Kittens on the spare; cats behind the turbo

[Dan Cash]

Before you all flame me, I am asking how to get these varmints out from engine compartment and off spare tire of our pickup trucks. The alternative is to employ cast bullets to thin them down.

My wife and I dearly love cats but these little critters have learned to get up into the engine compartment to keep warm in the winter and to escape the tender mercies of our hound (cat hunting Bluetick). It can take an hour to get the cats out so we can drive to town. Don't have the heart to just drive down the road.

Help! There has to be some means to make the F350 and Ram 1500 undesirable to the furry little b--easties.

[monadnock#5]

My fil used to have us thump on the hood of our car before we started it up for the trip home. He also had a curtained wooden box on the porch with a heat lamp set up to give them an alternative.

[WILCO]

Honk the horn and pop the hood. Use a live trap to move them on.

[country gent]

Honking the horn will work not sure about spare tire though. We had that issue off and on and blowing the horn seemed to work. It can be a real mess when one jumps down into a running fan and fan belt. Engine compartment could be screened off maybe. but would make oil changes and maitenence a real pain. Same with spare tire could be screened off but what a pain if you have a flat.

[starmac]

The cast boolit idea is sounding better and better. Very glad my wife is allergic to cats. lol

[waksupi]

I leave the hoods up to keep pack rats out. No idea if it work for cats.

[JeffinNZ]

So your trucks have 'Cat' powerplants?

[BrassMagnet]

So your trucks have 'Cat' powerplants?

Yeah! They are real screamers!

[CastingFool]

As another cat lover, I must commend you for your concern, DC. Unfortunately, I don't have an easy answer for you. The idea of providing an alternative location sounds like a good idea. BTW, we once had a cat that we named DC. Just the initials.

[RED333]

Worked on cars and trucks for a bit, removed a few.
One lady went so long that it was just skin and bones left, we told what was causing the belt squeal
and she remembers a cat was missing for about a month.

[jcwit]

Spray some citrus spray about your vehicle. Cats hate it.

[southpaw]

If your F350 is a 7.3L all you should have to do is start it up. I can't imagine anything wanting to stay around it when it is running (at least that is how mine is). If that fails I would take them for a ride. But then I am not much of a cat person.

Sounds like these are not your cats. Since lead poisoning seems to be out I would catch them and relocate them in some way that lets you sleep at night. No cats, No problem.

Maybe put some coyote or mountain lion pee on or around your truck? I am sure that there are some scents that would keep pests I mean cats away.

Jerry Jr.

[skeettx]

And use moth balls in the engine well with the citrus spray

[Mr opinionated]

I second the moth balls i know they work on squirrels i used it after they cost me a $1000 in a rewiring job on my tundra



MR O

[leeggen]

mothballs does work, the fumes will cause their eyes to burn. just put them in a container and set in a corner under the hood.
CD

[ksfowler166]

The judicious use of dog proof trap baited with cat food should work wonders and should reduce your raccoon population to.

[Dan Cash]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. Citrus spray and mothballs are up for a try. The cats are nominally ours and have heated cat houses and play boxes on the porch a few feet from the trucks. The hound and eagles snags a cat from time to time but reproduction seems to keep up with the inventory shrink. The engine fan is pretty hard on them though.

[imashooter2]

Drive your truck as normal and the problem will sort itself out. Feral cats are annoying, not stupid.

[reloader28]

If you have an air hose, especially with a long wand, shoot a of blast of air under your car.
Cats and dogs both HATE an air hose. It wont take more than a couple times and they will learn.

[richhodg66]

About three years ago, one of our cats who was just a big, fat, loveable lump, but had been an outside kitten and still had a fascination for it, got outside and crawled into the engine compartment of the wife's mini van. She started it and drove to work and it killed him, but he had always been a very quiet cat and she apparently didn't hear him over the engine and radio. I was away when it happened, and she noticed him missing pretty soon and mounted a search, we didn't realize until a day or two later when there was a small puddle under the car that didn't look like engine oil. We loved that little guy dearly and my wife absolutely came unglued blaming herself over it. It seems to be a pretty common occurrence. We ended up selling the van shortly thereafter, had planned on keeping it a couple more years, but neither one of us could stand to drive it after that (sounds silly, I know). The old saying, "Curiosity killed the cat" is so true. The one we have left has been inside since before he was weaned and is afraid of the outside, which is fine with us.

[Garyshome]

Cat powered truck? So they are not totally worthless after all.

[shooterbob]

Load a few mothballs around the compartment...they hate the smell.

[bnelson06]

We had 2 cats one wasn't very smart about cars. We have only 1 smart cat now.

[oldred]

Nothing works better than the air hose! We had a problem with the cats running onto our screened in porch every time the gate was opened so I hung a water hose within reach thinking a quick squirt with water would break them, it helped but didn't solve the problem. My shop is only about 50 feet from the house so remembering how the "shop" cats get-the-hell-out-of-Dodge whenever I just pick up the air hose I ran a section to the porch with an air nozzle attached. Just a few times with that thing and no more problem! I don't know for sure what that hissing sound does to them but it terrifies the daylights out of them.

[KAF]

Park in the garage.