Cat repellents can be used both indoors or outdoors and are a humane and effective way to keep cats out. Whether it’s your own cats destroying your furniture, or the neighbor’s cats peeing in your garden, cat repellents can prevent felines from making a mess. We’ve come up with the top cat repellents on the market complete with our reviews of each one to help you find one that meets your needs.
A Quick Comparison of Our Favorites in 2024
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Best Overall | Colton’s Naturals Cat Repellent |
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Best Value | Nature’s Miracle Repellent Spray |
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Premium Choice | Sentry Stop That! Cat Spray |
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Nature’s Mace Cat Repellent |
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Enforcer Motion-Activated Sprinkler |
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The 9 Best Cat Repellents
1. Colton’s Naturals Cat Repellent Spray – Best Overall
Active Ingredient: | Peppermint and Citronella |
Safe Indoors: | Yes |
Garden Safe: | Yes |
Sometimes an all-natural remedy is a way to go. Cats don’t like the smell of peppermint and citronella, which is the active ingredient in Colton’s Naturals Cat Repellant Spray. This product is safe indoors and out and is non-toxic to both kids and pets, making it our choice for the best overall cat repellent.
As a spray, you’ll have to re-apply it after rain if using it outdoors.
2. Nature’s Miracle Pet Block Repellent Spray – Best Value
Active Ingredient: | Cinnamon and lemongrass oil |
Safe Indoors: | Yes |
Garden Safe: | Yes |
The best cat repellent for the money is Nature’s Miracle Pet Block Repellent Spray. The active ingredient isn’t listed for this product, but they do guarantee it to be non-toxic. This spray smells like cinnamon and lemongrass oil, which is offensive to cats. It won’t stain your furniture, and it’s safe to use on trees and shrubbery outdoors.
If you’re spraying Nature’s Miracle on the carpet, it’s best to spot-test it first. Despite claims that it doesn’t stain, it can cause discoloration.
3. Sentry Stop That! Pheromone Cat Spray – Premium Choice
Active Ingredient: | Lavender chamomile |
Safe Indoors: | Yes |
Garden Safe: | Yes |
Our premium choice cat repellent is Sentry. Stop That! Noise and Pheromone Spray. This repellent is designed to mimic cat pheromones and re-direct behavior. Pheromones are most effective in reducing marking behavior, so if you have problems with cats peeing in your yard and garden to mark territory, this may do the trick to stop it. As a bonus, it smells wonderful to humans. However, the pheromone is synthetic, so it may not be effective for all cats that don’t recognize it.
4. Nature’s Mace Ready-to-Use Cat Mace Repellent
Active Ingredient: | Peppermint, citronella, lemongrass oil, sulfur |
Safe Indoors: | Yes |
Garden Safe: | Yes |
While the name certainly implies the presence of a poisonous chemical, Nature’s Mace Ready-to-Use Cat Mace Repellent contains no such thing. The ingredients in this cat repellent spray are non-toxic to cats and environmentally friendly. The fragrance of this product is very strong, so you might think twice before using it indoors. It is, however, very effective at keeping strays out of gardens and trash cans.
For spraying your yard, Nature’s Mace comes in a canister with a spray nozzle, allowing you to spray your entire yard in time. One treatment lasts about a week, so you’ll need to re-apply every seven days.
5. Enforcer Motion-Activated Sprinkler Cat Repellent
Active Ingredient: | Sprinkler |
Safe Indoors: | No |
Garden Safe: | Yes |
In many cases, cat deterrents are purchased to keep either feral cats or the neighbor’s wandering cat from causing damage to your property. The Enforcer Motion-Activated Sprinkler Cat Repellent is designed to do just that, but without adding harsh chemicals to your yard.
Anything passing in front of this sprinkler will get sprayed with water. This does a great job of keeping cats out without harming them, but it will also spray your kids, mother-in-law, dog, etc. It detects motion up to 40 feet away, so unless you have a very large yard (it will spray 3,840 square feet), you’re setting yourself up to get wet every time you enter it. This sprinkler also runs on battery power, so you’ll have to replace the batteries.
Another huge downside to using a sprinkler to deter stray cats is that it can’t be used year-round in places where the temperatures plummet in winter.
6. PetSafe SSSCat Motion-Activated Dog and Cat Spray
Active Ingredient: | Odorless spray |
Safe Indoors: | Yes |
Garden Safe: | Yes |
For a sensor-activated cat deterrent that’s safe to use indoors, try PetSafe SSSCat Motion-Activated Dog and Cat Spray. This product is designed to keep certain areas of your home off-limits to pets and releases a quick burst of spray to anyone passing within 3 feet of the device.
Each can contain about 80-100 sprays, and the device is battery-operated. You can adjust the spray range and direction to ensure that it hits your pet instead of you.
7. Stelucca Amazing Shields Furniture Protectors for Cats
Active Ingredient: | N/A |
Safe Indoors: | Yes |
Garden Safe: | N/A |
Stelucca Amazing Shields Furniture Protectors for Cats are designed to help keep your pet cats from scratching your furniture. They do this by blocking your cat’s access to your furniture. They have a slippery surface that ensures your cat’s claws can’t grab onto the shield, and they’re transparent, so you’ll never know they are there.
Stelucca Amazing Shields are easy to install, but cats can’t take them off. They also don’t ruin your furniture if you decide to remove them later. To adjust to different furniture, simply cut them to fit.
While these shields do a great job at protecting your furniture (which is appropriate to do, especially with small kittens), they don’t do anything to teach your cat where to scratch. In the long term, you may want to try an additional solution that teaches your cat what is and what isn’t OK to scratch on.
8. Petwudi Ultrasonic Animal Deterrent Cat Repellent
Active Ingredient: | N/A |
Safe Indoors: | No |
Garden Safe: | Yes |
Ultrasonic devices are a popular option for keeping stray cats out of your yard. The Petwudi Ultrasonic Animal Deterrent Cat Repellent uses an ultrasonic signal. It’s solar powered, so you won’t have to worry about plugging it in or changing batteries all the time, and the sound it emits is unheard by humans. It is at a frequency heard by cats, so it does a great job of chasing them away.
This device can be put on a stake or hung on a wall, so you will need to poke holes somewhere to hang it.
9. PetSafe Generation 2 ScatMat Electronic Pet Training Mat
Active Ingredient: | N/A |
Safe Indoors: | Yes |
Garden Safe: | Yes |
The final entry on our list is the PetSafe Generation 2 ScatMat Electronic Dog & Cat Training Mat. While this isn’t a cat repellent per se, it keeps cats out of certain areas and is very effective for training, thus landing it a spot in our reviews. Scat mats can be used to block access to the flower bed, doors, or countertops, and they won’t harm your cat in the process. They work with static electricity, so they’re extremely unpleasant for animals to walk on.
Buyer’s Guide: Selecting the Best Cat Repellent
Cats are cute, cuddly pets, but the fact remains that their instincts are those of wild predators. Whether you are raising a new kitten that’s wreaking havoc in your house, or the neighborhood strays are using your flower bed as their litter box, sometimes it’s necessary to intervene. With different kinds of cat repellents available, it can be hard to know what to buy, so here are a few tips to help you decide.
Keeping Cats Out of the Garden
Cats are famous for destroying flowerbeds and gardens. They’re good hiding spots to catch prey like birds and rodents, and they dig holes and use it as their bathroom. Outdoor solar or battery-powered cat repellents are the most effective at keeping your yard free from strays. Both sprinklers and ultrasonic sound devices are equally effective, but they can be problematic if you have your own pets that use your yard. These products are best for homeowners who are not pet owners but want a safe way to keep cats out.
If you have pets that are allowed outdoors, a scent-based product will work best to keep them away from certain areas. There are many options for smells that cats dislike, and they will avoid places with these smells.
Training Cats in Your House
If the problem is your own housecat that’s scratching furniture or jumping on counters, a deterrent can be an effective short-term solution, as well as a training tool. Cats are smart creatures. If they learn that your counter smells repugnant, they will only re-visit the location a handful of times before they stop trying. While some repellent sprays don’t smell that good, it may be worth using for a few days until your cat learns to stop going to certain places.
Conclusion
Our best overall recommendation for cat repellent is Colton’s Naturals Cat Repellent Spray. It’s all-natural, non-toxic, and can be used anywhere. The best value for the money is Nature’s Miracle Pet Block Repellent Spray. It is another non-toxic option and can be used indoors and out. If you’re looking for an effective cat repellent, you are sure to find one in this list of reviews that will work for you.
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Featured Image Credit: ThamKC, Shutterstock