Why are cats a problem for the garden?
Cats can be cute pets, but they are distracted for a yard or a garden. Cats are carnivores animals, and they have unknown pathogens on the mouth, and you don’t want those bacterias in your vegetables or flowers.
The cats are also very territorial and can urinate in your crops or dig through soft soil. The cats have a habit of defecating the fresh mulched area. Also, the cat will use your flower bed as a litter box. The cats have a strong odor, and you will feel disgusting after smelling that in your vegetables.
No matter how much you love cats, but you have to take some steps to keep the feline away from the garden. You can use physical traps, throw some cold water on them, or scare them away. We’ve listed 15 ways you can keep the cats out of your garden.
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15 ways to repel cat from your garden
1. Prickly surface
Cats like to walk on soft surfaces. Maybe that is the reason why the cats keep coming back to your garden. Cats love walking on soft soil and the flower bed. The softness of the surface invites them back and does their dirty work in the dirt. To prevent this, you can use pine cones, twigs, a bunch of yard trimmings. Some people use chicken wire. Before planting the seeds, just put the chicken wire underneath the soil crops to grow through the small space that the chicken wire has. The steel mate under the soil makes cats uncomfortable, and they will not come back.
2. Get a Dog
We all know how dogs and cats don’t have a friendly relationship with each other. So having a dog makes it easy to deter the cats from coming to your garden. Cats are afraid of the dogs, and if they notice that you have a dog protecting your garden, then the cat will not return anytime soon near your garden.
3. Motion-activated sprinkler
Try using a motion-activated sprinkler. What it does is it will spray the water whenever motion triggers. When the cat tries to walk in the garden, the motion sensors will catch the movement and throw water on the cat. After multiple tries, the cat hopefully will not return. Use a motion sprinkler to make a border around your garden.
4. Ultrasonic Sound
Use the ultrasonic motion sound device. Cats get scared by high-frequency noise, and they cannot bear it. The ultrasonic sounds make the high-frequency pitch that humans can’t hear, but cats can.
You can find this device at any pet shop or shopping mall. This device works like motion sprinklers. The only difference is the motion sprinkler sprays the water, and this device will produce a high-frequency sound.
5. Use of scent
Cats don’t like some scents. Use that tactic against them. You can spread citric fruit peels and spray vinegar around the garden. Cats are also disgusted by the smell of coffee or tobacco. Other than these, you can also use some essential oils.
6. Oil spray
Try using essential oils to keep the cats away. You can find some of the scented oil in the supermarket. Spray the essential oils around the garden or scatter the drops of it here and there. Cats will not come after smelling these odors. The most effective oils are lavender, lemongrass, or eucalyptus.
7. Fencing
Fencing is the most common way to keep the cats or any unwanted animal back from the garden. But be careful because the cat can squeeze themself through any door.
Ensure that the fence doesn’t have any gap that the cat can squeeze through and ruin your garden. The best fence would be chainlink. It should be high enough so the cat can’t jump to the other side.
8. Use chopsticks
Don’t give space to the cat to move around. Use wooden chopsticks and other material like it. Insert a chopstick into the soil and make sure it’s deep enough and doesn’t have sharp edges. If they can’t get their paws under the soil and can’t walk around freely, they will get annoyed and surely will leave your garden in peace.
9. Cat scat mat
A Scat mat is a flexible plastic sheet with soft spikes. These mats are available in any garden supply store. The scat mat comes in several pieces, which makes them easy to fit. Don’t just put the mats on the ground.
You have to cover the whole scat mat with the soil and leave the spike exposed on the surface. The cat can’t get hurt by the spikes because they are soft and resilient, but they sure don’t like it either. The scat mat comes in different sizes. You can choose a size as per your need.
10. Use water pistol/Spray cats with a hose
If you don’t want to spend money on gadgets, you can scare the cats by spraying water on them. The cats are smart, and if you are willing to spend some time to keep an eye on the garden, there might be some chance that the cats will never revisit your garden. As we know, cats don’t like to get wet. You can spray the water with hoes whenever you see the cat. After getting spray with the water multiple times, the cat won’t come back.
11. Cat repellent plants
Cats hate certain types of plants. Try growing some plants like lavender, rue, geranium, lemon thyme, coleus canina.
These plants have a specific type of fragrance in them that cats don’t like. Cats get disgusted by the smell of these plants. Grow these plants near your garden, and cats will stop visiting your garden.
12. Low-voltage wire
The electric fence is another option to make cats stop entering your garden. If the cat tries to go through the fence, the running electricity gives the shock. As smart they are, the cat will know that there is a danger here and will not come back. The voltage of the electricity is very low, so it would not harm the cat.
13. Talk to the cat owner.
If you know who’s cat it is. Then try to talk to the owner of the cat. Visit them and politely tell them that their cat is disturbing your garden.
Most of the owners will apologize and will make sure that the cat will stay inside. Do not embarrass them or shout at them. Politeness is the way.
14. Humane traps (if legal)
You can use humane traps to capture the cat if it is legal. The cats are pretty smart and won’t come into a trap. First, you have to feed the cat for a few days in the untrapped cage. After the cat gets used to it, you can set a real trap and catch the cat.
The cage has to be big enough because some cats won’t come in a small cage to eat. And put the smelly bits in the trap, so the smell of the food invites the cat. After catching the cat consider checking, if the cat has any tags or not. Most of the owners put their contact or address behind the tags. If it’s a stray cat, you can hand over the cat to the animal shelter.
15. Designate a cat-friendly area
You like cats and don’t mind them coming around. But also don’t want to give them a chance to ruin your garden. You can make an area for cats.
Choose a small area, and plant some shrubs that cats like. And hopefully, the cats will go to that area and leave your garden. Mostly, cats love plants like catnip, catmint, cat thyme, spider plant. This area will be the best place for stray cats or even for your cat if you have one.
Is vinegar a good cat repellent?
Yes, vinegar can be the perfect cat repellent. You can use diluted or undiluted vinegar as a cat repellent. The cats have powerful noses, and they can’t stand the strong smell of vinegar.
Spraying vinegar on furniture makes the cat run away from it. The cat will not scratch your furniture. Now you don’t have to worry about scratching your stuff. A dash of vinegar can solve your problem. By spraying the diluted-vinegar around the edges of the garden, the cat will not try to enter inside.
It is not advisable to spray vinegar directly on plants. It may harm the plant. However, some plants don’t have the adverse effect of spraying vinegar. Before doing anything with your crops or, do your research and then take a step further.
Not only outside, but vinegar can also be used indoors to repeal the cats from your favorite furniture. If you don’t want to spray vinegar on your furniture or plants in the garden, you can just put the vinegar-soaked sponge in the areas where you don’t want your cat to go. Using concentrated vinegar can cause the thighs to damage, so it is safe to use a mixture of water and vinegar.
What smell will repel cats?
Cats have a more sensitive nose than humans. You can’t tell which cat doesn’t like which smell. But there are some odors that the majority of felines hate. Cats get nauseous by citrusy smells. You can use orange or lemon peels to deter the cat from going into certain areas.
The cats also dislike the odor of some plants like lavender, eucalyptus, and geranium. Mostly the garden owner plants this around the garden so the cat won’t come inside. Not only plants but cats also don’t like certain herb smells like rosemary, rue, thyme. Overly use of strong repellent odor can cause the cat to vomit or diarrhea.
Cats also turn their heads from the smell of mint, menthol, white vinegar. There are many more smells that will repeal the cat, but these are the most notable ones.
What cats hate the most?
Being an adorable pet and as smart they are. The cat also doesn’t like some things. Obviously, not all cats have the same choice of likes and dislikes. But there are some of the common things that most cats hate. The top of the hate list is bathing. Cats hate getting wet. However, cats make themselves clean. The next is belly rub; believe it or not, some cats don’t like belly rubs. The feline has the predator instinct, and they don’t want anyone near their weak areas. The stomach can be the weakest area of their body.
The other thing, almost all cats hate is loud noises. The cats can’t bear loud noise. For instance, cats get scared by loud horns, the sound of firecrackers, and loud music. The cats have a territorial nature, so the cats also don’t like other cats around them. It is possible if the cats are grown up in the same place.
Other than that, the cats don’t like certain smells, plants, herbs, car-rides, and dirty litter-boxes. They also hate strangers. They try to hide from strangers. Every cat owner knows that the cats don’t like overly aggressive pets. These are some of the things the cats heat the most.
What is a good homemade cat repellent?
There are many ways to make cat repellent at home. Plus, you know which ingredients are there in the repellent. The first deterrent is a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water.
You also can use a mixture of essential oils and water. Spray this mixture where you don’t want other cats to go. The other very simple homemade cat repellent is to spray water on the cat. Every time you catch the cat in an area that is restricted, spray the water. Cats don’t like to get wet, so after a while, the cat will get annoyed and won’t go in that restricted area again.
The last one is to spread the aluminum foil on the surface. The cats like to walk on the soft surface and, by sticking the aluminum foil or double-sided tape around the restricted area, the cat will have a hard time tolerating the texture of the surface and won’t go back. This remedy works best indoors.