DEAR JOAN: Renters have moved next door and they have two cats, which have been pooping in my yard by my walkway. Do you have any suggestions on how I can stop this?

I would appreciate any help you can give me.

Lydia F.

Bay Area

DEAR LYDIA: First, bake a batch of cookies and take it over to your neighbors to welcome them to the neighborhood. Then ask them if they would consider keeping their cats indoors as they are turning your yard into their litter box.

Fingers crossed that will solve your problem, but if it doesn't here are some things you can try.

Cats in the garden.
Cats in the garden. (Ron Jenkins/Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

Cats supposedly don't like the smell of citrus, so you can scatter fresh orange or lemon peels around your yard, or soak rags in citrus-scented fragrances, wrap them around skewers and stick them in the ground.

Other smells they purportedly don't like are coffee grounds, vinegar, pipe tobacco, oil of lavender, lemongrass, citronella and eucalyptus.

You can just never tell what cats -- or any animal -- may like or dislike, but experimenting is good for us, right?

We do know for certain that cats don't like prickly things underfoot. You can get a plastic carpet runner, flip it upside down so the spike side is up, and cover it lightly with soil.


My favorite solution, however, is to go to Sam's Club or Costco and buy the biggest box of plastic forks you can find. Stick them handle side down throughout the area. It keeps the cats out and makes your neighbors worry about you.

If you don't want a garden of forks near your walkway, you can cover the area in river rocks, gravel or tumbled glass. It has the same effect only it looks prettier. It's also more expensive.

If you find none of these methods work, you can surrender to the inevitable and establish a litter box for them in a place far away from your plants, walkway and front door. You'll need to keep it clean.

DEAR JOAN: We have a bush right next to our house and some birds built a nest in it. I didn't want to stop them or disturb the eggs, but now they dive bomb us and our dogs if we are anywhere near the nest.

How long will it take for the process of hatching and babies leaving nest? They are gray with really long tails, which they flap up and down when agitated.

Pam B.

Bay Area

DEAR PAM: That sounds like a mockingbird, and they can be aggressive when defending their nests. They won't hurt you and probably wouldn't do more than just brush you with their wings, but it's best to keep your distance as the encounter might end up injuring the birds.

The eggs are incubated for about two weeks, and then the babies remain in the nest for another two weeks before fledging. After that, the birds relax.

Mockingbirds can have up to three broods a year. They may like your bush so much they'll raise another family there. It's common for the female to leave the male to tend the babies while she builds another nest and prepares to lay more eggs.

It could be a long summer for you.

Mockers are protected under federal law, making it illegal to remove inhabited nests or mess with the eggs. After they're gone, though, you can and should remove old nests.

Contact Joan Morris at Read the Animal Life blog at