Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with repellent

Scat, cat - get off the mat!

taz — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 03:01:40 -0800

How can I make my "welcome mats" unwelcoming to cats? I'm getting ready to replace all my outside door mats (three) because they're yucky and covered in cat hair from my neighbor's cats who like to hang out on them. The current ones have been very hard to clean from cat hair, and would need constant, labor-intensive attention to keep them presentable. But I'm afraid the new ones (stiff coconut fibre, something like this) are going to be just as bad, or possibly even worse.

But I just can't bring myself to buy those ugly black rubber door mats. Is there some way I can discourage the kitty mat love? Most of the Google info on natural cat repellents focus on keeping cats out of plants and gardens. Have any of you dealt successfully with this kind of problem?

I'm going to be on the lookout for repellent spray, but so far I haven't found any (I don't live in the U.S. or U.K., and some things are not as easy to find as they are there) - and I'm picking up my mats today, so even if I am able to find a packaged repellent, I need some strategy in the interim.

Help my mom fight off the mosquitos with a pleasant smell.

Mavri — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 08:10:53 -0800

Can anyone recommend a non-chemical lotion mosquito repellent? My mom likes to garden in the muggy Texas heat. She loved Off Botanicals because it didn't smell like nasty chemicals and was a lotion. And it worked. Off no longer makes it. Can anyone recommend a replacement? Bonus if it would be available in a small town.

Scat!

essexjan — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 12:59:18 -0800

My cats are fouling my neighbour's garden. How can I stop them from using her yard as their toilet? What's unusual about them doing this is that the garden is all hard landscaping and they've been crapping on a gravel bed and not burying it. It's not as if they're short of places to go, I live next to a forest.

In the interests of staying on good terms with my neighbour, I want to try to address this problem. I've bought some of those repellent granules but, well, this is England and it rains a lot, so the effect of them will be diluted pretty quickly.

Has anyone ever used one of these? Did it work?

Any other suggestions? Having an indoor litter box is not an option.

The Gopher Menace

Kafkaesque — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 10:23:12 -0800

Damn you gophers! Damn you straight to hell! How do I get rid of gophers without digging up my yard? I've just replanted my front yard and I have a gopher (or a gang of gopher ne'er-do-wells) eating my plants. A feather grass plant was totally sucked into the ground, like on a cartoon. I'd like to drive the little pests away without killing them. Maybe gently suggesting that my neighbors down the street would welcome some rodent visitors... I've seen some vibrating spike products that you bury in the ground. Do these work? Do I have to get all medieval on their gopher butts?

Does the Thermacell mosquito repellent product really work?

gfroese — Mon, 04 Jul 2005 11:50:15 -0800

Recently purchased a mosquito repellent device from Thermacell and am wondering if anyone else has used a similar device, and how effective they really are. I searched the web for reviews and the ones I came up with all seemed to be worded a little too similarily to not raise some flags about them coming from the manufacturer. It is not cheap to buy refills for these devices, and living in the Canadian prairies there are a lot more mosquitos than hours in a refill cartridge.

I'm a little leary to open the package and get stuck in the endless loop of refills if this product turns out to be a bust.

If you have any other suggestions you have found to be effective I'd like to hear those as well.

what is biting me?

centrs — Mon, 04 Jul 2005 11:10:59 -0800

I moved to san francisco two months ago and have been bitten by some type of insect about 40 times since then. the favorite spot appears to be my left arm with 17 bites scattered from my hand to my shoulder. i never feel myself being bitten, the bites are very small and they itch unlike anything i've ever experienced. i have not had this reaction to mosquitos before, and usually feel them as they bite me and see them. does anyone have any idea of what could be biting me and any natural remedies for itching and/or insect repellent for the body?