Photo in the public domain.
It is not that difficult to list the smells that cats hate because there are well publicised lists. However, although I have not tested these smells with my cat, I’d bet my bottom dollar that a lot of them are not hated by cats. Some cats might be slightly repelled by them and some cats won’t be bothered at all by them.
My advice is not to waste your time investigating smells which repel cats. That may sound depressing for people who dislike cats. But please don’t harm cats even if they come onto your land because it’ll almost certainly be a crime. Below is a link to a page which is pertinent.
RELATED: 2 devices I would try first to keep cats out of your backyard plus alternatives
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 negative training aid. Also, some neighbours might be thinking of these products to stop neighbouring cats entering their property. There are a lot of neighbors who want to stop domestic cats peeing and defecating on their flower beds. My message to these people is that these smells probably won’t work – sorry.
Lion dung?
Silent Roar Natural Fertiliser & Cat Deterrent 500G on Amazon is a combined fertilizer and cat deterrent. Does it work? Well, the reviews are not wonderful but neither are they totally depressing. I’d say that is does not work but please try it and report back on this site.
Lion dung cat repellant
Talk to neighbors?
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 that I don’t I accept along with the much longer list of things that I like a lot. However, I make sure my neighbors are not upset if my cat visits their garden. I believe cat owners take that responsibility.
List
Well, my research indicates that the smells that cats hate are as follows. I can’t vouch for the veracity of this information. It is probably unscientific. 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
- rosemary
- rue
- cinnamon
- lavender.
As mentioned, 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 cat like include the scent of their caregiver if they are emotionally connected to their 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).
THIS PAGE HAS BEEN REPUBLISHED TO A LATER DATE
Smells That Cats Hate to Cat Facts
Contributions from visitors. Thanks.
Why do cat haters hate cats anyway? I mean, come on cats are not awful. I love cats but that’s just MY opinion. I don’t like people coming on this site to trash talk cats. Please don’t call cats bad things. I don’t want to here those things. So please, if you want to trash talk cats go on another site.
Thanks for your support of cats. I feel the same way. I run the site and in the interests of free speech and a balanced viewpoint in comments I feel obliged to let some cat haters comment. But I limit it and delete a lot of them. I also block and ban many of them
Your welcome.
Katt I toldly agree with you and I sure would do the same thing and for Chris you are wrong and so is your girlfriend she is wrong for not cleaning the cats litter box it need to be clean every other day or every day is the best and for scratching the furniture there are thing you can spray for that and as for the rodents I think he is talking thru his a… the devil will be waiting for everyone of you pet haters !!!
Hey Harry, as a cat lover I’ve got something to say to you. First of all if you hate cats so much, why were you on this website, which is called pictures-of-cats.org??? Second of all, I have nothing against dogs, accept for the one that I’m righting too. Third of all, you just mentioned that ppl should kick their cats out, they’re performing a form of animal cruelty, you’re lucky I didn’t turn you in bc that is a crime. Btw if cats don’t like humans, why would it come back? Hmm?? You are a cruel, disgusting freak and you don’t deserve to be on this earth. So Harry, if I ever run into YOU on the streets, I will first kick your ass, then throw you to the cats for a snack. Ty for your time (you seem like you have a lot of it considering the fact that you are on a cat website) and I hope you burn in hell. Bye
Also you wanna know what’s actually pethetic
Wait for it
Not your grammar (even though it does suck)
It’s
Your future.
Thanks for defending the cat. Great.
I realize the last comment on this subject is Nov 2014, but I want to add something about cedar. I’ve noticed that there is a litter made with cedar, so wouldn’t that be a problem if cats are repelled by it?
Also, I’ve bought a product that is supposed to repel fleas that has such a strong cedar smell that I can’t stand it, and would never put it on my cat.
And recently, I came across a a flea repellent with cedar that is to be sprayed on cat’s bedding, etc. Again, if cedar repels cats, this doesn’t make sense.
Maybe not all cats dislike the smell of cedar, since there are so many products made from cedar that aren’t meant to repel.
I’m very careful about using any product with a strong smell around my cat. My roommate used to wash the kitchen floor with strong smelling Lysol, which repelled me, and I was concerned that my cat would walk on the floor, then lick her paws. I finally convinced her not to use it.
We need to be hyper vigilant about using products that could create health issues for ourselves and our pets. Best to stick with non-toxic solutions for everyone’s safety, including adults, kids and pets.
I don’t understand why you would have to make a comment about a cat if you don’t like them shut up and go on to some other subject that you can disrespect,cats are very loving and they don’t talk trash as some people do what did you do to the cat that it scratched you they bleed they have pain just like we do so take your comment and put it where the sun don’t shine.
Hi Sonja. Thanks for visiting and commenting. I am not sure to whom your comment is addressed but I am sure you are correct in your assessment.
What do you have against business people trying to make a living? Also I don’t think these small animals have “MORE” right to live then a humans, that’s just insane. If anything equal rights yes, but that’s also just an opinion. I’ve never heard of a human child (without a sense of right or wrong) kill, destroy, vandalize, whatever, out of spite and more so then an animal does regularly through his givin nature. Constructively speaking, you sounds like some sort of anti-human cult leader.
DEATH TO INFRASTRUCTURE!
KILL ALL HUMANS!
Lmao 🙂
That’s a bit extreme 😉 I would rather just kill a few humans-the ones who abuse and kill cats would be a good starting point.
I don’t have anything against business people making a living. It’s what makes the world go around. I’m not sure why you ask that question. You might like to remind me if you have time. I also don’t believe that animals have more rights than people. People are human animals and we all have the same rights as far as I am concerned. It is just at the moment certain minority groups of people in many countries and animals in many countries are lacking sufficient rights and I support those minority groups and of course I support all animals and one reason is because they do not have enough rights.
My cats pretty dope and will meow if he doesn’t get attentions. Most of the time his bowl is full and isn’t hungry. He just wants the attentions and I happily give him da tentions. I don’t see how that’s selfish considering most animals seek affection from their caregivers in one way or another. And obviously if he’s hungry he’s going to want you to give him food. So once again not selfish at all they just haven’t been domesticated for as long as dogs so I guess you can’t handle the wild side.
I completely agree, if a cat is demanding attention or asking for attention he or she is not being selfish – they are just doing what people do!
i cant believe so many people against cats i know this article was a few years ago. I noticed my own cat rebel gets really senestive when i bring out deodorant even if im a a long distance from him. he gives me that look of a strong smell. I guess we all need to be accepted to what cats like and dont like.
My girlfriend has a cat and it is the most annoying thing ever. It craps all over the house. The litter box is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my life. It has been waking us up in the middle of the night with its constant meowing (which is the most obnoxious noise I have ever heard in my life). And it keeps scratching up the furniture and my girlfriend gets mad when I yell at it to stop. She says he has to for his nails and I tell her that’s BS and if he needs to ruin something his a scratching post thing is just 2 feet away from him!! Personal opinion…cats are worthless unless you have rodents in your house your trying to get rid of. A pet comes to you when called, not looks back at you as if it’s telling you to “F” off and then walks away. You want a pet? Get a dog!!
Chris, I get a strong impression that (a) you should not live in the same place as a cat and (b) your girlfriend’s cat is probably stressed because you hate cats. I have two articles that may interest you.
http://cat-chitchat.pictures-of-cats.org/2011/07/get-boyfriend-who-likes-cats.html
http://cat-chitchat.pictures-of-cats.org/2011/01/boyfriends-and-cats.html
I couldn’t possibly agree with you more. Cats are vicious, neurotic and disease carrying. A stray cat has taken up residence is my house because my mother decided she likes it, MUCH to my dismay. My elderly dog, who lives in the same home, has since contracted ringworm, I suspect this is due to this disgusting cat coming around. The cat also has tapeworms and god knows what else. My dog has never had skin issues before the damn cat showed up. My dog is the most gentle, well-behaved, loving animal I have ever known. Now she has a contagious skin disease that she has to be on medication for. I could not hate this cat more if I tried.
Margaret, you should be criticising the cat’s owner and not the cat. This cat should not be a stray cat. This cat should be a well looked after domestic cat with a home and taken to the vet when required and if that was the case this cat would not be a stray and he or she would not have ringworm. The problem is not the cat but the person. You miss this point completely. Personally, I feel sorry for the cat.
In addition, I wonder how many diseases or illnesses you have caught from other people such as colds? Every year millions of diseases are spread by humans to other humans. Why don’t you criticise humans for spreading disease and being irresponsible cat owners?
I love cats, always have, but I do need something to deter them from sneaking into our garage when I’m backing out and getting locked in when I drop the door. It is also very annoying to have a clean vehicle and then find muddy cat tracks across the windshield and elsewhere, this looks trashy. Ours are well fed and cared for, but they must stay out of doors. My husband has health issues.
Hi Dorothy. Nice to hear from you. Pleased you love cats. I know they can be messy beasts as Sarah Hartwell writes but they are worth it aren’t they?
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.
It is no good blanking out all cat hating trollers because if you do you create a false world and nothing good can be created because everything is already cute and perfect.
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.
In one sentence: Cat haters are ignorant and nasty individuals.
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.
Hey, Kelly. Thank you. My cat Shrimp always waits for our toaster to pop! up in the early morning. Tea kettle’s on, and we both go outside. He to the sun, and me to the watering can. That’s my Shrimp!
Kelly, our cats, our animals know. We,as human resources know. Thanks. Thank you!