If you have recently encountered that your feline is not just licking herself, but now she has a habit of licking household items, walls, floors, etc.
Then, my friend, it’s a matter of concern as your kitty is turning into an obsessive licking mammal. It can be due to many reasons.
However, it’s not like that she will never give up the odd habit.
You can get rid of her this licking habit by consulting the vet, or else at home also you can try by yourself to stop your cat from licking every damn thing.
In the following paragraphs, we have highlighted some natural home remedies to stop a cat from licking.
Refer to those easy tactics, it might work best for you.
9 Natural Remedies to Stop Your Feline’s Licking Habit
We have a solution for you, as we have listed below some natural home remedies to stop a cat from licking.
Keep on reading to get the insight information that will help you to get rid of this habit of your kitty.
1. Apply Essential Oil
Felines have very strong sensing smell power so before trying out any essential make sure that your kitty is not allergic to that fragrance and most importantly it should be pet-friendly.
There are certain oils felines don’t like to smell, and they will avoid coming in contact with those substances.
Which contain the fragrance and that will help to prevent your feline from licking substances, body, etc.
So, essential oils are one of the natural home remedies which you can use to stop your feline from licking.
2. Keep Your Floor Clean
It could be possible that your feline is licking the floor or table surface because she is getting some flavors from it.
And, it’s a true table or surface where food is kept or prepared to leave the smell of the ingredients.
Furthermore, if you have children in your house then there is a high possibility they will drop the food on the table or floor, which might attract your feline to lick the surface to get the taste.
So, try to keep the floor area and table neat and tidy where food is kept.
And also ensure where your cat’s food bowl is kept, the surface is also cleaned. It will help in preventing your feline from licking the surface to get the food taste.
3. Improve Her Diet
Another possible reason for your kitty’s licking habit could be that she might be suffering from pica disease, which means she has a nutrient deficiency, which urges her to eat more.
And so she licks the substances, floor, body to satisfy her appetite, she might be getting some kind of flavor from all this stuff.
In such a scenario, you need to consult her vet and start her medication, change her food habits.
Provide more nutrients-containing ingredient food which will help to reduce the craving of eating more than the appetite.
It will automatically reduce the urge to lick the other kinds of stuff available in the house.
4. Train Your Feline to Stop Licking
Apart from natural home remedies, sometimes good training also helps in conveying your message to your kitty. That you are not licking her some of the bad habits which she needs to get rid of soonest.
For training your kitty, you need to have some patients, like today you are giving her training, and it’s not possible that she will learn on the same day and stop her odd habits.
For instance, if your kitty has this excessive licking habit.
You can do one thing when she comes to lick any household items, walls, floors, or anything to distract her mind by offering treats.
You have to be prepared that she will demand treats to give away her licking habit, so be careful while offering treats, do not overfeed her.
Otherwise, it will affect her body system and will create more issues for you.
5. Entertain Your Cat
The excessive licking behavior of your feline pal could be due to boredom.
She needs a little spark in her life. In other words, she just requires some entertainment.
Provide your feline pal some good cat toys which will engage her, and she will not feel bored, lethargic.
Buy her good quality scratching posts, laser pointer, wonder toys that your kitty will enjoy playing with, or else you can also add one more pet cat in your family to give her company.
Or else, take out some time from your busy schedule for your kitty, play with her, spend some time with her, go for a walk, etc.
Let her sit next to you, give her the attention which she is craving for a long time.
6. Use Mint to Discourage Your Cat From Licking
Mint can be used as a natural home remedy to stop a cat from licking.
Cats hate the mint smell, so you can take this advantage.
All you need to do is take warm water and add a few drops of mint and then spray it on the surface, walls, table, etc.
Furthermore, you can store this solution in a bottle so that you can use it on a daily basis till your feline stops licking the household items, surfaces, etc.
In addition, use fresh mint leaves, it will give you a better smell and will get mixed with the indoor air.
7. Clean Walls and Floor With Citrus Spray
Cats have an extremely sensitive smell sense.
Felines don’t like strong fragrances, and citrus smell is on their “hate list”.
Because citrus is very aromatic and has a very strong smell.
So, one of the best natural home remedies to stop a cat from licking is to use citrus spray on walls and the floor.
But avoid spraying it on furniture as it could ruin it.
So, when she tries to lick the walls or floor, the citrus smell will stop her from licking.
Furthermore, it’s very easy to make just simple ingredients required like lemon, or orange, water, and spray is ready to use.
Avoid market citrus spray as it contains artificial additives which are dangerous for your feline’s health.
8. Consult Your Feline’s Vet
Even after giving your best, and trying out all possible remedies to stop your feline’s licking habit.
But still, she is not willing to give away this unusual habit.
The only option left with you now is to consult your kitty’s vet, there can be an underlying health issue due to which it urges your kitty to lick excessively.
High possibility that she needs proper nutrient intake, or the brain is not giving correct signals, which can also lead to this sort of odd behavior.
9. Use Herbal Remedies to Ease Her Anxiety
It’s true when felines are under stress or anxiety they start over grooming themselves, which end up excessive licking, it helps them to release endorphins that relieve stress or anxiety.
So it’s a high possibility that while relieving their stress, the cat makes licking their habit.
You can ease your kitty anxiety by using herbal remedies such as lavender, rosemary, chamomile, etc. Simply apply these herbal essences to calm down your kitty.
Note:- Before using any herbal essence, consult your kitty’s veterinarian to avoid any health complications.
Conclusion
This time, we came up with the solutions for natural home remedies to stop a cat from licking.
Hopefully, the remedies, which we have listed in this blog, will help you to discourage your feline’s licking habit.
All the tactics which we have discussed above are easy and affordable.
So, you can easily try those remedies and see which one gives you the best result in stopping your kitty from licking.
Out of all the remedies, citrus, and mint spray is very effective.
Try to use these remedies first and observe your feline, it will take a bit of time but will give you fruitful results.
References
- Cars that lick too much — Cornell University
- Why do cats lick you? — BeChewy
- Does peppermint deter cats from licking — SFGate