by Michael
(London, UK)
Cat liking the smell of a rose - photo by Rickydavid (Flickr)
It is not that difficult to list the smells that cats hate. I am guessing that people who search for this phrase are doing so to repel their cat from entering certain areas of their home or as a training aid. Also some neighbours might be thinking of these products to stop neighbouring cats entering their property.
My personal preference is not to use smells that repulse but all sorts of things including smells that attract, as these are better training aids (positive reinforcement). I don't train at all - I just accept the cat as a cat. Things I don't like that much are accepted along with the much longer list of things that I like a lot.
Well, my research indicates that the smells that cats hate are as follows (these are not to be used in squirt bottles - I would not use squirt bottles at all in fact - see don't punish your cat):
- citrus (orange, lemon smells etc. Perhaps this translates into putting down skins of these fruits
- cayenne pepper
- coffee grounds
- pipe tobacco
- eucalyptus oil
- peppermint oil
- lavender oil
- lemon grass oil
- citronella oil
- mustard oil
- capsaicin pepper and oil of mustard are the ingredients in Havahart's Cat Repellent. It has a lemon smell.
- lemon scented air freshener
- Cedar chips
My assessment is that some of these might work but some will not. It depends on the cat. Sometimes the scent of another cat will deter a cat but it depends on the cat again.
Smells that cats like are our smells if we are close to our cat and good cat caretakers. Also cat food contains chemicals that improve its smell. Smell is important to a cat. A cat's sense of smell is 20 times better than the sense of smell of humans (see the cat's nose).
cats ,dogs mice,rats squirrels, all have more right to a good life than a human child!!!
There is not one wild animal on this earth that goes out of its way to damage,destroy,vandalize,kill or obstruct another creature save for ensuring it’s own or families existence, unlike the arsehole that is the greedy self centered business man/woman.
Existence isn’t enough, they have to compete at the expense of the planet and all of us.
WAKE UP!! ITS YOUR OFFSPRING THAT WILL BEAR THE BRUNT OF YOUR GREED.THE EARTH AND IT’S ENVIRONMENT NEEDS ALL IT’S DIVERSE CREATURES TO SURVIVE.
MAN EARTH CAN MANAGE WITHOUT
response to cat hater: Cats are here to teach you to love unconditionally (even if you feel that cats don’t return it). Cats are also here to teach you to accept people (including pets) for how they are and to see the beauty in everyone.
In one sentence: Cat haters are ignorant and nasty individuals.
Wow! Some of these people on this site ….should not! Be able to post such ugliness…..sure am glad they don’t own a cat. I have two that I love dearly… To each his own…this site I thought was for cat info…but really got too much cat hating people…which again…to each his own, but stay off of this site. Kind of wondering how you got here……..
99.9% of the comments on this site are by cat loving people. I allow a very tiny number of unpleasant comments to remind all decent people that there are cat haters out there and there are quite a lot of them. There has to be a balanced argument. It can’t all be lovely and we can’t look at life through rose colored glasses. Cat lovers and animal lovers have to be realistic.
I’m surprised this page’s creator allows all the vicious remarks about harming and abusing cats to remain on the page. Removing the swear words is hardly sufficient. This page is a breeding ground for trolling cat-haters, plain and simple. I won’t be back.
Hi G, In my opinion we need to read what cat haters say so we (a) understand them better and (b) understand that they are out there. We can’t ignore them and brush them under the carpet. There are lots of fluffy pink cat websites that live in only one half of the cat world, the cat world the pet product manufacturers present and foster. This site shows the complete picture, the real picture. That is surely far more valuable and important that false fluff and pap.
As in this case the article is about smells cats hate that title is bound to attract cat haters. Cat lovers have to argue with cat haters. This is your chance to state your case. You never know you might be able to change the mind of one cat hater.
One other factor: I cannot check every comment as I manage the site alone. There are tens of thousands of comments on the site. It is better to let other visitors deal with them. I bloke some. The comments you are seeing were written years ago when the technology was not as good and I was unable to block them.
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