Trying to DETER a cat from coming around

[ramanth]

I got home this morning and before I could get the key in the door I was overwhelmed by the pungent odor of cat pee.

A stray tom had sprayed my door and door frame!!!

My door is old and so there is a crack where the door and weatherstripping should meet, but don't. So Zam and Logan can smell it. (As can I once I got inside.)

I didn't have time to scrub it but I sprayed the area with Lysol.

I don't want Zam or Logan to start feeling they need to defend their apartment by spraying. So far I'm pretty sure they haven't.

Is there anything I can do to prevent Mr. Tom from coming back and spritzing my door?

[PayItForward]

Easiest solution is to trap the tom cat and take him to your nearest non-kill shelter

[ramanth]

No non kill shelters near by. And I have no way to keep a big feral Tom cat away from my babies if I did trap him. (No seperate rooms in my apartment)

Well the bleach and lysol smell seems to have detered him. Found out that cats don't like pepper either. So if he comes back, he'll find some pepper to contend with.

I don't mind them coming around, especially since I feed them in the winter and give them water when it's really hot out. I just don't care for the spraying on my door.

[lizzielou742]

Supposedly cats don't like citrus either...he will probably wander off on his own soon, I guess.....have you seen the cat? Does he look well-fed, like he belongs to someone in your neighborhood, or is he a homeless stray?

[catmandu]

There is an odor Neutralizer that works well , as Sam, still sprays , the odd time!

[ramanth]

I think the male is the white cat with a black tail. There have been other stray cats that come around from time to time. My apartment is technically in the city limits, but it's very country-ish.

(Lots of woods, fields, and a cow farm less than a mile away)

They've all been big cats so the mouse hunting must be good. Zam I took in because she was skin and bones.

Logan was predictable so he was easy to catch. These tom cats are far less predictable. In the two years that I lived there this is the first time a cat has 'spritzed' my door.

[jazzcat]

I'm having the same trouble with a neighbor's cat who keeps spraying my garage door. I've been using a mixture of liquid Downy and water in a spray bottle (no measurements - just lots of Downy diluted) and spraying around my door and shrubs and so far it is helping. Either that or the Downy smells so strong that I can't smell the cat urine anymore.

My garage door has that straight from the dryer fresh smell!

I was told it was a good cat repellent and I know Ripley took one sniff of the spray bottle and ran.

Also, the mixture diluted even more will help remove wallpaper from the wall - i just tried it last week and it worked wonderfully. Wonder what other uses I can find?!