Cat Problems on Outdoor Furniture

Q. When I leave my cushions out on my lawn furniture, the neighborhood cats like to come and do their business on them. What can I use on or near them to keep them away? Sometimes it's very late when our friends leave in the evening and I'm a bit too tired to clean everything away so I wait till the morning. Thank you. -- Beverly

Cats hate the smell of ammonia.

Bunch the chairs and place a piece of plastic or a tarp over top of them.  Your guest can help to bunch them together.  Keep the tarp outside but near your furniture for easy placement. Use some stones or something heavier to keep the cover in place or add weights to the ends of your cover permanently.

I use orange oil available in furniture finishing stores to keep cats out of places I don't want them near. You might try saturating a cotton ball with it and putting it inside the c}sion, or depending on material, just mist it around.  Cats don't like the scent of citrus, and this has always worked for our cats.  I wipe house and garden plant leaves with it, and place orange peels in the pots they are planted in so they will leave them alone, too.  It works for us. ~~Cyndy~~

I, too, have a problem with cats and cushions, except that the cushions are on my loveseat (in thelivingroom) and the cats are mine.  I have washed the cushions (foam rubber) in rather strong bleach water (their covers were washed separately) and that took the smell out.  It took them a LONG time to dry, however, as the foam rubber is very thick.  When I put them back on the loveseat, I sprayed them with a heavy solution of white vinegar and water.  That worked for a while, but I have had to remember to re-spray pretty often.  Hope this helps.  Becki

We fought similar cat problems for a couple of years before discovering that they seem to really HATE the smell of citrus fruits.  You can purchase orange oil or lime oil air fresheners (not the fake stuff), but they can be a little pricey.  As an alternative, try attaching dried orange/lemon peel sachets to your chairs, or even slip a few in a small pouch under each cushion.  Not only will cats find the chairs less inviting, but you'll have the benefit of nicely scented chairs!  Just be careful about allowing peels to touch visible fabric; the oils in them can cause "wet-looking" stains.

An additional tip I was given by a veterinary assistant: If you're having trouble removing the existing cat scent from soiled fabric, try using vanilla.  Check around baking stores or Mexican import shops to find the clear kind so you don't have to worry about staining.  For whatever reason, vanilla really does seem to do a surprisingly good job of masking even the most stubborn cat scents.

We fought similar cat problems for a couple of years before discovering that they seem to really HATE the smell of citrus fruits.  You can purchase orange oil or lime oil air fresheners (not the fake stuff), but they can be a little pricey.  As an alternative, try attaching dried orange/lemon peel sachets to your chairs, or even slip a few in a small pouch under each cushion.  Not only will cats find the chairs less inviting, but you'll have the benefit of nicely scented chairs!  Just be careful about allowing peels to touch visible fabric; the oils in them can cause "wet-looking" stains.

An additional tip I was given by a veterinary assistant: If you're having trouble removing the existing cat scent from soiled fabric, try using vanilla.  Check around baking stores or Mexican import shops to find the clear kind so you don't have to worry about staining.  For whatever reason, vanilla really does seem to do a surprisingly good job of masking even the most stubborn cat scents.

My mother used moth balls to keep cats out of her flower beds.  Maybe it would work here also

Petco. has a Great product that not only remove stains and odors, it will detour cats from returning to the site of the crime.  It's made of a protein enzyme that cats DO NOT like and humans CAN NOT smell.