Lavender is famous as a fragrant plant. But it has many other uses and benefits. One of the basic uses of lavender is as a repellent. The scent of lavender works as a natural repellent. Today, we are going to discuss whether lavender keeps cats away or not.
Does lavender keep cats away?
Lavender plants possess the ability to keep the cats away. Lavender plants, lavender oil, and dried lavender leaves are natural cat repellents. Cats can not stand the aromatic smell of lavender and thus will keep away from areas that contain all forms of lavender.
Table of Contents
We are going to discuss different forms of lavender and how effective they are as cat repellents.
Lavender plants:
Lavender plants are mostly known as decorative and fragrant plants. Lavender plants have a unique scent that can attract all sorts of animals towards it. But for cats, the smell of lavender is a different case. They do not enjoy the aromatic smell of lavender plants.
In fact, you can grow lavender plants in your garden to keep the cats away from using the garden as a litter box. If you have a pet cat and you do not want it to roam around some specific areas of your garden, then you can grow lavender plants in those areas only.
Your pet cat can still roam around the areas where the smell of lavender plants does not reach. You will need to plant the lavender plants in a straight line. The lavender plants will keep the stray cats of your locality away too from the garden.
Lavender oil:
You can extract essential oil from lavender plants which are known as lavender oil. Lavender oil has various health benefits. But it also works great as a natural repellent. Cats can not stand the smell of lavender oil.
If you want to keep cats away from your garden, you make a mixture of lavender oil and water. Then you will need to spray that mixture onto the plants that are most affected by cats. The powerful smell of lavender oil coming from the plants will protect it from cats.
Dried lavender:
Dried lavender can also be used as a natural repellent. Dried lavender can be found at the local supermarket. You can simply sprinkle dried lavender onto the area that is most affected by cats.
The strong smell of lavender coming from the dried lavender plant will keep the cats at bay and protect your garden.
You can break the dried lavender into several pieces and then position it in the garden. You can even boil the dried lavender to make a repellent solution to be later sprayed onto the plants or the soil of the garden.
Do cats like the smell of lavender? Is lavender toxic to cats?
Cats do not like the smell of lavender. Lavender has an aromatic smell which can attract a lot of animals. But this is not the case for cats. They feel disgusted by the smell of lavender. That is why lavender is known as a natural cat repellent.
Lavender is toxic to cats in all forms. Whether it is a lavender plant, lavender oil, or dried lavender. Linalool and linalyl acetate are the key components of the Lavender plant. These two components are toxic to cats and can cause health-related problems.
The best approach to dealing with lavender is to keep it away from your pet cat if you do not want it to get sick. The toxic elements of lavender can make your cat vomit and can cause diarrhea.
Do lavender plants keep cats out of your garden? Is lavender a good cat repellent?
The Lavender plant is a proven cat repellent. Even essential oil made from lavender plants and dried lavender is good cat repellent. If you want to keep cats out of your garden, then you can plant lavender plants in a line in your garden.
Cats feel absolutely disgusted by the smell of the lavender plants.
You can also directly spray lavender oil mix onto the plant to keep it safe from cats. You can furthermore mix dried lavender leaves in the soil of your garden. It also can keep the cats out of your garden.
Lavender plants are an effective cat repellent despite having an aromatic smell. There is no scientific reason which can describe why exactly cats do not like the smell of lavender.
But the important thing here is that if you are tired of cats invading your garden, you can certainly believe in the effectiveness of the lavender plant as a good cat repellent.
3 reasons why lavender repel cats
Let’s discuss in detail the reasons why lavender repels cats. They are:
The strong smell:
Lavender plants have an amazing aromatic scent that can attract animals of all kinds. But cats do not feel the same way about lavender plants. The strong smell of lavender repels cats to a point that they would stay away from it at any cost.
There is no definitive reason behind why the smell of lavender repels cats. But it is certainly an effective repellent.
Various forms of lavender:
Not only the lavender plant, but other forms of the lavender plant also work as a natural cat repellent. For example, the essential oil made from the lavender plant can also be used as a cat repellent.
It can be used in various ways to give you the best possible result against the invasion of cats.
Even the dried lavender leaves can be used as a cat repellent. You can break the lavender leaves into several pieces and put them in the areas affected by frequent visits of cats.
The availability of lavender:
Lavender is an easy-to-find and easy-to-grow plant. You can buy it from your local plant market and then grow it in your garden by yourself. If you have a neighborhood full of stray cats, planting lavender in your garden is a wise move.
Which lavender is best to keep cats away?
Let’s talk about some species of lavender that are best at keeping cats away. They are:
English Lavender:
The English lavender is the most famous variety of lavender plants. This variety of lavender falls in the herb category because of its size and uses. English lavender is great at keeping cats away if you plant them in your garden.
You can also use the essential oil of English lavender and dried English lavender leaves as cat repellents.
French Lavender:
The scientific name of French lavender is Lavandulastoechas. It is also an aromatic plant that can be used effectively as a cat repellent. The essential oil can also be extracted from French lavender which can later be utilized as a cat repellent.
Portuguese Lavender:
Portuguese lavender is also known as Lavandulalatifolia. This lavender is a natural cat repellent. The essential oil of Portuguese lavender is also an effective cat repellent.
Lavandula x intermedia:
Lavandula x intermedia is a mixture of English lavender and Portuguese lavender. This variety of lavender also works great as a cat repellent. The essential oil can be made from Lavandula x intermedia and can be used as a car repellent.
How to repel cats using lavender?
There are several ways and methods that can be applied to repel cats using lavender. They are:
Plant them in a line:
If you have a garden that is under the frequent invasion of stray cats, you can think about planting lavender in your garden. You can plant the lavender plants along the border of your garden or you can plant them in the areas most affected by cats.
The strong smell of lavender plants is sure to keep the cats out of your garden. Cats can not stand the smell coming from lavender.
Use their essential oil:
The essential oil can be made from the lavender plant. You can buy Lavender essential oil from your local market and use it as a cat repellent. You will have to make a mixture of lavender oil and water and spray it onto the affected areas of your garden.
You can also spray the mixture directly onto the plants. This will repel the cats and keep them away from destroying your plants.
Spread dried lavender:
Dried lavender leaves can also be used as a cat repellent. You can buy dried lavender from your local market and break them into several pieces. After that, you can spread the pieces into different parts of your garden to keep the cats away.
Final Thoughts
Lavender can keep the cats away effectively and easily. Lavender plants emit an aromatic smell that is disturbing for the cats. One can plant lavender in their garden to keep the cats away. One can even spray Lavender oil or spread dried lavender leaves to keep the cats away.