 Shake Away Cat Repellent is non-toxic granules that contain urine from coyotes, foxes or
bobcats, animals that are predators of cats.
It gets spread out in a line
around the area one wants to keep cats away from, and is said to be effective five
feet from that line. It essentially creates a "fear
boundary" when the cats smell it. Cats can smell about 14 times
better than humans, so even if humans don't smell much of the product,
the cats do!
Each bottle will cover 600 linear feet. Dogs are not repelled by it, so it can be used in areas where dogs are walked or exercised.
Shake-Away
does need to be reapplied periodically and after more
than a light rain. It is safe to use around children and pets (though pet
cats won't like to go near it). It will not damage plants like some
products will.
 Liquid
Fence® Dog & Cat Repellent is described as being made from natural plant oils. The
active ingredients are citronella oil, eugenol, garlic oil, sodium
lauryl sulfate, cinnamon oil, and geraniol. The other ingredients,
composing 98.3%, are water and lime.
Note that cinnamon oil is
toxic to cats if they ingest it or it gets absorbed into their skin.
NEVER spray this product directly on an animal!!
Liquid Fence is based on using odors cats do not like to repel them from
an area. It will also deter dogs. Available in one quart
or one gallon. The quart size covers 500 sq. feet.
Liquid Fence® Dog & Cat Repellent 1 Gallon Liquid Fence® 1 Quart
Human and Cat Urine
It is said that adult human male urine will repel cats. One might experiment with that to verify the effectiveness, by applying it near and around the area one wishes to keep cats away from. It's free to try.
Along those lines, if you have house cats, you can try spreading out some of their used litter in areas you don't want other cats to eliminate in. Do not put used cat litter around food crops, though. You also would not want to spread clay clumping litter outside in a garden; it will clump up and dry in a hard cement like substance.
Water Sprinklers
One can set up a sprinkler with a timer to start up at the most common times of day the cats
come around, which is usually dawn and dusk. Cats do learn schedules, though,
so the timing should be varied once in a while.
 A motion detector sprinkler, such as the Scarecrow
Motion Activated Sprinkler, works well, since the cats won't
get used to a schedule of when the water will come on. There is no
schedule. When it detects the motion of an animal, it releases a three second
pulsating spray of water, using 2-3 cups of water per deterrence.
It
runs for months on a 9 volt battery and detects animals in a 1000 square foot area.
The sensitivity can be adjusted to detect motion up to 35 feet (10 meters).
The sensor uses infrared to detect temperature differences, distinguishing an
animal from the background. Dogs, rabbits, and other animals, including
humans will, of course, be sensed and squirted. People can walk around
the area set to be sensed to turn the unit off without getting squirted.
Plants
Rue (Ruta graveolens), a perrenial herb that grows 2-3 feet high, has an odor that is said to be hated by cats. The downside is that humans can develop a
blistering skin contact reaction from it. In addition, if eaten, it causes stomach pain, vomiting, exhaustion, confusion, and convulsions and may be fatal. Therefore, it is not a good choice to plant in your garden, especially if you have children.
See pictures of Rue and purchase opportunities at:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/312
http://www.floridata.com/ref/R/ruta_gra.cfm
 Coleus Canina is a variety of Coleus in the Plectranthus family that produces lavendar flowers with a strong scent that repels cats, as well as rabbits and dogs. Coleus Canina is also known as "Scardy Cat". It performs best in full to partial sun and grows up to 12"-20"(30-50cm) tall. It is an annual, but cuttings can be kept indoors during the winter
to then replant outdoors in the spring. You can buy it from Amazon.com.
Orange Peels. Cats
do not like citrus smells, so one can try leaving orange peels in garden
beds. That won't keep the cats out of the entire yard, of course.
Physical Arrangements
Cats
love to dig in freshly dug garden beds to eliminate, so putting mulch on the
bare soil areas between plants can help. Nice, soft, small particled mulch would be
liked by cats a lot, so use mulch made of larger, harder pieces that will not
feel soft and comfortable for cats to dig in. Large gravel, rocks or pine cones could also be used.
You can put chicken wire or screening under the
mulch to keep cats from digging.
An
alternative is to make a spot in your yard cat friendly for eliminating, so
they will hopefully go there instead of in your flower beds.
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