And the one responsible for the fur issue exlaims "oh dear!" seeing this: And yet another fresh vole hole... we're having small mammal Moria in our garden, and no mistake.
;o) She was more like "Don't shoot me like that, I'm nekkid!" *lol* The voles are a serious problem (voles indeed, I mistyped earlier). Sometime last year, the Winterwizard dug out one of the hills so the cat can do their d*d duty, and exclaimed "good gracious, that's bloddy Moria down there!" Since then, we're joking around about that, but they're systematically destryoing our garden and there is nothing we can do about. Not even four cats managed to get them down... *sigh*
poor thing. they are dismayed when they have lost their fur, aren't they. we have two that got shaved last year - I can't seem to remember how to post a small image of it here, but you can see one of them on flickr:
Poor kitty! Our doesn't need help in fur care in theory, as she's half Norwegian Forest half British Shorthair. But she is a rescue cat from an illegal breeder, has incest problems, and one of those is that her body oils glue the fur together in a way nor comb or tool can break it apart. We found out that it's easiest to cut out the clotted parts. The vet usedt to do it, and while she lost much less fur it also looked even worse, so we went to the furdresser this year. It was much faster, too, but she complained all the same. When the heat wave hit a week later I like to believe she didn't mind so much any longer! ;O) The voles are a problem since about five years, and due to walls on two and a street on the third side, the chance of them moving on is very slim. Cats are supposed to be the best means against them, but despite their hunting successes they have not really decimated them.
Ours are Maine Coons (well, not pure breads by any means, they were from a stray cats litter), brother and sister. The photo link was to the "little girl". Ours have the same body oil problem that yours does. I've discovered that if I can catch it early enough and get them to the groomer they can actually give them a bath and get the mats out. If I'm too late, then a shave is the only way. I try to clip out ones as I notice them, but there's this tip point were all of a sudden they are just too many and too clotted to deal with - and no, you can't comb them out unless perhaps I combed them every single day! ha!
We had mice find a way into our kitchen and neither cat could catch them even though they catch things outside fairly regularly. Ah well, we actually have the kitties for other reasons.
Monk Kitteh Is Ready For Teh Monastery. *g* (Okay, I had to bend the gender rules there...)
I should loan you my Pepper kitty... she's singlepawedly eradicated all the voles from our yard. Of course, that means I've traded stomping on mole/vole tunnels for regularly cleaning up her "gift" of the entrails and head left at the back door (nothing quite like a disembodied vole head looking reproachfully up at you as you sip your morning cuppa), so I'm not entirely sure it's a fair trade, given I don't give two hoots about what the lawn looks like. But at least we don't turn our ankles on the tunnel holes anymore.
Oh, I would borrow her rigth away, and treat her like a Queen! No matter how many small mammal faces will stare at me. Since we had a teenaged wild rat dead on our pillow and entrails on the bedside rug in older times, I feel quite hardened. I wouldn't mind if they were just ravaging the lawn, or, in our case, meadow, as we don't really have a lawn. But they're everywhere, also in every shrubbery bed, far too close for being comfortable to the trees, and different to moles (which I wouldn't mind at all) they're systematically killing our plants. We've had days when 15! new hills have popped up... do you do something to make it easier for her to catch them? And what else did you do? We're literally run out of options, as the only means available, poison, is out of the question because of the kitties.
I don't really do much at all to help Pepper catch voles... she seems very proficient at it on her own. We had another cat before her that was the same way. Maybe you can find a farmer who might have a barn cat he could give you?
You might try googling for local organic gardening forums, to see what other gardeners in your region have done that works.
Ours are and were (the two others we had until last September/this January) all efficient and good hunters, but they seem to have problems catching the voles outside. They bring all kind of things, Pitu the other day even a poor lizard he mangled pretty badly. :o( We have tried all organic tips and tricks so far, minus the living catch traps, because the latter would have caused even more damage - you need to dig up one square meter of affected area to place one, and we would have needed to place at least 10 in a garden of our size. That would have destroyed about half of the small mowed part where lots of the voles were at the time. The WW now unearthed another website, the official by our state, with some new or rather old-new tricks. Putting smelly-to-voles things in their holes had helped before; we've successfully used human hair and pieces of elder tree branches; and will now also use butyric acid put on cloths and cuts of thuja hedge, to drive those out that are willing to go. The others will have to test out the killing traps we're going to get - there is a new and well-discussed kind on the market that is easy to place and found to be most efficient by many. As we discussed somewhere else, I'm much for cohabitation, and just producing dangerous walking ground is one thing - but endangering our trees (which they are starting to) is another.
you need to dig up one square meter of affected area to place one, and we would have needed to place at least 10 in a garden of our size.
Yeah, that sounds like the cure killing the patient, doesn't it.
we've successfully used human hair
This sounds kind of gross, but I have read that human urine can also be effective. It was recommended you collect the urine in a bottle, so as not to offend... or even alert... the neighbors!
As we discussed somewhere else, I'm much for cohabitation, and just producing dangerous walking ground is one thing - but endangering our trees (which they are starting to) is another.
Yes, sometimes intervention is a must, when things get too out of balance.
Actually, the human hair so far wasn't that gross, as we both just took the clippings from our hairdresser's visits and put them in the holes with a spoon. Freshly washed and everything. Some had been pushed out soon, so they must have been disliked... we then closed the holes firmly on top for the next time. At least for me, that's not gross; but I'd have to ask the family for contributions since our own hair clippings aren't sufficient. I suppose doing the human urine thing would disturb the WW if done in the most logical way, though *roflol* - but thankfully, that tip came up nowhere, and I'm not that experimental. I forgot to mention that there are certain plants that seem to disgust them when planted, and we're going to put them around the trees and between the shrubs with the hydrangeas. Thankfully, one kind - milkbushes - are among both our favourites and a variety eveng grows wild in our garden (and in a place where no vole holes are, so this must work at leas a bit.)
*lol* Indeed! She is a good huntress and faithfully also catches every mouse still alive the other one brings in for show, no matter how many days this takes. But the voles don't come out, that is one of the problems, they find too many tasty roots below our trees and shrubs. :o(
That is not a happy kitty! I would not want to be the one responsible. Get photo though. Be careful with Moria. You know, you can't just walk in there...
Now, indeed we can't, or the problem would have been long gone, too. I don't mind them too much destroying the lawn/meadow, but when it gets to my beloved hydrangeas, berry bushes, or my trees, I'm developing undeniable orcish tendencies towards mole-dwarves.
Good luck with the mini-Moria!
The voles are a serious problem (voles indeed, I mistyped earlier). Sometime last year, the Winterwizard dug out one of the hills so the cat can do their d*d duty, and exclaimed "good gracious, that's bloddy Moria down there!" Since then, we're joking around about that, but they're systematically destryoing our garden and there is nothing we can do about. Not even four cats managed to get them down... *sigh*
http://www.flickr.com/photos/poetryraingirl/7186922100/
hope the voles move on soon.
The voles are a problem since about five years, and due to walls on two and a street on the third side, the chance of them moving on is very slim. Cats are supposed to be the best means against them, but despite their hunting successes they have not really decimated them.
We had mice find a way into our kitchen and neither cat could catch them even though they catch things outside fairly regularly. Ah well, we actually have the kitties for other reasons.
I should loan you my Pepper kitty... she's singlepawedly eradicated all the voles from our yard. Of course, that means I've traded stomping on mole/vole tunnels for regularly cleaning up her "gift" of the entrails and head left at the back door (nothing quite like a disembodied vole head looking reproachfully up at you as you sip your morning cuppa), so I'm not entirely sure it's a fair trade, given I don't give two hoots about what the lawn looks like. But at least we don't turn our ankles on the tunnel holes anymore.
I wouldn't mind if they were just ravaging the lawn, or, in our case, meadow, as we don't really have a lawn. But they're everywhere, also in every shrubbery bed, far too close for being comfortable to the trees, and different to moles (which I wouldn't mind at all) they're systematically killing our plants. We've had days when 15! new hills have popped up... do you do something to make it easier for her to catch them? And what else did you do? We're literally run out of options, as the only means available, poison, is out of the question because of the kitties.
You might try googling for local organic gardening forums, to see what other gardeners in your region have done that works.
The WW now unearthed another website, the official by our state, with some new or rather old-new tricks. Putting smelly-to-voles things in their holes had helped before; we've successfully used human hair and pieces of elder tree branches; and will now also use butyric acid put on cloths and cuts of thuja hedge, to drive those out that are willing to go. The others will have to test out the killing traps we're going to get - there is a new and well-discussed kind on the market that is easy to place and found to be most efficient by many. As we discussed somewhere else, I'm much for cohabitation, and just producing dangerous walking ground is one thing - but endangering our trees (which they are starting to) is another.
Yeah, that sounds like the cure killing the patient, doesn't it.
This sounds kind of gross, but I have read that human urine can also be effective. It was recommended you collect the urine in a bottle, so as not to offend... or even alert... the neighbors!
Yes, sometimes intervention is a must, when things get too out of balance.
I suppose doing the human urine thing would disturb the WW if done in the most logical way, though *roflol* - but thankfully, that tip came up nowhere, and I'm not that experimental. I forgot to mention that there are certain plants that seem to disgust them when planted, and we're going to put them around the trees and between the shrubs with the hydrangeas. Thankfully, one kind - milkbushes - are among both our favourites and a variety eveng grows wild in our garden (and in a place where no vole holes are, so this must work at leas a bit.)