Will lavender repel cats?

This topic might sound strange to cat lovers as they want to have these cute felines around.

However, the truth is, cats may become a menace for gardeners as plants or crops may become ruined due to cat activity around the garden.

As a gardener and cat lover, you can still keep both by planting cat-repellent plants within your garden.

Now the question is; will lavender repel cats? This is what we’ll be discussing.

Also, if there’s a large population of stray cats around your neighborhood, you might want to keep them at bay for several reasons.

Going the natural way tends to be the best approach as no harm is caused to these creatures.

Will Lavender Work As a Cat Repellent?

Lavender is widely known as one of the many beneficial plants to humans.

Among the many benefits is its potential to improve sleep, treat skin blemishes, and serving as a natural pain remedy. What more?

Lavender helps with hair growth.

Other benefits include the reduction of blood pressure and heart rate, helping to combat fungal growth, relieving asthmatic symptoms, and lessening menopausal hot flashes.

Of course, lavender is widely used for pest control. These are only a few of its many benefits.

Will it repel cats? Without a doubt, it will! You’d normally assume that pleasant scents released by certain plants will be perceived the same way by other animals like cats, but the reality is quite different.

In other words, the pleasant smell of lavender is disliked by cats.

Any Reasons Why Cats Hate Lavender Smell?

Without an element of doubt, cats are known to detest the lavender smell.

Here, we’re talking about both the plant and essential oils extracted from it. Now, no clear reason has been given for that. It’s just similar to humans hating on certain plant species considered stinky.

Ever smelled or encountered a stinky plant before?

There are several of them hated by humans with some being the Bradford pear tree, ginkgo tree, crown imperial, English boxwood, valerian, moss phlox, sea holly, yellow alyssum, and white stopper just a name a few.

The apparent reason of course is that these plants smell bad. The natural response will be to have them removed from your garden or home surroundings. The same applies to cats.

They simply hate the smell of lavender and will keep away from areas where these plants are.

Strong Sense of Smell

Cats have a sharper sense of smell compared to humans. So, any scent you enjoy is perceived more by these animals. This makes lavender a great natural response to cats giving you a tough time.

Do you wish to have them repelled? Simply grow lavender plants within your garden.

Your beloved feline pets can be kept out of your garden area by growing several lavender plants. The best part is; cats can either stay indoors or roam other parts of your yard where the smell of lavender is absent.

The Use of Lavender oil for Pest Control should be Reconsidered

If you keep cats around, you’ll want to be more careful about how you go about using lavender for pest treatment.

Whether using its essential oil, growing lavender plants, or using dried lavender leaves, pretty much the same effect is obtained.

Some of the pests repelled and killed by lavender include mosquitoes, moths, fleas, and flies. While treating your home for these pests, you do not want to deliberately make your cats uncomfortable.

As such, consideration for these pets will be necessary.

Because there are several treatment options for pest problems, you can easily use other alternatives to ensure you don’t create discomfort for your pets.

Other Plants That Repel Cats

Apart from lavender, there are other plants that cats find repulsive. All of these have one thing in common; they’re fragrant plants. While they give off great scents, cats perceive the opposite.

In other words, these animals are repelled by scents released by the plants.

Examples of these plants include coleus canine, citronella, common rue, geraniums, curry plant, lemongrass, rosemary, and pennyroyal. All of these plants will have the same repellent effect as lavender.

They can be added or planted alongside lavender in your garden if you wish to keep cats at bay.

Is Lavender Harmful to Cats?

When using lavender for purposes of repelling cats, the goal is to have these animals excluded from your immediate surroundings or particular areas like your garden. This is far from seeking to harm them.

So, it’s normal to be concerned about dangers posed by lavender.

Are cats in danger of getting poisoned or adversely affected by lavender scents? Not really. Lavender only serves to keep them at bay. However, the number of lavender plants grown in your garden or yard matters.

You do not want to have too many of these plants around.

The scent released can be overwhelming and might make cats sick. This is especially true for cat lovers seeking to keep them away from the garden area. Because you don’t want any harm coming to your cats, consider planting only a few lavender plants in your garden.

You might as well seek other alternatives as mentioned earlier. Of course, you’ll have to avoid using other cat repelling plants in place of lavender as doing so will be counter-productive.

Does Lavender Oil have the Same Repellent Effect as Lavender Plants?

As a homeowner interested in using lavender to repel cats, you may want to find out if the essential oil extracted from this plant has similar cat repellent properties as the plant.

The answer is a definitive yes!

Lavender oils will do a great job at repelling cats when applied properly. You may want to make a spray by mixing lavender with water or with a preferred carrier oil. It all depends on what your preferences are.

Simply spray around targeted areas and you have the repellent effect you seek.

However, the difference with lavender oil is that it has to be applied frequently as the scent wanes. Another way to apply this oil is by soaking cotton balls with it and placing same at strategic points around your home.

So far, we’ve found out that lavender oil has a repellent effect on cats. The reasons for that aren’t quite clear. Also provided are alternative plants with similar cat-repellent effects.

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