Gardening Plant Problems Garden Pests

The Best Cat Repellents to Keep Cats Away

Try odor, physical or sound barriers, or water as natural cat repellents

Domestic cats, feral cats, and homeless strays may wander into your yard or garden due to curiosity, mating, hunting, feeding, and establishing territory. Some may be looking for a new place to call home. Since cats have incredible climbing and jumping abilities, keeping them out of your outdoor area can be challenging. Fortunately, there are ways to keep cats out of your yard and to do it humanely.

Cats can be discouraged from digging in your garden beds or pussyfooting around your property by employing a few tactics or products. Be sure to change your tactics regularly. A new cat in the neighborhood might not be as sensitive to your usual methods, so regularly switching them can lead to more success. Take a look at a few good cat repellents and approaches to stop feline intruders from using your garden as a litter box.

stray cat in a backyard

The Spruce / Candace Madonna

How to Keep Cats Out of Your Yard

Catherine Song

Best Smells to Repel Cats

A cat's nose is highly sensitive to smell. You may be sensitive to the smell of cat urine in your yard since humans have 5 million odor receptors in your olfactory system. By comparison, a cat has up to 200 million odor receptors. If your yard or garden has smells that offend cats, you might have great success keeping them away. Try these ideas.

Commercial Cat Repellents

Commercial cat repellents use the odor barrier method to discourage cats from entering an area. Shake Away Cat Repellent powder, for example, has the scent of predators that cats fear, namely, coyotes, foxes, and bobcats. This commercial cat repellent comes in a granular form, which you simply sprinkle around the problem area. The product is non-toxic and organic and will not harm your plants.

Offensive Plants

Some plants give off smells that cats dislike. One such plant, Coleus canina, goes by the common name scaredy-cat plant. It is also useful if you want to keep your dogs away from the landscaping. Other plants recommended for keeping cats away from yards are rue, lavender (which is also a deer-resistant plant), and pennyroyal. Plant these between your other plants.

Citrus and Other Pantry Products

Use peels of oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit in your garden. Some people spread used coffee grounds or use mothballs, while others use eucalyptus or vinegar. Though you can also use cayenne pepper flakes, it is not humane and it can sting and cause pain.

Physical Barriers to Repel Cats

Inexpensive physical barriers can help keep other pests out of your garden and yard, too.

Chicken Wire

Use physical barriers like chicken wire on top of your soil or mulch across the planting bed before you plant. Cats hate chicken wire or bristly material. Using wire cutters, you can cut holes in the chicken wire that are large enough for installing your plants.

Sharp-Edged Mulch

For a mulching option, you can use sharp-edged pine cones, holly cuttings, eggshells, or stone mulch. Cats prefer to dig and poop in loose dirt and will be put off by these rough materials.

Carpet Runner

For other areas, you might use a plastic carpet runner with the nub side up to discourage cats from perching or lounging.

Electric Fencing

An electric wire fence might seem like an extreme option, but try a humane version that keeps rabbits out of gardens. Fences for small animals offer gentle shocks when they try to go past the perimeter.

Water Repellent for Cats

Water is another type of physical barrier that is like kryptonite for cats. Water is not harmful to a cat, but it will have negative associations with your yard if it comes into contact with water and will hopefully avoid your property.

Squirt Soakers

When you catch cats in the forbidden area, you can try squirting them with a Super Soaker or similar water gun. This method reinforces the notion that they are unwanted in your planting bed.

Water Devices

Since you can't sit in your garden the whole day, every day, instead you can get a water device, such as a ScareCrow Sprinkler, which detects an intruder's presence and fires a blast of water at it. Be careful that you don't get neighbors or other visitors wet in the process!

Sound Barriers to Repel Cats

Cats have a much higher hearing range than humans. Try these hearing devices to deter cats.

Electronic Devices

Cats have a much higher hearing range than humans. Cat Stop is an electronic cat deterrent device that operates on a high frequency that is inaudible to humans but unbearable for cats. Installation is easy. You install the device facing the garden or your yard. A motion sensor detects the intruder's presence, and Cat Stop gives off its high-frequency sound, scaring off the cat.

Sound Plus Spray Repellent

The SsssCat! Motion Activated Dog and Cat Spray is a repellent device that uses sound and a sprayed repellent. The harmless motion detector and adjustable non-toxic spray from a nozzle covers up to 3 feet.

DIY Sound Devices

Make a noisy device by placing marbles or pebbles in an empty coffee can that can be upset when a cat walks on a fence. Or, use a sensitive bell or wind chimes that make noise when a cat causes a vibration.

Make Your Area Unattractive to Cats

Keep your yard, garden, and property clean and decluttered. Cleanliness can reduce visits from stray and wandering cats. Do the following:

  • Don't feed pets outside: Don't feed your dogs or other cats outside in your yard. Food smells will attract other animals, including cats. After you use your outdoor grill, thoroughly clean it to remove food bits and minimize the food smells.
  • Keep trash bins secure: Make sure your trash bins are secure, so felines can not rummage through your rubbish.
  • Wash urine spray quickly: Wash urine spray from walls or doors as soon as you detect it. Urine spray is how cats mark their territory. Clean with an enzyme-based odor neutralizer to wash away territorial markers and prevent repeated spraying.
  • Keep critters away: Cats like to stalk prey for fun. Make sure that your yard is not hospitable for critters that cats like to chase. Clear away brush and clutter that can harbor mice and other small prey that cats love to pursue.
  • Board up holes: Board up all holes that can give access to sheds, garages, or areas under decks or porches. Feral cats and their prey may seek refuge in any place they can get into.
  • Keep bird feeders out of reach: Keep bird feeders safe by using feeder baffles and placing feeders where cats won't endanger the birds.

More Tips to Keep Cats Away

  • Plant a separate bed of catnip plants in a small corner of the yard to keep the felines contained in a cat-friendly area.
  • Keep a sandbox near the catnip plants as a magnet for cat poop far enough away from your home.
  • Work with your neighbors to prevent their pets from visiting your yard or hunting birds you want to protect. Suggest to neighbors that their cats wear bells and bright collars to help birds see them and escape.
  • Support trap-neuter-release programs, cat shelters, or other community programs that feed or care for feral cats so they can care for more strays.
  • Turn stray felines over to animal control or shelters but first check for tags so you can contact the owner and discuss the matter.
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  1. Why Cats Sniff Rear Ends. VCA Hospital.

  2. How to Keep Frustrating Felines out of the Garden. Oregon State University.

  3. An Informed Approach to Animal "Pests" in the Garden. Halton Region Master Gardeners.