Me asked:
We have two cats and we live on three acres out in the country, so they are indoor/outdoor cats. The problem is that around our house are gravel walkways and a gravel driveway and the cats have decided to use these areas to pee and poop. Every time we go outside we smell it, and it’s especially strong in the area where our patio table is (so who wants to sit and eat there???). Is there any kind of safe cat deterrent that we can spray there that will actually work?
Save up to 25% at 1800PetMeds – America’s Largest Pet Pharmacy
There is a large amount of safe and effective products that can be bought at pet shops to get rid of the odor and some will even help keep your cats from peeing in that spot again. Though I would suggest getting a product that just neutralizes the odor and putting down citrus acid like lime or lemon juice. This will generally keep a cat away from the area as they have a natural dislike for citrus smells.
Train Cat Easily
Citrus is definately a good idea, moth balls also work nicely.
Piano Cat
Plain white vinegar can help to get rid of cat urine smells. I have never tried it on gravel, only on carpets, and a patio. But what it does, is that the acid pH of the vinegar counterbalances the alkaline pH of the urine, and kills the smell. The area will smell like vinegar awhile, but that’s better than cat pee smell! And plain vinegar is extremely cheap and works just as good as things in the pet store. I’ve used it for years.
Cats HATE the smell of citrus. If you can find some sort of citrus smelling spray, or even use real citrus peels and keep scattering around the areas you want kitty to stay out of, that should help too.
Mothballs will deter them, but they can also be poisonous, so I would not recommend using those.
I used to have a cat years ago that liked to do his biz in my flower beds!! Damn cat!! What I finally did to stop him, was to go elsewhere on my property and dig him his own “potty”. Cats like freshly tilled earth, so if you just pick an area that you don’t mind them going in, just go out there with a rototiller and plow it up, then smooth it out with a rake. If your property is that big, just make sure it’s an area that they DO go to and will find. Your kitties will think they’re in 7th heaven!
Good luck, I hope this helps =^.^=
Whenever your cats pee where they are not supposed to, you should put their face in it and say NO, but dont scream it say it softly and then put them in the litter box. When they pee in the litter box you give them a treat and say good cat and pat them on the head.
Grooming Cat
twilight above is incorrect. Cat’s aren’t humans, they don’t think like humans. Prevention will work.
Cat Deterrents for your Garden:
Keep in mind that each cat is different (like people), a deterrent that works for one may not necessarily work for another. On the plus side, most cats will keep pesty squirrels, moles and other critters out of your garden. They’re great for keeping out moles, rabbits, squirrels, and other critters which can do more damage in your garden than a cat ever will. If the cats have owners, talk to them without being confrontational. The cat owner who allows his cat to damage other peoples’ property is as guilty as the cat hater who kills the cat for trespassing. Remember, cats will be cats, and it is unfair of us to blame them for being what they are and how nature intended them to participate in this world.? After-all, we praise them when they catch mice or rats or other creatures we deem to be ‘pests’.
* amonia soaked (corncobs, etc)
* aluminum foil
* bamboo skewers
* black pepper
* blood meal fertilizer
* bramble cuttings
* Carefresh – “recycled” wood pulp
* catnip – donated into your neighbor’s yards (so they’ll stay in their own yards)
* cedar compost
* chicken wire (metal or plastic)
* cinnamon
* citrus peels
* citrus spray
* cocoa bean shells
* coffee grounds -fresh & unbrewed, not just a light sprinkling (highly recommended by MANY Gardenwebbers!)
* dogs
* electric fence for animals
* essence of orange. essence of lemon, lime (citrus essential oils)
* fresh manure(ditto)
* garlic cloves
* gumballs from the Sweet Gum Tree
* gutter covers
* hardware cloth
* heavy bark mulch
* holly leaves
* keep the area damp, they like dry soil
* lavender
* liquid manure (good for your garden too)
* motion sensor sprinkler
* pennyroyal
* pinecones
* pipe tobacco
* plastic forks
* predator urine
* red wine vinegar
* river rocks over the exposed soil
* rocks, crushed
* rose bush clippings
* rue, an herb (Ruta graveolens) (highly recommended in plant form only)
* short twigs throughout the planted area about 6″ apart
* six-inch bamboo skewers (pointy side up)
* Spray on your leaves (not the cat): fill a spray bottle with 1/2 t chili powder, 1/2 t cayenne pepper, 1 t dish soap and water
* squirt gun with water
* talk to your neighbors
* tansy
* thorny berry, lilac, hawthorn, rose clippings
* toothpicks
* upside down vinyl carpet
* vinegar sprayed on areas where they roam
* water bottle on “stream”
NOT RECOMMENDED:
*** chili powder, red crushed pepper, cayenne pepper (NOT recommended), it gets on the cat’s paws then they wash themselves and they get it in their eyes, beware cats have literally scratched their eyes out because of this. Even if it’s one cat out of 500 infected in this way, that’s one too many for me.
*** Don’t ever use mothballs or flakes. Those little toxic waste pellets destroy cats’ kidney function, could seriously harm people who handle them, and yes, contaminate your own garden soil. Their packaging even warns against using them this way.
Give them their own areas:
(To keep them out of where you don’t want them)
(If you don’t mind them protecting your garden from other critters)
+ pick the cat up and bring it to eye level with the plant to see and smell it up close. She noted that once her cat has seen and sniffed at the plant, she usually doesn’t bother with it later.
+ give them their own plants – i.e., pots of grass for her to chew on and a place in a large planted container on her balcony with some miscanthus grass in it (the cat likes to curl up in that for some reason)
+ if the cats are strictly indoors and attracted to your houseplants, grow catgrass for them. If someone forced you to remain inside one enclosed structure all your life, you might be attracted to the plants too.
+ Barley Grass
+ Any type of “catgrass” from the pet store
+ Carex elata ‘Bolwes Golden’ but put it in some shade
+ Catmint Nepeta mussinicultivars (Simply put, Catmints are Catnips without any culinary or feline use. In any case, they are, however, phenomenal, long flowering, hardy perennials that belong in every fairie or flower garden.)
+ Catnip Nepeta cataria (in your own yard) The oils of which also work as a mosquito repellent that works 10 times better than Deet! Catmint is the common name for all varieties of Nepeta. Catnip is the common name for the specific variety of Nepeta called nepeta cataria, which is the variety that cats are most attracted to.
+ Cat Thyme (Teucrium marum)
+ Flax
+ Oat Grass
+ Jacob’s Ladder
+ Lemon Grass
+ Loose soil and mulch like small bark mulch
+ Mints
+ Purple Fountain Grass so the cat lays in the long leaves all day. Maybe put something in that the cats really like and – you know cats won’t winky were they like to hang out.
+ Sandy area
+ Silver vine (Actinidia polygama)
+ Striped Ribbon Grass (can be invasive)
+ Sweet grass
+ Trificum aestivum (type of cat gra