Home Remedy: Cat Repellent for Carpets

It can be quite difficult to keep a cat from entering a certain room of your house, especially if the door is open. They are agile, quick, high-jumping creatures that can find many ways into an open room. The solution may be to simply spray the carpet in the room with a homemade cat repellent. Over time, the cat may simply decide that this is not a room that she likes.

  1. Set Up

    • Start with a quart-sized spray bottle filled three quarters of the way to the top with warm water. Use soft water if possible because it absorbs substances more quickly and thoroughly. Remember a couple of things when making your cat mixture. Cats have a keener sense of smell than humans, so even if you don't smell the repellent mixture in the room it is likely that they do. Also, when cats walk through the room, especially right after you spray, their paws will come in contact with the mixture. Since they lick their paws frequently, coming in contact with and tasting this mixture will be an unpleasant experience.

    Orange Oil

    • Cats hate the scent of orange and citrus smells. If you don't mind the faint smell of orange in your home, add a tablespoon of orange oil to your water mixture. Orange oil is made from the skin of the orange rather than the juice, so it is a potent yet milder alternative to squeezing orange juice into your repellent mixture. Lemon or lime oil will work also.

    Lavender Oil

    • Like oranges, lavender herb is foul smelling to cats. While lavender has a strong unpleasant smell to cats, thankfully it may help give your carpet a fresh clean scent. Add a tablespoon of lavender oil to your repellent mixture.

    Cayenne Pepper

    • Cats do not like the taste and smell of hot and spicy substances. Add a teaspoon of fine cayenne pepper powder to the repellent mixture to make the room even more undesirable to their senses.

    Adjustments

    • Shake up the mixture thoroughly before each use. Try the mixture in a small area of the room first to assure that you can tolerate the scent and to test its effect on the carpeting. See if the mixture works to repel your cats from the room over the course of a week. If you need a stronger repellent, increase the amount of the ingredients that you add to the water by 25 percent and then test it again.