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Catzilla...ideas to help deter cats from your village displays

I had no idea that when I posted a message to the Yahoo! D56 Group about my cat Reggie being like Godzilla, roaming through our displays, that it would spawn 20+ messages back with similar stories, and better yet, many suggested ideas for preventing the inevitable "accessory loss" due to nibbling kitty.

Here are some of the ideas from the group:

"Having to reposition and pick up everything they have knocked down each morning is bad enough (I hot glue down almost everything thinks to them) but it is the frigging snow covered paw prints all over the house the next day that drive me to the brink of insanity. I have tried balloons (one of my dogs will not even go in the room if there is a blown up balloon anywhere in the room) BUT the cats could care less."

"I found a product called "shake away" under animal repellents that is 100% organic that might work." (note: it was reported that there was an odor issue with this)

Wasn't something said about citrus peels one time?? I'm not a cat person so I don't have that problem, but I think it was orange or lemon peels kept the cats out. Also moth balls, but who wants that smell everywhere?

"I use cayenne pepper on my block fence outside to try to keep the neighborhood cats out of my yard.? If I remember to do it, it seems to work. But again, you might not want red pepper in your village." (note: someone mentioned that cayenne pepper, or any type of pepper, may really be harmful to your cats, so not recommended.)

"I suppose if the area was plexiglassed off from floor to ceiling and wall to wall it might work!...lol"

"There are electronic Scat Mats which give off a static pulse, and are run on batteries....but they are quite large, and it would take several to create a barrier around the Village (and would be ugly, in my humble opinion)....soooo, probably not viable for me....but maybe helpful to someone else."

"Our cats are more than adventurous. Nothing is safe from them. I have taken almost all of my villages down and put them away. I'm now in the process of cleaning out an upstairs bedroom that will be my village room. When the door is closed, no cats can enter. This has been my only solution, and believe me, I've tried everything that anyone mentioned."

"I guess snow covered paw prints are a small price to pay to enjoy the hard work and ambiance of my village fantasy. By the way I have used spices in the village for several years to give it a wonderful scent as well as it working well to use as a variety of edge or walkway (fresh ground coffee path, cinnamon, curry etc..as dirt) I remember the citrus idea and used it myself, but to no avail the cats found the pieces I used and chewed on them."

"Don't know of the proper scent but what about the different oils on a cotton ball. For my dogs in the past we used apple bitters on a cotton ball and they wanted nothing to do with village. A couple, carefully placed balls (place on a lid or something so they don't contact the pieces of village directly) kept the curiosity in check. I am thinking a peppermint or something would also work and still allow you to live with the scent and all could enjoy your village? I know we use the spearmints and peppermints for mice to keep them at bay - not sure it works but smells good and no mice!"

Please write back with any ideas (use comments below) on this topic. It would also be great if anyone had a picture of a cat roaming their village displays like Catzilla!

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