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Does Garlic Repel Cats? (All You Need to Know)

Cats are one of the most common pets that are found in every household. But this innocent-looking animal sometimes can cause you big trouble. There is a chance they can reach the foods in the kitchen and eat stuff. In today’s article, we will discuss if garlic can repel cats.

Does garlic repel cats? 

Cats have a strong-smelling sense, which is almost 16 times stronger than a human, so they can easily smell garlic and do not like its bitter smell. Moreover, it contains disulfides and thiosulphates which are toxic to cats and can cause the red blood corpuscles to become fragile. 

The garlic has a bitter-smelling compound in it that a cat does not like to smell. In general, cats have a strong sense of smell that enables them to easily detect any type of smelly ingredients such as garlic or cloves. 

These plants are quite convenient to deter cats. In some cases, garlic can be toxic to cats and cause serious health issues. Therefore, cats do not like to be around garlic, smell it or eat it. 

In addition to that, they try to avoid plants similar to garlic, such as cloves or chives. The smells of these sorts of plants or spices are very difficult for them to resist. As a result, the bitter smell of garlic can be a great option to deter cats from your house. 

Below is a brief discussion on cat’s preferences for a different type of garlic:

Garlic spray: 

Garlic is already disliked by the cats due to its smell. The garlic spray can be an ideal ingredient to deter them because it contains similar ingredients like garlic, such as pepper which makes the garlic spray less appealing to cats. 

Garlic powder: 

Everything related to garlic can easily deter cats. It has a strong smell that makes trouble for a cat to breathe in. In many cases, the garlic powder may not work properly if they’ve been sitting down in the kitchen cupboard for a long time.

Wild garlic: 

Wild garlic can be a good option to keep cats from coming to your garden. It has a stronger smell than the regular ones and the plants or the garlic itself will keep the cats away.

Are cats attracted to garlic? Is cat afraid of garlic?  

Cats never get attracted to garlic. The strong smell of garlic is disliked by the cats. The garlic plants also help to deter cats. So, you can simply plant them in your garden to avoid cats from entering it and causing damage to other plants. 

The garlic has a bitter smell that helps to keep away the cats from your garden or any area where the garlic is kept. 

The smell coming out of garlic plants can be a reason for the cats to fear because it’s bitter taste generally deters cats. The cats are afraid of garlic due to many reasons. First of all, it’s the smell of the garlic that generally keeps them away. 

Secondly, garlic can cause damage to the cat’s body by making their red blood corpuscles fragile. Garlic consists of various compounds that are directly avoided by cats.

Can garlic hurt cats? How much garlic will hurt a cat?  

Yes, the compounds present in the garlic can be harmful to a cat’s body. It can cause serious health issues to them. 

The ingredients such as disulfides and thiosulphates present in the garlic can make the red blood corpuscles fragile. In addition to that, the harmful ingredients present in the garlic can be considered poisonous for the cats to consume. 

Generally, the plants from the allium species such as leeks, chives, onions, and garlic can be toxic to the cat in a fresh, dried, or powdered state. Garlic is more concentrated and toxic than onions. 

So, a small amount of garlic can be harmful to cats. The toxic ingestion of raw garlic for cats is 1 gram per 5 pounds

So, garlic can be considered highly toxic compared to any other allium species and even a small amount of garlic consumption can hurt the cat’s health.

3 reasons why garlic will repel cats  

The garlic has many reasons that help to repel the cats. Garlic is a part of allium species. All the crops from this species consist of the strong smell and harmful ingredients that cause the cat to stay away from them. 

Generally, in terms of harmfulness, garlic is on top of any type of spices of this species, even onions. That is why garlic is strictly avoided by the cat. It has a higher toxicity level than any other spice. 

The bitter smell of garlic in a different state makes it the most effective one to keep cats away. Even garlic plants can also help to deter cats. Below is a brief discussion on why garlic helps to repel cats: 

The strong smell: 

One of the significant characteristics of garlic that enable cats to stay away from it is the smell of garlic. The bitter and strong smell of garlic is irresistible for the cats. Since the cats have a very strong sense of smell, they simply avoid it.

It contains harmful compounds: 

The garlic contains harmful compounds that can cause damage to a cat’s body. Generally, cats tend to avoid species and plants that have a strong smell. 

The allium species, in most cases, have a strong smell-spreading functionality that deters cats.

It is poisonous to cats: 

The garlic contains harmful materials that can cause serious damage to a cat’s body. The garlic has disulfides and thiosulphates which are toxic and can lead to stomach issues if consumed.

How to use garlic to get rid of cats?  

Sometimes it may become mandatory for you to use repellents to get rid of cats from invading your garden again and again. Garlic is the best option to sort this issue out. You can try planting more and more garlic plants in your garden here and there. 

The herbs in the plant release a smell that keeps the cat away. There are some more ideas discussed below that can help you to get rid of cats: 

Planting garlic trees in the garden: 

The first thing you can do to get rid of cats coming to your garden is to plant garlic plants in the garden. 

The garlic plant spreads a strong bitter smell around the garden that prevents the cat from entering your garden and damaging the other trees. Also, the garlic plants are easy to maintain.

Sprinkling garlic powder: 

If you are willing to make a larger area cat proof, you can try using garlic powder. It is quite an easy, cheap and convenient way to cover a larger area to make it cat proof. 

Simply sprinkle the garlic powder in the soil and the cats will not come inside the garden.

Make a homemade garlic repellent spray: 

It is very easy to make garlic spray as a cat repellent. The formula is easy. Take a bottle, pour water into it. 

Now add some garlic cloves, any strong seasoning like cayenne and you are ready to go. Spray it in the areas where you don’t want cats to be.

How to make garlic orange peppermint mix for cat repellent? 

Sometimes a cat can be a matter of trouble no matter how much you like the animal. They can cause serious damage to your garden. So, you may need to adopt some homemade remedies to prevent cats from damaging your garden. 

Since the cats have 16 times stronger smelling sense than humans and they cannot resist any bitter spice, you try making a garlic orange peppermint mix. 

This type of mixture can be a great option to use as a cat repellent spray and will prevent cats from entering the garden for a long time. Follow the steps to make the repellent: 

Boil water and essential oil: 

Take three parts of water and one part of essential oil such as lavender oil or which has a strong smell. Mix them and boil them. 

Add peppermint and orange: 

Once they are boiled well, now add peppermints and orange peel to them. Again, boil them for a couple more minutes. After a while, filter out the debris and separate the mixture.

Pour it into a spray bottle: 

Cool the mixture down and pour them into a spray bottle. Now you can use it by spraying it into places where you don’t want the cats to be. 

Spraying them will eventually help the smell to last longer due to the texture of boiled essential oil.

Final Thoughts 

Due to the strong-smelling sense of the cats, they can easily smell the garlic and they cannot resist the smell of it. As a result, it can be a great option to use garlic to deter cats. In addition to that, garlic contains harmful ingredients that may cause serious health issues to a cat.