And I don't mean the one's attached to your exhaust.

Seems one of the 4-legged variety has clawed my cover near the front tire.

For now, I have deposited a "ring of fire" around the car using Cayenne Pepper. This, of course, is temporary as you have to repeatedly apply the stuff.

I suppose there are chemical sprays you can use, but they aren't always effective and I would wonder if I needed to worry about what the over spray got on to - like the paint.

Anyone else who has to keep their car outside have a similar problem? How did you solve it?

-Bruce

 

Electrify your cover.

 

I'd be more inclined to think it was a rodent/vermin than a cat, but you never know. Coon, possum, squirrel, groundhog or chipmunk are the ones that have given me trouble in the past. There's also cats around my place but they never bothered any vehicles, indoors or out. Had a groundhog eat my wiring harness on my conversion van once. Not just a bite here or there either, I mean that sucker ate lunch.

I think you'll find the spray repellent to work pretty well for cats, though it's not so effective on some of the aforementioned pests. It does not need to go on the cover itself, you can just spray around the area.

As for your paint, I know the stuff can be sprayed on furniture, and rugs and such. But, I'm skeptical about _anything_ on my paint. Long term stains scare me, and it just isn't worth it to me to chance finding out years down the road that I regret using the stuff. Sorta like 20 years ago learning that Armor All will destroy interior parts, most notably headliners and steering wheels. After a few years time, and some sun...

Now that I think about it, they do have "tape", more like plastic banding, that you spray a repellent on and hang on posts for around gardens. Maybe some of that tape at kitty height (would also cover the others mentioned above) would keep everybody away from your car.

 

Varmit protection 101: 2 kittahs can watch each others back.

 

When I first moved into my current house, there was lots of critters running around causing havoc. I purchased two live traps and one old fashioned rat trap. The rat trap was for all the darn little, but cute, ground squirrels. Little peanut butter, snap, one dead ground squirrel, repeat.
Small live trap I varied bait. Sometimes cat food, sometimes peanut butter on a cracker. Got squirrels and a cat that way. Finally, with a bigger live trap, I used the same bait but got cats, raccoons, possums, and a single groundhog. Thank God I never caught a skunk. I just relocated the animals far away as I was driving about 90 miles away every week back then.
Though rabbits are not hurting your car, they are way easy to catch. I would just use the larger live trap with an apple core left over (no seeds though)
I just think that's the best way to solve your problem...get RID of it.

 

I think I got this from CF but I don't remember. Anyways, this guy tried to rid his carport of cats. Didn't work but it's fun to watch!

 

Flat cats