Luckily, cats don't tend to eat lemon as they dislike the sour taste. A single inquisitive lick will not do your cat any harm. If your cat eats lemon and you catch it, get it to the vet right away.
If you've ever asked yourself, can cats eat lemons? The answer is a firm no. Lemons and other citrus fruits can harm your feline friend because they contain toxic compounds that are poisonous to most domestic pets.
Cats can experience gastrointestinal upset if they consume citrus fruits, and they can also experience skin irritation if their skin comes into contact with one of these fruits. Citrus fruits are toxic to cats because they contain essential oil extracts such as limonene and linalool, as well as psoralens.
Fortunately, this natural aversion to strong, citrusy smells means that cats tend to avoid eating it. This is just as well as ingesting citrus fruits can cause cats to experience gastrointestinal discomfort, vomiting and diarrhoea.
However, avoid using citrus, such as orange peels and lemon peels, which can be a highly unpleasant smell for many cats and can irritate or even stress them out.
Lemons can be a safe and easy way to treat skin problems and repel fleas in dogs and cats. You can make an easy lemon rinse in a spray bottle (see recipe below) to spritz your pet to help repel fleas and soothe the skin in dogs and cats.
Catnip and More.
Many herbs we use in cooking are safe and fun for cats to sniff, and some are known to be feline favorites. Catnip, part of the mint family, affects many cats with a scent-induced kitty “high.” Silver vine has a similar effect. And valerian can energize cats.
Citrus: orange, lemon, lime, and grapefruit
Citrus smells are widely reported as being repugnant to cats. You can use this to your advantage by throwing orange peels around your garden to keep cats away or spritzing a citrus scent on indoor fabric that you don't want your cat scratching up.
Cats can't eat any citrus fruits, whether it's lemon, orange, or grapefruit. Even in tiny amounts, citrus may trigger stomach pain, drooling, diarrhea, vomiting, weakness, lethargy, tremors, cold limbs, and even low blood pressure.
As a general rule, cats are sensitive when it comes to smells, but there are a few scents they hate that might just surprise you. They can't stand citrus and as much as you might love the smell of fresh herbs, cats hate rosemary and thyme. Banana and mustard are a big no-no too, as well as lavender and eucalyptus.
Cats don't like the strong, acidic smell of citrus fruits, like lemons, limes and oranges. Since cats' sense of smell is so strong, the sour scent of these fruits is too much for them.
Because of the high level of citric acid, lemons are one of the most effective and natural ways to kill fleas. By spraying or brushing lemons onto your cat's coat to help get rid of the fleas. Slice a lemon and let it steep in boiling water then drain the water when cooled into a spray bottle.
Cats have only 480 taste buds, and they only have taste receptors for salty, sour, and bitter. Like dogs, cats have a strong sense of smell and dislike anything that tastes bitter.
Felines – from domestic cats to wild lions and tigers – are extremely sensitive to the catnip plant. A member of the mint family and originally from Europe, catnip (Nepeta cataria) has volatile oils and other compounds in its stems and leaves, including nepetalactone.
Cats can also discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar humans, recognise human faces and voices, and make the mental match between the two.
Try putting some of the toys away while you leave others out, and then rotate them every few days to give your kitty the “new toy” excitement without the expense. Stimulate your cat's hunting instinct by providing a prey-like toy, such as a laser toy or kitty fishing pole.
It's thanks to the lemon and rosemary scents to which cats have a natural aversion. They apparently HATE both the smell of citrus and rosemary.
Lemon spray
Lemon can be used in a lot of ways around the house, but aside from being a good way to treat wasp stings, it's also a great natural home remedy for fleas. Treatment using this natural remedy to get rid of fleas consists of making a citrus spray to use on infected furniture.
Citrus peels
Another natural and simple solution to deter cats from your outdoor space is to finely chop citrus fruits (such as lemons, limes and oranges) and place them around the garden. Similar to lavender and peppermint, cats don't like the strong citrus scent.
Many liquid potpourri products and essential oils, including oil of cinnamon, citrus, pennyroyal, peppermint, pine, sweet birch, tea tree (melaleuca), wintergreen, and ylang ylang, are poisonous to cats. Both ingestion and skin exposure can be toxic.
Orange and lemon peels (cats dislike citrus smells), cayenne pepper, coffee grounds, pipe tobacco, lavender oil, lemon grass oil, citronella oil, peppermint oil, eucalyptus oil, & mustard oil.
Natural flea repellents such as citronella, eucalyptus, peppermint, and geraniol may naturally repel fleas. If your pet doesn't mind a spray bottle, dilute a few drops of your chosen repellent into 10-13 fl oz of water and spray directly onto your pet's coat.
Selamectin kills adult fleas and larva and prevents flea eggs from hatching by attacking the flea's nervous system. It is also used to treat ear mites and roundworms and as a heartworm preventative.