Cats and the pond

[Lisak1]

Yup. Looks perfectly normal to me.

 

[antonio]

Fantastic thank you for letting me know that’s settled me a bit.

Hi,
just wanted to share my experience with my female cat, about 1 1/2 year now...adopted from the street.
She started chasing rats (I live out in a country house) until all disapeared, all ok, but then following its instinct she also started attacking pigeons and, climbing the trees, for their chicks. OMG.
Now she hangs around the pond, sleeping, drinking water, but also eyeing the fish and I have the impression that 2 shubunkin are already missing. Shubunkin are very social and curious, and come to the border of the pond when something new draws their attention, handy for the cat to pick them out.

My first approach sofar: cutting the nails of the cat, short and nice round. Nothing traumatic, but effective. Today she can not climb the trees and , I hope, can not pick fish out of the pond. Little bit restricted to the bottom but there is plenty of place for her.

Amen

 

[j.w]

Hi,
just wanted to share my experience with my female cat, about 1 1/2 year now...adopted from the street.
She started chasing rats (I live out in a country house) until all disapeared, all ok, but then following its instinct she also started attacking pigeons and, climbing the trees, for their chicks. OMG.
Now she hangs around the pond, sleeping, drinking water, but also eyeing the fish and I have the impression that 2 shubunkin are already missing. Shubunkin are very social and curious, and come to the border of the pond when something new draws their attention, handy for the cat to pick them out.

My first approach sofar: cutting the nails of the cat, short and nice round. Nothing traumatic, but effective. Today she can not climb the trees and , I hope, can not pick fish out of the pond. Little bit restricted to the bottom but there is plenty of place for her.

Amen

Pretty cat and maybe just trim them seasonal so she can climb trees when the birds aren't nesting. Do you have any critters that would attack you cat? If so she might not be able to get away from them w/no claws to climb with. If no predators than I think the cat claw cutting could be the answer.

 

[antonio]

Pretty cat and maybe just trim them seasonal so she can climb trees when the birds aren't nesting. Do you have any critters that would attack you cat? If so she might not be able to get away from them w/no claws to climb with. If no predators than I think the cat claw cutting could be the answer.

For the safety of my dear cat I have 3 dogs and they all go along very well with her, they love each other , what also means I don't have to worry about other cats or predators of the neighborhood.
I am still observing my cat behavior and counting the shubies every day (not easy because of the pond size )
Thanks for your kind advice ! and hope this to be of any help.

 

[Crazyduck1607]

Hi,
just wanted to share my experience with my female cat, about 1 1/2 year now...adopted from the street.
She started chasing rats (I live out in a country house) until all disapeared, all ok, but then following its instinct she also started attacking pigeons and, climbing the trees, for their chicks. OMG.
Now she hangs around the pond, sleeping, drinking water, but also eyeing the fish and I have the impression that 2 shubunkin are already missing. Shubunkin are very social and curious, and come to the border of the pond when something new draws their attention, handy for the cat to pick them out.

My first approach sofar: cutting the nails of the cat, short and nice round. Nothing traumatic, but effective. Today she can not climb the trees and , I hope, can not pick fish out of the pond. Little bit restricted to the bottom but there is plenty of place for her.

Amen

Thank you for sharing, she looks so cute bless her. Cats really are so adventurous!

It’s been a couple of weeks and all my precautions seemed to have worked, here’s hoping that they will continue to.

My new challenge is the water colour as it’s shifted from clear to cloudy/ green. Whatever it is I’m unsure on what to be doing next, do I do a little water change tomorrow and clean the filter ? Am I best to get some green away pond fish safe chemicals ? Or let it settle itself.

I hope you can see the difference and understand my sudden concerns from these before and after just a couple of weeks.

It being darker now hasn’t helped my point much but I will take another tomorrow in the day.

 

[Mgessert]

There are probably excess nutrients in the pond leading to algae growth. I would add a couple of largish potted plants into the pond itself to suck up the nitrogen, and maybe reduce your fish food a bit.

 

[addy1]

A bit late but welcome to the forum!

 

[antonio]

Thank you for sharing, she looks so cute bless her. Cats really are so adventurous!

It’s been a couple of weeks and all my precautions seemed to have worked, here’s hoping that they will continue to.

My new challenge is the water colour as it’s shifted from clear to cloudy/ green. Whatever it is I’m unsure on what to be doing next, do I do a little water change tomorrow and clean the filter ? Am I best to get some green away pond fish safe chemicals ? Or let it settle itself.

I hope you can see the difference and understand my sudden concerns from these before and after just a couple of weeks.

It being darker now hasn’t helped my point much but I will take another tomorrow in the day.

I am not an experienced pond keeper, absolute newby God knows. For algae issues there are absolute wise voices in this forum.
I am sure they are going to solve your problem.
Good luck!

 

[Racer]

Hi all,

I have installed a new small pond and have got a few goldfish for it. I am new to the pond life and the only person I knew who had one was my great grandad who sadly passed a few years ago.

I live in a house with 3 cats, not my choice. I just wanted to know that I was doing everything I could and right to protect my fishies from the cats. One cat is old and doesn’t take much notice and the other are I would say 4 and yet one doesn’t take much notice. I only see one head over a little today. When I opened the fish flakes this morning they all seemed very interested, so I let them smell the tin of fish flakes.

I have 3 fish and they are only 2/3” big. I got 5 little plants for them to swim in and eat and oxygenate the pong a little. And then two bigger plants that come out from the water, same idea again. I just picked up some plants for the surface of the pond as it’s hot, to offer shade and a hiding place.

Since having the fish I have put a net over the pond in hopes that will also help protect the fish from all. The pond is in a fenced off part of a garden bed and the pond was in way before I got any fish and the cats never seemed to care much or, touch wood, got in it.

The pond has got a solar powered water fountain and again the cats never cared.

Just hoping that I could chat to pond like fanatics and ensure that the fish will be okay. I have attached a couple of pictures so you can understand my situation better. Any help would be terrific!

Thanks

Hi there! I'm also new to this group - and ponding. My two cents...

Not only do I have cats, I also have a pet sitting business so am around a lot of animals. Quick question - if your pond is outdoors, can you keep the kitties inside? Outdoor life is often hard on our feline friends so this would be a win-win for your kitties and the fish! Also, are you able to go outside with the cats - so you can keep an eye on things?

I just completed a mini-pond in my back yard. I have a few teeny weeny fish - White Mountains - which are very hard to see. While my kitties don't go outside, strays always know where to find me! and other animals do come to visit as well. Raccoons, possums, deer, etc. I also put a net across the pond - not so much to keep critters out, but to keep leaves out of the pond. It's a light weight, cheapy net so don't think that net would be too much of a deterrent. (I have mixed feelings about netting - since sooooooo many animals are harmed by netting!)

Good luck!

 

[j.w]

@Racer
Do you race cars, horses or what?
Never had anything caught in my large holed fishing net up high on posts yet. I know the small holed bird netting can trap birds, frogs etc. I had some of that over my strawberries once and birds got there little feet tangled in it. Lucky I found them before it was too late!