Doggy Dangers and Kitty Catastrophes – keeping pets safe in the garden

I’ve written a couple of blog posts about pet safety in the garden. I’ve mentioned the dangers that pesticides, fertilizer, compost and other garden items can cause to our pets. And although I mentioned poisonous plants, I hadn’t looked very closely at the list until this weekend.

When I did, I was surprised at how many common plants were on the list. Here are a few plants that are common to the mid-Atlantic region which can cause problems for our pets. You can view the full list on the ASPC website.

If your pet ingests any of these plants, call your local veterinarian or animal emergency center.

American bittersweet, Symptoms: weakness, convulsions, gastroenteritis (vomiting, diarrhea)

Autumn crocus, Symptoms: oral irritation, bloody vomiting, diarrhea, shock, multi-organ damage, bone marrow suppression.

Azalea, Symptoms: Vomiting, diarrhea, hyper salivation, weakness, coma, hypotension, CNS depression, cardiovascular collapse and death.

Cardinal flower, Symptoms: Depression, diarrhea, vomiting, excessive salivation, abdominal pain, heart rhythm disturbances.

Daffodils, Symptoms: Vomiting, salvation, diarrhea; large ingestions cause convulsions, low blood pressure, tremors and cardiac arrhythmias. Bulbs are the most poisonous part.

Milkweed (this plant is a favorite in butterfly gardens), Symptoms: Vomiting, profound depression, weakness, anorexia, and diarrhea are common; may be followed by seizures, difficulty breathing, rapid, weak pulse, dilated pupils, kidney or liver failure, coma, respiratory paralysis and death

Periwinkle, symptoms: Vomiting, diarrhea, low blood pressure, depression, tremors, seizures, coma, death.

Toxic and Non-Topic Plants – ASPCA website

I love Cats, Just Not in my Yard

Many  gardeners don’t like cats in their yards. I have to admit, it isn’t one of my favorite things to be digging through my soil and come up with a hand-full of cat poop.

But the main reason I don’t like cats in my yard is because of the wildlife. Since I garden to attract wildlife,  I take my responsibility to protect that wildlife pretty seriously. So I don’t use chemicals in my yard AND I don’t tolerate free-roaming felines.

According to the American Bird Conservancy website:

• Scientists estimate that every year in the United States alone, cats kill hundreds of millions of birds, and more than a billion small mammals, including rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks.
• Life for outdoor cats is risky. They can get hit by cars; attacked by dogs, other cats, coyotes or wildlife; contract fatal diseases, such as rabies, feline distemper, or feline immunodeficiency virus; get lost, stolen, or poisoned; or suffer during severe weather conditions.
• Free-roaming and feral cats also pose a health hazard to humans from the spread of diseases such as rabies and toxoplasmosis.

If I see a cat in my yard and I know who owns it, I’ll talk to the owner first, before I take any other steps. After that, I feel okay doing whatever is necessary to keep the cats away. The problem, of course, is that once a cat decides it likes your yard, it is pretty difficult to deter them. 

Here are some of the methods I found online for keeping the cats away, so that the birds, and other little critters, can continue to play:

• Let your neighbors know how you feel about their roaming cat. The American Birds Conservancy website has materials you can download and share.
• Squirt them (the cats, not the neighbors) with a blast of water from a garden hose or spray bottle. 
• Get a dog (not always a good option if you like to attract wildlife).
• Scatter orange or lemon peels or spray with citrus-scented spray around the area; cats generally dislike citrus.
• Coffee grounds, pipe tobacco, or oil of lavender, lemongrass, citronella, or eucalyptus also deter cats.
• Sprinkle bloodmeal in your garden. Not only will it repel wildlife, but it is also a natural fertilizer.
• Mix water and vinegar and spray at the base of trees and plants around the house.
• Spray cat repellent (available at pet supply stores) around the edges of the yard,  top of fences and on any favorite digging areas or plants
• Try growing rue or scattering dry rue (an herb)- cats dislike the smell.
• Soak strips of old towels or rags in perfume or cologne and keep near target plants.
• *** It is NOT advised to Place moth balls around the garden. Please see comment from Alison for more info. 
• Arrange branches in a lattice-type pattern or wooden or plastic lattice fencing material over soil. You can disguise these by planting flowers and seeds in the openings. You can also try embedding wooden chopsticks, pinecones, or sticks with dull points deep into the soil with the tops exposed eight inches apart.
• Use plastic carpet runners spike-side up, covered lightly in soil.
• Set chicken wire firmly into the dirt with sharp edges rolled under.
• Keep garbage cans covered to control rodents that may be a food source for feral cats.
• Cover your child's sandbox when it's not in use.
• Try an ultrasonic animal repellent that are available in lawn and garden stores
• Use a motion-activated sprinkler so that a cat will be sprayed, but unharmed (I don’t really recommend this, since it seems like it would waste a lot of water)
• Cover exposed ground in flower beds with large, attractive river rocks to prevent cats from digging. (They have the added benefit of deterring weed growth.)

And here is one of the most ingenious solutions I found:

• Put some boogie bass in your yard. Remember those old motion activated singing fish (Don’t worry, be happy). I read online where one gardener put a boogie bass in her yard and it scared the cats away!

What about you? Have you come up with any good solutions for keeping the cats away?

Related posts : Pets and Pesticides
10 Tips for Creating a Wildlife Friendly Garden

Pets and pesticides

Do you remember the Crosby Stills and Nash song from the 70’s called “Our House”? When I was growing up, for some reason that song epitomized my idea of the perfect home and relationship, all the way down to the “two cats in the yard.” For a good part of my life, I was a real “cat person” and letting my cats wander around outside just seemed natural.

Then, one of my favorite cats came home poisoned. The vet thought she had ingested transmission fluid and we assumed that it was an accidental ingestion (certainly, no one would have poisoned her on purpose) and we paid the exorbitant vet fees and she got better. Another time, she ate a poison lizard and almost died. Again, we paid the fee and the vet fixed her up. She finally died from being hit by a car. There was no fixing her up that time.

Eventually, I quit letting my pet cats roam outside. After that, my tolerance towards other people’s roaming pets changed pretty quickly. I’ve had my screened patio torn up by free-roaming cats. I’ve been chased indoors by mean, snarling dogs. And I often step in both dog and cat poo, because I assume that  I shouldn’t have to look out for it on my own, petless property. But now that I garden for wildlife, my biggest problem with free roaming pets is that they chase, maim and kill birds, rabbits and other forms of wildlife that visit my yard.

In my mind, there are many reasons to NOT let domesticate animals roam free in neighborhoods, including possible harm to both the pets and wildlife and inconvenience or property damage to fellow homeowners. (As a gardener, there are few things as unpleasant as running your fingers through your beautiful soil and finding a pile of newly deposited cat poop). But since this is an eco-friendly garden blog, I have decided to focus this message on pets and pesticides (and other garden chemicals).

Let’s face it. If there is a chemical on the ground, it is very likely that it will end up inside of a pet. Cats and dogs walk and sit on chemically treated lawns and gardens and then lick their paws and.….sitting areas. They also dig in chemically treated soil, eat plants and  kill and eat birds and rodents which have ingested posions. And even if you don’t use chemicals in your own yard, letting your pet roam free can subject them to the chemicals found in the yards of your neighbors.

So whether you are a gardener, trying to decide if you want to keep using chemicals in your landscape or a pet owner who allows your pet to go on the occasional (or frequent) unsupervised romp around the neighborhood, here are some facts about Pets and Pesticides. Although many of these facts specifically mention dogs,  keep in mind that pesticides that are toxic to dogs will have adverse effects in cats also, due to their more delicate digestive system.

• A study published in 1995 in the academic journal Environmental Research shows a “statistcally significant” increase in the risk of canine malignant lymphoma in dogs when exposed to herbicides, particularly 2,4-D, commonly used on lawns and in “weed and feed” products.
• One product of particular concern is snail bait. A common ac­tive ingredient, metaldehyde, is tasty and attractive to mammals. Unfortunately, it is also highly toxic to all mammals, and causes blindness, excessive salivation, seizures, and sudden death.
• A study by Purdue University found that Scottish Terriers ex­posed to pesticide-treated lawns and gardens are more likely to develop transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder, a type of can­cer.
• Avermectin B1: An insecticide used for fire ants, causes leth­argy and tremors in dogs.
• Allethrin: Used on flies and mosquitoes, has been linked to liver cancer in dogs.
• DCPA: An herbicide used in lawns and gardens,  is suspected to cause adverse effects in the liver of dogs.
• Dogs and cats use their noses to poke around and explore. The nose is a mucous membrane and an easy place for pesticides to enter their bodies.
• Dogs, in particular, absorb pesticide residues by chewing or eat­ing plant material that was treated with pesticides.
• Cats absorb more chemicals than dogs due to their grooming habits.
• Because cats are specialist carnivores, they lack certain en­zymes in their liver that decontaminate chemicals,  making them especially vulnerable to the effects of toxic chemicals.
• Cats and dogs hunt, and it is natural for hunters to pick the weakened animals as prey. Animals that have been poisoned are easy targets for predators because they are easier to catch.
• Symptoms of secondary poisoning may not occur for weeks after a dog or cat eats a poisoned animal, and may not be recog­nized as such.

The topic of free-roaming pets, or cats in particular,  is a touchy one with strong opinions on both sides of the issue. But no matter what your opinion is, the fact is that chemicals in the landscape can be harmful – to pets, to people and to the environment. The best answer for most of us is to learn to get by with fewer chemicals. We can spot treat weeds or pull them by hand and learn to attract ladybugs and other beneficial insects.

For more information, see the publications listed below:

Who Let the Dogs (and Cats) Out – Protecting backyard wildlife from our pets

Avoiding Chemicals helps keep Pets Safe

Pesticides and Pets – pdf file

Pets and Pesticide Use – pdf file

Dogs and Pesticide Use – pdf file

Avoiding chemicals helps keep pets safe

To go along with today's post about Pets and Pesticides, here is some information about ways to control weeds in a landscape without resorting to chemicals. These suggestions are from the document Pesticides and Pets from BeyondPesticides.org  

Lawns, Landscapes and Gardens  

Prevention: Again, the most effective way to treat unwanted plants is to stop them from establishing themselves on your prop­erty at all.  

Do this by creating a thick, healthy turf:

• Mow at 3-3.5 inches to shade out weed germination and foster deep roots.
• Leave the grass clipping on the lawn after mowing. Grass clip­pings are a free natural fertilizer and will improve soil conditions!
• Aerate your lawn in order to help air, water, and fertilizer to enter.
• After aerating, fertilize lightly in the Fall with a natural, slow-release fertilizer. Re­quest organic fertilizers at your local nursery or order online.
• Overseed with a grass spe­cies that is naturally resistant to fungal diseases and/or insects. Use native species.
• Use corn gluten meal on weed prone areas in the ear­ly spring and early fall. Corn gluten keeps selected weed seeds from germinating, yet is high in nitrogen so it fertil­izes your lawn at the same time. Do not seed at the same time.

Control: In addition to prevention, there are easy and direct ways to control unwanted plants without the use of toxic herbicides.

• Hand pull weeds from the roots.
• Flame weeding machines use a targeted flame to kill weeds. This option is not advisable for drier climates.
• High-pressure steam and boiling water can both be used to kill weeds.
• Goats and geese can both be used to remove weeds.
• Horticultural vinegar is a powerful acid that will non-selectively kill weeds. You can buy horticultural vinegar at a plant nursery or even make your own. Avoid contact with skin, as it is an acid.
• Herbicidal soaps are refined soaps that dry out plants and kill them.

From Pesticides and Pets

Protect the groundwater

Everything that goes into the ground at your home has the potential of finding its way to local groundwater supplies. This is called nonpoint source (NPS) pollution and is one of the country’s leading causes of water pollution. Fertilizers and pesticides are the two worst offenders, but other elements such as soaps used for car washing and animal wastes are picked up by rain and irrigation systems and are washed out into the storm water lines. Follow the guidelines about fertilizer and pesticides on this website to help prevent NPS pollution. Here are some other tips for preventing storm water runoff.

• Yard Waste - Avoid blowing lawn clippings into the street or piling them on storm drains.
• Mulching - Mulch allows rainwater to seep into the ground and forms a firm ground cover, filtering pollutants and holding soil in its place.
• Sprinklers and Downspouts - Turn downspouts of rain gutters into planted areas instead of toward paved surfaces such as driveways.
• Pet Care – Collect pet waste and dispose of in wastebasket or toilet.
• Use permeable surfaces such as wood decks, bricks, and concrete lattice to let water soak into the ground.

For more information about protecting the groundwater: Looking closer at NPS Pollution Pick up after your pet