Childproofing Your Home And Garden
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Childproofing Your Home And Garden

When my first child had an accident at home, I realised we hadn't childproofed the house as well as we could have. Thankfully, they were fine, but I learned my lesson and began a thorough inspection of my home and garden. I got to work addressing the various hazards we had overlooked, and I started this blog to help other parents think objectively about the hazards in their own homes. I post about a variety of topics, such as pool safety, choosing a safe garden fence, storing medication and cleaning products, window and door locks and kitchen safety for kids. I hope you find my blog useful and informative.

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Childproofing Your Home And Garden

5 Tips for Deterring Stray Cats From Your AC Unit

Ana Gonzales

If there are stray cats climbing onto your air conditioning unit, that can be annoying, and in some cases, people around the world have even reported cats urinating on their air conditioning units. If you are tired of the noise or the odours or just want them to stay away, there are ways to deter them from your outdoor AC unit. Take a look at these tips:

1. Spray a natural cat repellant around the area.

To deter the cats, you can make a simple, homemade cat repellant. Mix a bit of lavender, rosemary and cinnamon in boiling water and let it cool. Put it in a spray bottle and spray it on the ground around your air conditioning unit.

Alternatively, use lemon and eucalyptus diluted in water as a repellent. If you don't want to make repellent, scatter lemon peels around the unit.

2. Get rid of litter-like materials around your air conditioning unit.

Feral cats look for sand or dirt to bury their poo in, and you don't want to provide that option around your AC unit. Replace mulch or dirt with a few landscaping stones or large rocks. That way, the cats cannot dig there, and it may make them less likely to come to that area.

3. Tape aluminium foil over the AC unit.

Cats don't like to walk on aluminium foil -- the texture and sound bothers them. To take advantage of this fact, tape some aluminium foil around your air conditioning unit, and consider placing some on the ground around the unit as well. You can tape it in place or weight it with rocks.

4. Use a plastic carpet runner.

Alternatively, you can use a plastic carpet runner instead of aluminium foil. You can find these at office furniture stores. They have a smooth side to allow chairs to move around, and the other side has small plastic spikes to hold it in place on carpet. Lay one of these spike-side up on your air conditioning unit. If the cats jump up and land on it, they will feel the spikes and jump back down.

5. Install a motion-activated light over your air conditioning unit.

Stray cats may be frightened if a light unexpectedly turns on. To keep them away from your AC unit at night, hang a motion activated light above it. When they approach it, the light will turn on and hopefully scare them away.


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