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There are many uses for coffee grounds that don’t involve making actual coffee, but some of these ideas are just plain strange.
We’ve discussed using coffee grounds as fertilizer and whether or not they are good for tomato plants, but another commonly asked question regarding coffee grounds is whether or not they can keep cats away.
Yes, that’s right, cats.
Stray cats, feral cats, and even outdoor housecats can be a nuisance to those that don’t like cats or are allergic to cats. They can get into garbage and gardens while searching for food or things to destroy (cats love to destroy things).
There are many different ways the keep cats out of your yard ranging from commercial products you can purchase to products you may already have in your home. You can plant strong smelling herbs and flowers along the outside of your yard or in your garden, which will help prevent the cats from entering and will also help keep some insects from entering the area as well.
Cat repellant that you can buy at the store will also help prevent the cats from getting into your plants. You can spray this concentrate on the plants in your garden and around the edge of your yard to help deter them.
If you’re determined to keep the cats out, a fence or ultrasonic devices can also be used to help keep them out of your yard, but what about coffee grounds?
Can Coffee Grounds Keep Cats Out of Your Yard?
Knowing that cats can be deterred from entering your yard by using strong smelling plants or flowers, it would make sense that spreading coffee grounds may help to keep them out, but does it work?
Yes!
In fact, cats absolutely hate the smell of coffee grounds, so sprinkling them around your garden or yard is a great way to help prevent them from entering or digging.
Cats dislike things with strong odors, and since coffee grounds have such a strong smell, the cats will not want to venture anywhere near them, but there are some things you should know before dumping a bunch of coffee in your yard or garden.
1. Use Used Coffee Grounds
There’s no sense in wasting good coffee grounds that haven’t been used to brew a cup of coffee yet. Wait until you have a large amount of used coffee grounds before spreading them in the yard. You’ll also want to make sure that they have cooled down to room temperature before spreading them.
Lightly dust the areas you wish to keep the cats out of, and remember not to use a lot, or huge piles, as you don’t want to possibly injure the cats.
2. Cats Shouldn’t Eat Coffee
If a cat licks a coffee bean or eats a little bit of coffee grounds it’s not going to hurt them, but ingesting large amounts of coffee can be detrimental to the cats’ health.
Cats do not do well with caffeine, and coffee grounds contain a large amount of caffeine. Therefore, if a cat discovers the coffee grounds in your yard and decides that they want to see what they taste like, it could end up making the animal sick.
Be sure not to leave large piles of coffee grounds around for the cats to get into. Even though they don’t like the smell, some of them could become curious depending on how hungry they are.
3. Will Coffee Hurt Your Plants?
As we’ve discussed before, coffee grounds will not hurt your plants. In fact, coffee grounds can act as a great fertilizer to help add minerals to your soil that can help your plants and flowers grow.
No need to worry about hurting your plants if you’re spreading coffee grounds around your garden in an effort to prevent cats from entering. You will want to make sure that you’re using used coffee grounds though, as unused coffee grounds can be very acidic and could end up harming your plants.
Cats Hate Coffee
If you’re looking for a natural way to prevent the cats from entering your yard or destroying your garden, coffee grounds are a great place to start, especially if you’re a big coffee drinker and have access to them already.
The main downside with using coffee grounds is that they will lose their scent fairly quickly and will have to be replaced every week or so to help keep the cats away. It will also take a week or two to fully be able to determine if the cats are being detracted by the smell of the coffee, so don’t worry if you still see cats a couple days after spreading them in your yard.
