Being near to your cat friend is always pleasant. However, stray cats in your neighborhood or your neighbor’s cat are not always welcome in your yard. Additionally, there are some areas where you don’t want your cat to wander, such as your just established vegetable garden. Have you given Irish soap a try as a cat repellent? But, you wonder, does Irish Spring soap keep cats away?
You do not need to purchase the soap from Ireland. The Colgate Palmolive brand manufactures Irish Spring soap. Its distribution is primarily in the US. The soap is available in various body washes and bar soaps with multiple scents. Continue reading to find out if the soap can repel cats;
Will Irish Spring Soap Keep Cats Away?
To keep cats away, use Irish Spring Soap. Citrus and herbal are only a couple of the many scents available for the soap. Even you can’t smell some scents that cats can, thanks to their keen sense of smell. Due to the toxins in these products, cats hate the scent of soap and air fresheners. The standard clean Irish soaps also have an artificial fragrance that cats hate.
Irish soap and other types of soap have a chemical scent that cats don’t like. Therefore, cleaning your cat’s litter box and food bowl with Irish soap is not good.
Your cat will stay away from things that are important to them, thanks to the Irish soap’s powerful scent. You should be aware that while the chemicals used to produce the soap may not harm you, they could be toxic to your cat.
Reasons Why Irish Spring Soap Repel Cats
The scent that makes up the Irish Spring soap is what repel cats. Your cat can’t handle the soap’s powerful smell of fresh bergamot and citrus and its floral and herbal components.
Any product containing citrus has a potent acidic scent that is poisonous to cats. Any soaps scented with essential oils, such as mint, are too overpowering for cats.
Irish spring soap has three natural variants, as seen below;
- Relaxing Sandalwood & Hemp
- Hydrating Eucalyptus & mint
- Exfoliating Salt & White Birch
The scent of Irish Spring soap will repel cats even without additional perfume because it contains eucalyptus and mint.
Is Irish Spring Safe For Cats?
It is not advisable to wash your cat with Irish Spring soap, for instance. Irish soap is not the only human soap that has unusual reactions to animals. The pH of a cat is alkaline, while a human is acidic. Your cat’s skin will itch, peel, dry out, develop rashes, and possibly develop skin infections if you use Irish soap for your cat’s grooming.
While bathing your cat is an excellent idea to eliminate fleas, greasy spots, mud, or grime from their skin, using human soaps is not advised. You can use baby soap or shampoo, which is often quite gentle on sensitive skin. Castile Soap is another safe option that you can use to moisturize your cat’s skin and coat.
You don’t have to worry about your cat eating a piece of Irish spring soap and becoming ill or poisoned. Cats will rarely go near the Irish soap due to its irritant smell. But since you can never be sure what your cat is up to, it’s best not to leave any pieces lying around.
You must keep in mind that the soap contains ingredients that help it break down dirt while cleaning. These same chemicals harm your cat. Irish soap is not safe for your cat since it contains several essential oils that are harmful to cats to consume or inhale.
What Does Irish Spring Soap Repel?
The Irish Spring soap deters squirrels, chipmunks, deer, rabbits, and rodents. These animals detest the scent of the various perfumes used in Irish soap. Irish spring soap comes in various scents and varieties, but no matter which one you use, it will keep them away. It may not eliminate the pests, but it keeps them away from your vegetable garden.
Most of the animal pests we have mentioned above like coming to your gardens, eventually destroying your plants. They can even dig up your favorite plants and eat the roots, fruits, and veggies of plants.
You’ll probably see plants nibbled off when the mentioned animals attack your garden. Although they only consume a portion of the plant, insects leave half-eaten leaves with jagged edges.
To shield your plants from these pests, grate Irish soap into one-inch cubes and scatter them. Depending on the size of your garden and the number of predators visiting it, you’ll need different amounts of soap. After spreading the Irish soap, you should keep an eye on your garden to see whether more is needed and where the pests are most active.
How Can You Keep Cats Out of Your Yard With Irish Spring Soap
It won’t be challenging to use Irish soap to keep cats from entering your yard because of its powerful scent, which cats can’t stand. Here is one method to keep them off your yard:
- Irish Spring soap should be broken into small pieces and placed in cheesecloth or drawstring bags. To keep the bars of soap inside the pouches, draw the strings firmly.
- Using a stapler, you can secure the pouches to a wooden stake.
- Place the stakes in the ground, leaving a 5 to 10-foot gap around the yard on all sides. Make sure to minimize the area where they usually enter your yard.
One or two cats can get through the stakes; you should think about scattering a few bits of soap throughout the yard.
Does Irish Spring Soap Keep Dogs Away?
Dogs react to Irish Spring soap differently than most other animals. If the Irish soap makes them think of you or tastes delicious, they will like it. They will be attracted to Irish spring soap if its scent can make them feel less anxious or cover up their scent.
Dogs also enjoy having a fresh, clean smell, so using soap won’t deter them, primarily if you use it.
Your Irish spring soap might tempt your dog if the food you feed is deficient in the nutrients it requires. Most soaps have oils and fats, which your dog may need. Although it is not harmful to your dog to ingest Irish spring soap, it will irritate its stomach.
Compared to other domestic pets, dogs are more likely to experience stress and anxiety. Pica, a disorder brought on by stress and anxiety, makes dogs seek and eat non-food items. Your Irish soap smells and tastes delicious so that the dog will enjoy a taste of it.
Anything that smells like you will be seen favorably by your dog. Your dog will not keep away if you use Irish soap. Thanks to your scent, your presence will always make your dog feel calmer.
What Scent Will Keep a Cat Away?
A variety of scents can repel cats. A cat’s sense of smell is 14 times more acute than a human’s. Cats avoid the smell of citrus, tobacco, and some essential oils. The ability to smell food, find mates, and identify potential dangers makes a cat’s sense of smell incredibly vital.
Here are a few scents that will keep a cat away:
1. Essential oils
Cats don’t like the smell of essential oils, even though you might find them to smell good, and some claim they can help you relax. Citronella, lemon grass, lavender, tea tree, and eucalyptus are a few essential oils that deter cats.
The cat’s dislike for essential oils serves them well since it protects them from the Volatile organic compounds(VOCs) such oils contain.
2. Tobacco
Considering their high sense of smell, cats will avoid tobacco. You shouldn’t expose your cat to tobacco nicotine because it is toxic to cats. While grooming, the cat may contact some tobacco particles, which they may accidentally intake.
3. Plants
You might be surprised to find that cats don’t like some plants. Rue, lemon thyme, marigolds, pennyroyals, and marigolds are a few of the plants that cats dislike. Planting these plants around your yard or flower beds will keep cats away.
4. Citrus
Citrus has an acidic scent that cats hate. The smell is toxic to them. You can scatter the areas you don’t want the cat to access with freshly ground grapefruit, lime, lemon, or orange peels. Additionally, you can make sprays and spray them to the areas where you want to keep cats away.
5. Brewed coffee grounds
You will notice that your cat is unwilling to join you in your daily coffee ritual because caffeine is highly toxic to cats. To prevent cats from eating your garden plants, scatter coffee grounds around the area.
What Bugs Does Irish Spring Soap Repel?
No studies have proven that Irish Spring soap repels bugs, but most people agree that it can repel pest mammals. However, depending on the scent of a particular Irish soap, it might be able to repel some bugs. The soap’s chemical composition may also be a significant factor in deterring insects.
The sodium chloride found in the soap will keep some bugs away. Ants, fleas, roaches, spiders, and termites are just a few of the insects that can’t tolerate sodium. Citric acid, an ingredient of Irish soap, and coconut acid make commercial insect repellents. These particular fragrances are repulsive to ticks and mosquitoes.
While glycerin, another ingredient in Irish spring soap, may not be an insect repellent, it does help to preserve the other active chemicals. It makes the insect repellent last longer, keeping flies away.
Conclusion
At least you know why switching to Irish Spring soap isn’t making your cat happy. Cats hate the strong scent of Irish Spring soap and will avoid it. The Irish soap also repels deers, rabbits, squirrels, rats, and chipmunks.
Coffee grounds, essential oils, tobacco, citrus peels, and some herbal plants are other scents that repel cats. All of these scents share the characteristic of being too strong for your cat’s sensitive sense of smell.