I’m the caretaker in a pet friendly town-house complex. Some non-pet owners complain about cats entering their section and scratching the paint finish on their vehicles. Is the application of citronella oil to lawns an effective deterrent to unwanted cats and if so, how often does it need to be applied? Any other pet friendly deterrents or suggestions?
Pet stores and maybe some hardware stores sell animal repellents. What I have seen is a powder that has to be reapplied. I think for cats, alum is an effective repellent. I do not know if citronella will do anything for cats, although it helps marginally with mosquitoes.
I’ve never had any success with cat repellents in keeping them away from my vegetables (really, the tilled soil where they liked to shit). I tried various powders, sprays, a subsonic noise making contraption, CDs hanging on strings, etc. all of them are ineffective. Cats just do what the hell they please. The only really effective way I have found in repelling them is to chase them off myself, or spray them with water whenever you see them.
My Mother bought a large box of cheap pepper and sprinkled it on her car to keep cats off.
Yeah, cheap finely-ground black or cayenne pepper helps keep away any mammal that digs. I don’t know if citronella oil is very lawn-friendly, though.
I’d second this. No material I have seen or heard of works for more than a few days, when they become accustomed to it.
The only really effective strategy (excluding non-humane ones) is attractive rather than deterrent: provide a location that is more attractive to the cats than neighbors’ gardens.
I dedicated a small area near our fence to this, it had a nice dirt/sand soil, I raked it so that it was nice & loose, and the cats soon preferred this spot to the neighbors’ garden. I re-rake it every few weeks or fter a hard rain, that seems to be enough to keep it as their preferred spot, and keep my neighbors happy.