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Gardening and Pets

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Use of Garden Products

Some garden products are incredibly toxic to all animal life, including humans. Others are not so bad for us, but fatal for dogs, cats and others. Always read the label of any product, before you buy, to make sure you can use it safely in your garden.

Keep garden products and pet products in entirely different locations. Sometimes packaging looks similar for pet sprays and garden sprays. Mixing them up accidentally could be a mistake that could cost your pet's life.

Keep your pet indoors while you apply garden products, and until the product has dissipated from the garden. See the product label for detailed instructions. Some herbicides are fine, once they have dried, while others retain their toxicity even afterward.

Keep your pet away from freshly seeded areas, as the seed can irritate your pet's eyes or nose, or get lodged in their footpads.

If you're going to clear a patch of tall or thickly grown garden, put your pet indoors. Because it likes to be with you, your pet may follow you into the tall grass, for example, where it may be hidden from you and your weed-wacker.

The View

Make sure you pet has a good view, from their allocated place in the garden. That means they should be able to at least see you, when you're out there. Otherwise, what's the point? Ideally, they should be able to see other interesting things as well, like the street, or trees with birds in them. They like stuff to look at. It appears that dogs who cannot see through a solid fence may bark more than those who can see what's going on, on the other side.

Let your pet have a view of the garden from inside the house. When taken outside, my cat will go directly to where she saw birds or squirrels through the window, earlier. So they know what they're looking at.

Food and Shelter

While it sounds like a given, many of us forget that our pets are more susceptible to the extremes of the outdoors than we are. They need to have food and water, if outside for any length of time, and shelter from the elements. They are more comfortable, as well, with a designated shelter spot that is only theirs.

First Aid

If your pet seems to be acting very oddly, or salivating or wobbling, vomiting or stumbling, contact your vet immediately for instructions, especially if you have been using herbicides or pesticides.

Other inhabitants of the garden can sometimes cause your pet harm. Toads secrete an irritant that hurts your pet's eyes or tongue. If you know your pet has encountered a toad, you may rinse well but certainly, call your vet. Chances are, though, you won't see the toad - just the aftermath.

You sometimes won't know what happened, but your pet may react in pain. A bee or wasp sting will not likely be visible to you. It will be painful, however, to your pet. If you hear a painful cry, keep your eye on your pet for a while, in case of any reaction.

Dangerous Plants

Many of the common plants we grow in our gardens are poisonous to animals. And just because they may have been dried out on the ground for a few weeks, this does not always mean they are safe. Be aware of the plants you have, and the potential for harm to your pets. There is a shockingly long list of toxic plants at www.sniksnak.com.

Pooper Patrol

It's one thing to be concientious about scooping, when you take your pet for a walk, but do you pick up after your pet in the backyard as well? Many of us leave it alone for a while, until it gets a bit dicey to walk around. This can be dangerous not only to our pets and our lawn, but to us and our children, as well. Did you know that dog and cat 'dirt' is 2-1/2 times stronger than that from cows and horses? Aren't you glad you have a little dog? Remember, we play in this area. Keep it clean.

Visiting animals also may use your backyard as a communal washroom. If they find a place they like, raccoons often return to the scene of the crime. Before you take your pet into the yard, scout around for 'presents' left by uninvited guests. You know how your pet loves to sniff around new smelly things, and these leavings may contain parasites that could harm your pet. Clean them up before allowing your pet outdoors.

If you're lucky, you get bird visitors to your garden. If you're too lucky, they come by the thousands. It is actually possible to have too many birds. Imagine all those bird droppings! If it gets out of hand, you may want to consult you local animal welfare organization to see what you can do. Definitely keep your pet away from large bird dropping areas.

Keep Pets Off Plants

It's difficult to keep you pet away from some of your prized plantings, whether perennials or vegetables. It just seems that the spot they're in, is the best spot to lay down in the entire garden. There are several ways to combat the tendancy of your pet to accidentally destroy your garden.

Build a fence around your vegetable garden, making it less accessible to your pet. Unfortunately, less accessible to you, too.

Use one of the pet-friendly, non-toxic pet-repellants available on the market, to change existing behaviour.

Designate one place in the garden, with a soil mix that is appropriate for your pet, as an approved digging spot. Put your pet's toys in there, play with your pet there. And maybe you'll be able to control where your pet digs. And maybe not.

If your pet is a cat, make a 'cat garden' using catnip and catmint, plus some grass to chew on. Make an adjacent 'kitty litter' area, and keep it clean. Remember that cats like enough room, in their litter box, to turn around. If they don't have the room, they will move on to another, more roomy, part of your garden. So if you're bringing them to the lunch counter, provide the appropriate facilities as well.

Cayenne pepper, once thought to be a deterrant, is NOT recommended. It can get into the eyes of animals, causing pain and sometimes damage.

In areas where animals tend to 'visit', keep plantings close together. If there's no room, it's no fun.

Some people recommend squirt guns for misbehaving animals. While I have used these on marauding squirrels (I hardly ever hit my target.), I can't bring myself to squirt the cat.

Plant upright twigs around your plants.

Most animals do not like the smell of vinegar, ammonia, moth balls or Listerine. While expensive to keep fresh, they will usually work to some degree. Watch out, though, that your dogs don't eat the moth balls.

Cats do not like the scent of citrus. Test this, by offering your cat a piece of an orange. If your cat runs, you can scatter the peelings of oranges and lemons on your garden, as a deterrant.

Lay bristled twigs, like rasberry branches, on the soil around favourite plants. They're uncomfortable to pet feet, but not harmful. I stay away from thorned twigs from the rose or barberry, because they're uncomfortable when I forget they're there, and kneel on them.

If you've just moved into a new, unlandscaped home, hold off on buying that new puppy until you've got at least one year of a garden going. Puppies like to dig, and the most interesting digging is in a new, freshly tilled garden. And that garden holds all your brand-new, fragile plants. Either wait on the puppy until the plants are established, or keep it leashed away from the beds. It's not the same, but getting new garden and new puppy at the same time will not likely bring you good results.

Use plantings that may have animal-repellant properties, such as scented geranium 'Mosquito, citronella plant, and coleus canina (apparently nicknamed "Scaredy Cat").

Indoor Cat, Safe Outdoors

My indoor cat likes to go outside, when the weather is nice, it is not windy, and whenever I am out there. And when visiting squirrels sit on the deck and stare in at her. I'm not inclined, however, to let my cat run free. I have three 3-foot stakes stuck in the ground at various interesting points in my garden. The cat is put in a light harness, and on a ten-foot leash. The handle of the leash goes over the most appropriate stake. She has lots of run-room, can visit many interesting plants (especially the cat mint). I can move her with me to wherever I'm working in the garden, and easily corral her and take her indoors. Note that if you use the leash, do NOT leave your small animal unattended in the garden. I have caught raccoons staring down out of trees, watching... You never know.

Think Fido is untrainable? Maybe it's not Fido! For info on pet training and other pet services, check out DogGone Right and get your dog barking up the right tree!

Helen Kirkup is a Master Gardener, freelance writer and developer of The Garden Management System, gardening software to help you grow your garden.

Email your comments to hmkstaff@hmk.on.ca

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