated Pest Management Program. Baldwin, a wildlife pest management expert, is based at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier.
Dogs can be affected by rodenticides two ways: by eating the poisoned bait or by eating an animal that was poisoned. Both can have serious consequences.
Home improvement stores like Lowes and Home Depot, and even grocery stores, carry a variety of products that may be used to control unwanted rats, mice, pocket gophers and ground squirrels. If the unwanted animals are inside the house, Baldwin recommends using traps rather than poison.
"If a poisoned animal dies behind a wall, you can't get it out and you have to live with the smell for weeks or months," Baldwin said.
Also, before baiting outdoor pests, Baldwin suggests making sure they are not also going inside buildings. If they are, find all potential access points and close them up.
If resorting to poison baits, buy a new product at the store and carefully read the label to understand when, where and how it can be used. Because of rapidly changing restrictions in recent years, old products in your garage or shed could be outdated.
Pocket gopher bait must be placed in the gopher's underground burrow. Even there, Baldwin said, certain dogs will dig up dead pocket gophers if they are close enough to the surface. Families with digging dogs will likely want to choose gopher traps. For ground squirrels, baits can be placed in bait stations or scattered very thinly on the ground through broadcast or spot treatments.
"When you use broadcast or spot treatments, there is relatively little danger to dogs or cats," Baldwin said. "But I would opt to use bait stations in my yard if I had pets running around, just to be on the safe side."
Some rodenticides contain ingredients that are anticoagulants, which slow the clotting of the blood. When dogs ingest these poisons, the active ingredients concentrate in the liver where they interfere with vitamin K storage and the production of blood clotting factors.
At UC Davis' veterinary teaching hospital, dealing with accidental poisoning by an anticoagulant rodenticide can require around-the-clock care with treatments in the intensive care unit to replenish blood clotting factors with fresh frozen plasma and replace vitamin K. If administered early enough, this treatment usually leads to a full recovery. Other rodenticides (e.g., bromethalin, cholecalciferol, strychnine and zinc phosphide) do not have antidotes, so treatment is more difficult.
One patient recently treated at UC Davis was Mocha, a one-year-old Belgian Malinois from Winters, Calif. Mocha had gotten into d-CON, a common rodenticide available at hardware stores.
Luckily, Mocha was brought to the veterinary teaching hospital in time. She responded well to treatment and was able to go home in two days.
"We are grateful for the care Mocha received at UC Davis," said Ken Shaw, Mocha's owner. "Like most dogs, Mocha is adventurous and likes to get into things she shouldn't. But after the treatment at UC Davis, she was home within a few days, happy and playful once again."