How to Make Cat Deterrent Home Remedies

Cats are creatures of habit. If they become used to doing something, they will continue to do it. Cats are also mostly nocturnal, which means they do most of their mischief-making at night when you are asleep. The two main behaviors you want to deter are spraying and scratching the furniture. Even if your cats are not neutered and not declawed, you can set up deterrents to stopping them from slowly destroying your home.

Things You'll Need

  • Mothballs
  • Pure orange cleaning solution
  • Tinfoil
  • Old carpeting
  • String
  • Catnip
  • Scissors
  • Scotch tape
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Instructions

    • 1

      Find the areas where the cat has been spraying and vacuum it thoroughly, then use an enzyme-based pet-stain removal solution to clean the area. Make sure the litter box is cleaned every morning, and put an extra litter box near where the cat sprays the most. Fill the litter boxes with litter made from smaller particles that make it soft like sand. Place tinfoil with a little orange cleaning solution in it over the area where the cat is spraying. Place the new litter box next to the tinfoil.

    • 2

      Take the rug segment and cut it into pieces 4 inches wide by 18 inches long. You will designate one popular scratching area as the place where you will begin your scratching deterrent training. Choose an old piece of furniture that the cat is scratching, since that is easier to replace than the woodwork around your doorways. Hang the carpet piece so it hangs 18 inches long. Pick one of the ends of the carpet piece and cut a hole in each of the two corners. Now cut the string to a piece approximately 8 inches long. Tie each end of the string through each of the holes on the rug until you can hold the rug up by the string. Rub as much catnip as possible into the rug and hang the rug on the piece of furniture that has been designated as the training piece. Cover the rest of the areas that the cat scratches in tinfoil by using the Scotch tape.

    • 3

      Each day, replace the tinfoil in the spray area and put new orange solution on the tinfoil. Clean the litter box each day and start to move it a foot a day toward the other litter box. As you move the litter box, be sure to place mothballs between the tinfoil and the new litter box. Keep the mothballs at least 6 inches from the litter box but put them next to the tinfoil. By the time the two litter boxes are side by side, the cat should be done spraying in that area.

    • 4

      Keep replacing the rug piece as it gets shredded, and keep loading it up with catnip. Replace the tinfoil as the cat claws at it, but that should stop over time. When you wake up in the morning and the tinfoil has not been clawed, you have broken the cat of the shredding habit.

    • 5

      Finish the shredding training by purchasing a scratching post and placing it next to the piece of furniture that had the rug hanging from it. Take down the rug piece and replace it with tinfoil. Continue to replace the tinfoil until the cat stops shredding it.