7 Smells That Deter Your Cat From Peeing on Your Stuff

Cats are amazing additions to the family and provide us with great comfort and companionship. But they can be pests when it comes to actually using their litter box and not the rug! If you have caught your cat peeing on your favorite blanket or pillow know just how bad it is.

» You might like How to Stop a Cat From Spraying in the House and Why Your Cat Lies on Your Chest.

 

Sure, it’s ok if it happens rarely, but if it’s happening more often it can start to destroy your furniture or rug and can swiftly make your house start to smell. 

It’s important to train your cat to use their litter box, but if you need a quick fix whilst you’re training them, here are some smells that can deter your cat from peeing wherever the smells are placed.

Smells That Deter Your Cat from Peeing

1. Eucalyptus 

Eucalyptus is a strong and minty smell and if you’ve ever smelt it then you know how overpowering it is. Using eucalyptus oil on your furniture or rug will offend your cat’s sinuses so they won’t want to stay too long in that spot. 

Just be careful if you are using eucalyptus leaves that your cat doesn’t ingest them as they are toxic and also if you’re using oil don’t directly put any on your cat.

2. Coffee

We humans love coffee, it keeps us going throughout our day. It is another strongly scented thing that repels cats.

If you place a bag of coffee beans near where your cat keeps peeing, then it will most likely repulse the cat from relieving themself there again.

Most people enjoy the scent of coffee too, so if you have anyone else in your home it most likely won’t offend them like eucalyptus might. 

3. Lavender

This one may confuse you as most of us love the smell of lavender and find it to be a relaxing and calming smell.

However, cats absolutely despise it because they have a much more sensitive nose than we do.

You can either plant lavender out in your yard if your cat is peeing on your plants, or if they’re more prone to doing it inside you can just use fresh lavender and leave it around where they’ll usually pee.

Lavender oil diffusers are becoming more popular to have in homes, but these might not work to deter your cat, it will most likely irritate them instead.

4. Rosemary

You may have this herb growing in your garden which may naturally deter your cat from wandering amongst your plants. So naturally bringing it inside it will deter your cat from finding a nice spot to relieve themselves in.

Fresh rosemary is much more potent than when it is dry, you can usually find it at most stores.

Cutting the rosemary up will make it much more overpowering to your cat’s nose, and you can seal this with a coffee filter or a sachet and place it wherever you don’t want your cat to go. 

5. Peppermint

Again, another smell most of us love. It’s such a refreshing and strong smell that can clear your sinuses right up if you need it, so it’s not hard to see why cats are so offended by it.

Peppermint is quite an invasive plant so you may not want it growing in your garden but you can easily find fresh varieties of it at your local store. 

If you want you can also make this into a spray, if you boil a cup of fresh peppermint with a cup of water and leave it for 10 minutes, and then pour it into a spray bottle, you’ve got a handy peppermint repellent to spray on surfaces your cat frequents. 

6. Citrus

Like a lot of these, citrus is also toxic to cats, but since they hate the smell of it you’re unlikely to ever catch your cat taking a bite out of a lemon.

If you place the peels of an orange or lemon near where your cat keeps peeing, then they’re likely to not go to the bathroom in that spot again. 

Like peppermint, you can make a citrus spray. Just mix equal parts lemon or orange juice with water and put it into a spray bottle.

You will have to be careful where you’re spraying it as the acidity of the citrus can discolor some materials. If you’re worried about this, placing peels into a breathable material or container and placing it where you want it will do the exact same job.

7. Vinegar

Vinegar can be quite upsetting to our noses, so it’s no wonder cats hate this smell.

Vinegar is great for removing cat urine odors as well as keeping them away from a certain spot, you can also make a vinegar solution and put it in a spray bottle and spray it where you need it. Mix a half cup of vinegar with one cup of water and then pour it into a spray bottle. 

Try to not be heavy-handed when spraying the vinegar solution, as many others in your home as well as the cat may be offended by the smell. 

Final Thoughts 

We’ve listed 7 strong scents here that you can try to use to stop your cat from peeing where you don’t want them to.

It’s best to completely train them to use the litter box to prevent your sitting room from becoming a bathroom but whilst you’re waiting it’s fine to use any of these scents.

We hope this has helped you and you can get to the bottom of why your cat refuses to use their litter box. 

 

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