The first line of defence is to ensure that your yard boundaries are secure. Any gaps in your fence should be blocked to deny low level access. But cats can jump so fix a taut wire or string some six inches above the top of your fence to deter this approach.

Once inside your garden many people say that the best cat repellent is a dog who will soon see off any feline invader. If you are not a dog lover then you will have to resort to more passive methods. Since cats like to lie on freshly dug soil you should lay mulch on your borders so that no bare soil is left exposed. Seed beds should be covered with wire netting or twigs arranged as a barrier.

Young trees should have plastic guards fitted around their trunks to protect them against use as a scratching pole.
Your garden pond should be covered with netting to keep your fish safe.

Cats are generally known to dislike water so a well aimed bucketful or a squirt with the hose will certainly make an intruder run. After one or two dousings it may learn the lesson and stay away.

To protect plants and borders both mothballs and citrus are said to be effective deterrents. Place the mothballs, orange peel or lemon rind in the borders. Alternatively spray cloths with orange scented air freshener and place the cloths around the plants you wish to protect. Other known cat repellents are cayenne pepper, coffee grounds, pipe tobacco, lavender oil, lemon grass oil, citronella oil, eucalyptus oil and mustard oil.

Certain herbs are said to deter cats. In particular rue but not catmint which has the opposite effect. Coleus canina is another plant which is marketed by one merchant as a cat repellent.

The broadcaster Jerry Baker has suggested treating your yard with a tonic made from chewing tobacco, urine, birth control pills, mouthwash, molasses, detergent and beer. A smallholder has reported success using dried rabbit blood but you may feel that the ingredients listed in the previous paragraph should be tried first.

If you visit your local garden center or hardware store you will find several cat repellent products on sale. These range from electric water sprinklers and ultrasonic devices to sprays and granules.

Motion activated sprinklers act in the same way as a burglar alarm using an infra red detector. When the cat enters the area covered by the detector the sprinkler shoots out a jet of water to scare the animal away. It is claimed that, after one or two encounters with the jet, the cat will learn to avoid the area.

Ultrasonic devices emit a high frequency sound which is annoying to cats (and dogs) but is not audible to humans. There are various different models some of which operate continuously and others which have an infra red detector and only emit a pulse of sound when the cat triggers the device. To be successful you need to ensure that the model is powerful enough to cover the area you wish to protect. In addition make sure that the sound frequency is designed for larger animals since some models are intended to deter insects and so would be no use for cats.

There are also commercial scent cat repellents. Those that use chemicals should be kept away from any food crops but the essential oil based granule varieties act in the same way as orange and lemon peel mentioned above. Another way to keep a cat out if the garden is a repellent evaporator which consists of a container holding puffed rice which has been impregnated with essential oils. These are effective for three to four weeks and can then be refilled for a further period. Another natural product which many people claim really keeps a cat out of the garden is lion’s dung. You may need to visit your local zoo to obtain this although some stores do stock zoo poo.

In Ontario, Canada the local township provides a cat trap service. Once the animal enters the cage it cannot escape but is completely unharmed. The owner has to pay to recover his pet and so should be encouraged not to let the cat stray in future. Apparently few owners bother to reclaim their cats but just obtain another kitten. However this sounds like a good way of dealing with a cat that cannot be deterred by any other method. If there is no such scheme in your area, just buy your own trap.

So, to recap, the first priority is to secure your boundary fences. Then you have the whole selection of suggested cat repellents ranging from homemade recipes to expensive commercial gadgets. I would suggest that you try the orange peel and prickly twigs for a start. If you are around when the intruder appears, try the bucket of water or hose. Even if you miss, the shock may be a sufficient deterrent. If these do not do the trick, then you may have to consider the commercial alternatives.

Hugh Harris-Evans is the owner of The Garden Supplies Advisor where you will find further articles, gardening tips and product reviews.

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The simplest method is to simply grow things that deer will not want to eat. If a deer cannot easily digest a certain plant, they will avoid it in most cases. This does not hold true when food is scarce. During these times, a deer will be more likely to eat whatever plants are available. Try planting things with thorns or fuzzy leaves. You might also want to try planting lilac, American holly, or flowering dogwood.

If you need to get rid of deer quickly, your best bet is to use a deer repellent. These are available from many sources, but you should be careful what you buy. Some repellent contain dangerous chemicals. If you have children or pets that may come in contact with the deer repellent, look for a natural solution. Natural deer repellents are available online and can be extremely effective.

Another factor to consider is how long deer have been in your yard. If deer have been visiting your yard on a regular basis for a few weeks, it will be more difficult to deter them. You need to start using a repellent immediately after spotting deer in your yard in order to get the most from the product.

If you utilize multiple methods in deterring deer, you will realize more powerful results. Remember to take action quickly, and you can end your deer troubles forever.

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When going on a camping trip, you will have to take along enough equipment to last you through the trip. You will definitely remember to add the tent, food, mattresses and some of the other basic essentials of a camping trip on the camping supply list. However, it is highly possible for you to forget an important member of the camping supply list, the mosquito repellent!

No camping trip will be enjoyable without a mosquito repellent. You can buy many of the best mosquito repellents from any camping equipment store or perhaps make some homemade mosquito repellent to take along on the camping trip.

An idea of a homemade mosquito repellent is to put some water on a white plate. You then add some drops of lemon joy dishwashing soap and place this concoction where you sit. Mosquitoes that are attracted to the plate will drop dead in the plate or somewhere near by. Growing Thai lemon grass provides a good homemade mosquito repellent. Once it grows, you cut some grass to rub its stalk on your skin. This wards off mosquitoes.

Another homemade mosquito repellent is made by mixing catnip oil with a little grain alcohol. This mixture is placed in a mister to work as a spray repellent. So if you are one of those who love using homemade camping gear on a camping trip, add the homemade mosquito repellent to your camping supply list.

Besides the mosquito repellent, another addition to your camping supply list would be some mosquito netting fabric for protection from mosquitoes. Instead of buying some mosquito repellent, sometimes it is the homemade mosquito repellent that is most effective. Homemade mosquito repellant is not only affordable; it sometimes provides better results than other mosquito repellents. Of course, the greatest benefit of homemade mosquito repellent is that it is a repellent that is made devoid of any chemicals. There is no chance of any allergies or skin irritations emerging after using homemade mosquito repellents.

To receive a free copy of the ‘Ultimate What to Take Camping List’, visit Dependable Camping Equipment

Sam Jordan

Sam Jordan is a creative webmaster / content publisher with many interests. He is the webmaster of http://www.dependable-camping-equipment.com in addition to many other sites.

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This mild reaction is caused by the venom the insect carries and it normally occurs with the bite of a mosquito, fly, cockroach or bedbug. In this case, vinegar, diluted ammonia or phenolated calamine lotion will relieve itching and burning. Other insect bites can also be cleaned with alcohol, povidone-iodine or plain soap and water.

These simple measures, however, cannot protect people from the many diseases insects bring, some of which are life-threatening. If that’s your concern, it may be a good idea to buy an insect repellent.

Thiamin or vitamin B1 has long been recommended for this purpose. Isolated reports say that large amounts of thiamin taken by mouth make perspiration offensive to insects, driving them away. To get this effect, dermatologists say you should take 150 milligrams of thiamin three to four times a day.

Good as it sounds, that formula doesn’t work. The US Food and Drug Administration said that as early as 1960, thiamin was found to be ineffective as an insect repellent. In that experiment, volunteers took as much as 200 milligrams of thiamin three times a day and exposed their forearms to hungry female mosquitoes. The result: everyone got bitten in spite of the thiamin they took.

In choosing an insect repellent, look for a product with N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide or deet for short. This chemical was first synthesized in the 1950s and remains the most effective repellent against a wide variety of crawling and flying pests. Concentrations of up to 95 percent were used by American troops during the Vietnam War and many manufactures have incorporated deet in their insect repellents since 1961.

Deet’s performance depends on how much is used. A product that contains more deet is more effective and can ward off mosquitoes for over six hours and stable flies for over 4 1/2 hours. Tests made by Consumer Reports also showed that deet performed well against two of the most common and troublesome species of mosquitoes - the Aedes aegypti which causes dengue or H-fever, and Culux pipiens which causes filariasis.

But that protection comes with a price. Since deet is absorbed in the bloodstream, higher concentrations of this chemical can cause serious side effects.

“Among the most dramatic instances: six girls under age nine developed toxic encephalopathy, a swelling of the brain that can cause disorientation, convulsions and death. Three of the girls died. Deet repellents had been applied copiously to most of the girls for weeks or months, and one girl had metabolic disease that apparently made deet’s effects worse. But another victim had been wearing insect repellent for just two days. More recent reports have noted brief seizures in five males - four boys under age eight and one adult - after they used deet repellent of varying concentrations, typically only once or twice daily,” according to Consumers Reports. (Next: The trouble with deet.)

To strengthen your body against diseases that bugs bring, take Immunitril - your first line of defense in maintaining a healthy immune system. For details, visit http://www.bodestore.com/immunitril.html

Sharon Bell is an avid health and fitness enthusiast and published author. Many of her insightful articles can be found at the premier online news magazine http://www.HealthLinesNews.com

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