Cat safe ant repellant?

BeccaT

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Nov 9, 2021
Messages
151
Purraise
188
I want to first apologise if this isn't the right place to ask, I looked around and I'm not sure where else to ask as it's not for my own cat's health, but for others that are outdoor cats but I don't think they're all strays.

So I like to keep a big bowl of water outside our house for any stray or outdoor cats that come by as it's been very hot here lately, but there's recently been a big swarm of ants around and in the water bowl. What are some cat safe ways I can keep the ants away? I've tried mixing water and apple cider vinegar and sprayed it in the area where the ants are but it didn't help and I reckon the smell would prevent cats from using it.
 

tabbytom

Happiness is being owned by a cat
Staff Member
Mentor
Joined
May 12, 2016
Messages
19,674
Purraise
36,876
Location
Lion City, Singa-purr
So I like to keep a big bowl of water outside our house for any stray or outdoor cats that come by as it's been very hot here lately, but there's recently been a big swarm of ants around and in the water bowl. What are some cat safe ways I can keep the ants away? I've tried mixing water and apple cider vinegar and sprayed it in the area where the ants are but it didn't help and I reckon the smell would prevent cats from using it.
If it's outdoor, safest way is when the cats are not around, pour boiling water into the ground or where you see them emerging and around the water bowl. You may have to do this several times as you do not not the ants track or whereabout is their nest.

The other safest way is mix 50:50 water and vinegar (not apple cider) and spray around the area. This mixture musk the ant's trail and once there's no trail scents, the ants won't come.

But since it's outdoor, I'll go with the boiling water. That's what I did to the ants that are outside my house as they live in the cracks on the floor.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

BeccaT

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Nov 9, 2021
Messages
151
Purraise
188
If it's outdoor, safest way is when the cats are not around, pour boiling water into the ground or where you see them emerging and around the water bowl. You may have to do this several times as you do not not the ants track or whereabout is their nest.

The other safest way is mix 50:50 water and vinegar (not apple cider) and spray around the area. This mixture musk the ant's trail and once there's no trail scents, the ants won't come.

But since it's outdoor, I'll go with the boiling water. That's what I did to the ants that are outside my house as they live in the cracks on the floor.
Oh this is great, thank you! I'll give this a go tomorrow morning.
 

Caspers Human

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Messages
2,693
Purraise
4,703
Location
Pennsylvania
If this is for outdoors only, 20-Mule Team Borax.

Sprinkle a bit on the ground, around the nest. This might kill the grass.
Mix some borax in honey and leave it where the ants can find it. Use bottle caps as containers.

Pure borax has low toxicity to humans and animals.
Borax might be toxic to plants and the environment if too much is used.
Borax is lethal to almost any kind of ant that can be enticed to eat it. (Almost any kind that most people would normally find.)
 

game misconduct

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 1, 2020
Messages
5,383
Purraise
19,308
Location
westcovina california
mix up dawn dish soap and water find the nest and flood the nest with it kills em fast can use a spray bottle to mist and kill the ants around the bowl as well but its betterto eliminate the nest before they find a way inside your house into your pantry
 

LTS3

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Aug 29, 2014
Messages
19,209
Purraise
19,695
Location
USA
Set the water bowl in a large shallow tray. Fill the tray with water, an inch or so. Ants can't cross the "moat" to get into the water bowl and will probably drown in the "moat" (can ants swim?).

You could also use an elevated stand to hold the water bowl and set that into the water filled tray.
 

LTS3

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Aug 29, 2014
Messages
19,209
Purraise
19,695
Location
USA
Forgot TCS has an article with tips:


The tips will work for water bowls, too.
 

Caspers Human

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 23, 2016
Messages
2,693
Purraise
4,703
Location
Pennsylvania
mix up dawn dish soap and water find the nest and flood the nest with it kills em fast...
Set the water bowl in a large shallow tray. Fill the tray with water, an inch or so. Ants can't cross the "moat" to get into the water bowl and will probably drown in the "moat" (can ants swim?).
Dawn dish soap will kill any living ants but not the eggs or larvae.
If you don't kill the queen, the nest will regenerate. If there are any fertile females that survive, they can also turn into queens and regenerate the nest or, worse, move the nest some place where there isn't any poison.

If you use borax, the ants will eat it and will all die.
Borax doesn't kill immediately. It takes time. During that time, the worker ants will bring it back to the nest then feed it to the young and the queen.
Borax can kill a whole nest with no survivors.

Like I said, borax is only mildly toxic to humans and pets.
Of course, it can make you sick if you eat it but who's going to eat borax? It tastes like...well...borax! ;)

Mix some borax and some Karo syrup or some honey and you have, virtually, the exact same thing as the "Tero" brand ant killer that you buy in stores.

Honestly, the first and best line of defense against ants is to keep the kitchen spotlessly clean so that they don't have any reason to invade. Use some kind of aromatic soap, cleaner or essential oil to keep ants away after you have cleaned.

Anything with a strong, aromatic smell will work. We use peppermint oil. Just wipe a few drops of it around the edges of the kitchen counter and base of the cupboards. Ants use scent trails to help each other find food. The aromatic scent of peppermint totally screws up their "radar" so that they can't follow their own scent trails.

The bowl of water to make a "mote" around cat food works. We use it.
But, remember that, even though individual ants may drown in the moat, whole groups of ants may make a raft and climb across the moat on each other's bodies.

The water bowl does work but it should only be considered a last line of defense.

First, attack the nests outside if you can find them.

Second, clean the kitchen to within an inch of its life and keep it clean.

Finally, use tricks like peppermint oil and water bowls to ward off any ants who might stray inside.
 

danteshuman

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 27, 2017
Messages
5,030
Purraise
6,077
Location
California
The exterminator used this clear bait he attached a few drops to places in cabinets or near the ceiling where the ants went but not my cat. Or the exterminator can have you remove the face plates to electric sockets, place the bait in there, then you screw in the plates. The ants carry the poison home.
 
Top