We come from church to a horrible sight today.
Next doors cat had broken into the gerbil cage.
(see here for a very early pot on this cat!)
Minnie the gerbil was dead in the front garden with 2 deep teeth marks.
Left in our garden like the cat had a sick sense of humour!
Joe’s brave coment was ‘I know how to cope; I’ve been here before.’
We searched the house for Daisy, the sister gerbil.
We found her cowering under the bed but she is now safe in her cage.
This week I have chased the cat out of the house 3 times.
I obviously have not put her off coming in.
From now on I will be chasing it with the aim of instilling a fear so she does not return!
Any suggestions for keeping cats out in the comments section please!
The Shiny Headed Prophet 
Apparently Citrus is a good bet… we had a Tom that kept coming in… so out came the ‘Super Soaker’ filled with water and lemon juice! Great fun!
Get a dog!! Failing that…the herb Rew is supposed to repell cats.Maybe planting some of that around the garden might deter them??Malc
A shotgun works like a treat!
One of our cats actually ate one of Ed’s gerbils (remains of entrails left on the stairs). Since then we find that the cats are quite happy with a good supply of mice in our kitchen – especially in the cold weather.
cheers people for the ideas … I’d like to try them all.Mark – the Supersoaker i filled with water and lemon juice by the back door.Mal – you need to work on Sarah for the dog, all the boys in the house want a border collie or german shepherd while the girls don’t.Chris – you always did like to over-react – but I like the idea!