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Cat Repellent
- Unwanted visitors
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Coleus canina Pee-Off Scaredy Cat Cat Repellent Plant |
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Pests - beasties
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Diseases - fungal
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How
natural is your garden? | ants
| aphids | blackspot
| botrytis -
grey mould | caterpillars
| chafer
beetle larvae | fairy
rings | leatherjackets
| lily
beetle | mealybugs
| powdery mildew
| red spider mite
| rust | slugs
and snails | vine
weevils | whitefly Unwelcome visitors: cats | foxes | frogs | moles Weeds: clearing a neglected area, general weeding |
Other
peoples cats that is. Apparently (I've
never tried it - not being a cat lover) the best way to deter cats is
to get a cat of your own. That way it makes the garden its territory
and other neighbourhood cats don't get a look in. On the same lines,
a dog is a fairly good way of deterring cats, my Cairn Terrier is most
effective at keeping next doors burgeoning menagerie at bay.
Presumably if either of these were an option though you wouldn't be here looking at these pages for how to deter cats.
The main reason to deter cats is that they dig holes in nice soft bare earth in order to deposit their unpleasant little packages. The nice soft earth that they like best of all is a newly prepared seed bed and what is more insulting than a cat coming and s******g in it when you've done? Especially as you then need to go and make amends, not knowing quite when you'll find the prize in the bran-tub. Tom cats also have a tendency to "spray" - their urine - in order to scent mark the edges of their territory, most unpleasant if one of their marking posts is just outside your door or barbeque area.
The easiest way of deterring cats in these circumstances is to keep the soil covered with plants or whatever. Gravel may or may not work, some-one I knew moved into a new house that had a gravel patch beside the front door under the porch (the builders obviously couldn't be bothered to cut any paving slabs to fit) and a local cat decided that this was the ideal toilet facility - most unpleasant.
Temporarily unoccupied spots can be 'filled' by pushing prunings particularly of roses or other spiky plants into the soil. Keep twiggy sticks and push them in at an angle to spread over the soil to protect new sowings and plantings. Don't get too enthusiastic though, a few years ago I cut a load of rose prunings into about 2" pieces scattered around a newly dug bed. Kept the cats off a treat it did, over a year later they were still there and I had some very unpleasant weeding experiences - make sure they're easy enough to remove later on.
Coleus canina - Pee-Off - Scaredy Cat - Cat Repellent Plant
Pee
Off - No not you gentle reader, but the plant - or the cats. Someone
emailed me a few of years ago asking where to get hold of this plant,
at the time I'd never heard of it let alone knew where to buy it.
It's now available in the UK exclusively from Thompson and Morgan as small pot plants to grow on. The marketing material goes like this:
"Experiments with over 300 plants have now produced the ultimate deterrent. Cats, dogs and even foxes will avoid the Pee-off plant as its affectionately known. Coleus canina has excellent foliage and small, attractive spikes of blue flowers in the summer, and releases a stench that cats cant stand. Thankfully it only smells to the human nose when touched! Could this be the solution to your feline intruder problems youve been longing for? Annual, but can easily be propagated and cuttings kept in a frost-free place over winter. Plants need to be established before the smell is released, be in drier rather than wet soil and planted every 1-2 metres. Supplied as cell-raised plants."
Best planted in containers (and regarded as functional rather than hugely ornamental - it does provide good vivid greenery as a foil to other plants though), that way they'll grow quicker to an effective size and you'll be able to move them around and experiment with the best place to put them. I found out recently that over 9 million plants were sold across Europe in the first two years of it being available!
Repels cats, dogs, foxes and rabbits
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grown coleus canina for several years on the corners of
the front of my property, tucked into a perennial bed
near the roses. I bought it as "Dog be gone,"
and it is also sold as "Bunny be gone," so must
work on rodents.
Because the leaves are fleshy, like a succulent, it takes rather arid conditions and can live in full sun, unlike any coleus I've seen. (I live in Southern California, USA and we get summer weather of over 100 degrees F for up to a week at a time) It spreads somewhat freely but not with long runners like my favorite pest plant, common mint. Spreading does not occur until it is established. I end up trimming back the edges, like a stand of dusty miller, to keep it within the three foot circles I have given it. I've lost it twice, due to garden makeovers, but it comes back very easily from cuttings. Dogs cannot stand it, and "snufft" when they put their nose in. It smells much stronger than marigolds when bruised. It should be put somewhere that won't receive constant touching by legs or feet passing by. Because the leaves are not variegated, just medium green, the four-inch long, 3/4 in wide, fleshy bright purple flowers, which are very unusual, are attractive in a Mars landscape sort of way. They are unlike other coleus I've seen. I get good comments from passersby every year, as though I made them unusual and not God. Because of their blooms I keep them, but because of their smell they definitely should not be something one would put at the back door! Christine Gille |
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About the coleus canina: IT WORKS!!! I tried it, and in a few days, no more cats and dogs around my patio! Claude, Quebec |
Buy Coleus canina
Cat Repellents - Traditional Methods
There are many tried and tested methods to get rid of cats, most of which work for a short time, but tend to rely on some kind of chemical smell so they need regular topping up.
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Hi Tech Cat Repellents
Ultrasonic and motion sensor devices that make a noise inaudible to humans or spray water when something moves into the range of the device - very effective so I've heard.
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A pest repeller that is designed
to keep your garden clear of unwanted visitors, such as rats,
cats, squirrels, rabbits, foxes, badgers and deer. There are
three different settings so you can set it to the sound frequency
you want. The high frequency setting is used to repel rats but
is also effective against squirrels and cats, medium frequency
for cats and small dogs, and low frequency for larger dogs,
foxes, badgers and deer. |
Pest-Stop
Outdoor Pest Repeller