How to Repel House Cats From Outdoor Bird Feeders

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Yolanda Vanveen and in this section we are going to talk about how to repel house cats from your bird feeders. Now Dexter here really doesn't mess with any bird feeders because we don't have any bird feeders on our property. Because I believe that we shouldn't feed the wildlife, we shouldn't encourage them to come in and eat food from us because I've got so much food on my property. I've got all kinds of flower plants that have seeds and trees and all kinds of natural ways that birds can eat. By feeding your birds, I am finding that you are not teaching them to teach their young how to go out in the wild and feed themselves. So first off when you are using a bird feeder, it's great if you live in the middle of the city. If you live in the country there should be enough food for your birds so you wouldn't need it. Here's where I have a water fountain and Dexter loves to drink the water too and so do the birds. I could use this as a bird feeder as well and it would work because here Dexter can drink the water but he's not going to mess with the birds that are going to be eating the seed out of the bird seed holder. The only dilemma is that the bird seed would fall into the water and you would have to clean out the water periodically but that would work. My other philosophy is you can't really stop the animals that get into the bird feeder if they have access. So make sure that your bird feeder is in a place that the cats have no access. Lift it up higher, put it on a long pole. Make sure when you have your bird feeders make sure that they are tall enough that the cats won't come near it. Sometimes by sprinkling a bunch of cayenne pepper or cinnamon or red hot chili pepper around the base of the bird feeder the cats do not like the smell at all and it hurts their little paws so they are not going to go further into messing with the bird feeder. That's another easy trick, but in the end I found that you can't really stop animals for doing what they are going to do and you can't punish them or hurt them for what they are doing. You can set boundaries whether it's with spices or with water and by putting the birdseed in a place that they can't reach. Birds, house cats and people can get along really well together. They just need to set boundaries for one another."