Best Cat Deterrents by Customers

Cat Deterrent Reviews – Finding a Reliable Source

Every cat deterrent device manufacturer is going to tell you that their device is the best at keeping cats away, but where can you get real, unbiased opinions on which of the current range of outdoor cat deterrents actually do the job and keeps cats away? There are two answers to that: the first place you can go is this website! Our cat repellent reviews are unbiased and we will point out the good and bad in each of the devices.

The Problem with Amazon Reviews

The second place to find good solid opinions is of course customer reviews. The largest single collection of customer reviews for all products is of course Amazon, but there are other websites such as petco that publish cat deterrent device reviews and also some niche garden websites. Although Amazon has hundreds of customer reviews car cat deterrents, there is a problem; the customer reviews cover a wide range of animals, from racoons, to snakes, mice, insects, dogs, and of course cats. What we are interested in primarily is how these devices work against cats and how effective they are.

What we have done therefore is collate reviews for each product from across the entire web, and strip out all the customer reviews that are for other animals and only collate data on reviews that specifically pertain to cats. We also stripped out reviews that were neither positive or negative so we could focus tightly on the reviews where customers were quite clear on whether they were having success using the devices or not.

The reason we have done this is that on Amazon, quite a few ultrasonic devices have been marked down by customers because perhaps they do not repel deer, or racoons. These reviews are not of interest to us, we just need to know about the reviews that have been left which specifically mention cats.

Please see our >>Best Cat Deterrent 2016<< review for our latest data!

Getting Relevant Review Data for Cat Deterrents

This is far more valuable that the 5 star system that Amazon adopts. The star rating system on Amazon for cat repellents is near useless, and here’s why. If you have a look at some of the one start reviews, you will see some of those are people complaining about delivery, or packaging – but we just want to know it the device scared away cats! On the flip side, some customers will have given a product a 5 star review, but perhaps they were only using the device to scare away deer! So looking at the Amazon star rating for cat deterrents is pointless.

Once we have removed all the reviews about other animals and irrelevant comments about packaging, you are left with laser targeted customer reviews for cat deterrents, and it makes for interesting reading!

Let’s take a look at how every customer who ever left a cat deterrent product review rates these top products, purely on their ability to deter cats.

Outdoor Ultrasonic Cat Repellent Satisfaction Levels

Let’s see how the TOP 5 outdoor ultrasonic repellents rated with actual customers with a look at the Yard Sentinel, Frostfire, Yard Gard, Catstop and the Garden Creations JB.

The Yard Sentinel

On Amazon there are well over 800 reviews for the Yard Sentinel, making it the most popular cat deterrent on Amazon. However, when you strip away all the customer reviews that don’t mention cats or are irrelevant when considering the device’s effectiveness against cats, and then add in the results from other review websites, you are left with over 600 reviews. This of course is a very healthy sampling size, and will give you an excellent and reliable idea of just how well these devices work.

What this chart tells us us that out of all the Yard Sentinel’s that customers used against cats, more than 80% were satisfied with the results, and posted a testimonial that it actively deterred cats away from their property, be it an outhouse, a garden a boat or whatever. However, the true results could be even higher….

You have to consider that of the 19% of customers who were dissatisfied with the Yard Sentinel, some of those will have failed to install and set up the Yard Sentinel properly. Our Yard Sentinel review has some good advice on setting up this device, which comes down to much the same advice for all ultrasonic devices;

• try and aim the device at the point of entry (ie a gate or low wall)
• use the devices adjustments for best effect
• keep the batteries fresh

Once you have conceded that some negative reviews will be down to human error, then the Yard Sentinel’s customer satisfaction metrics cam be concluded as nothing short of remarkable! An 81%+ success rate is good news for everyone seeking to get rid of cats from their property.

Frostfire

The Frostfire cat deterrent is like the new kid on the block, with substantially less customer reviews than the Yard Sentinel, it may not have sold as many units, but if you look closely at the percentages, it actually has an even higher customer satisfaction rating, with 82% of customers saying than the Frostfire successfully kept cats out of their yard! This unit is racing up the Amazon charts not just thanks to this success rate, but probably because it retails at half the price of the Yard Sentinel! For this reason we highly recommend the Frostfire Cat Deterrent.

Yard Gard

It’s easy to confuse the Yard Gard with the Yard Sentinel from the top of the page, as they both look remarkably similar, although they come from different manufacturers. Both products retail at roughly the same price point, although the Yard Gard is slightly cheaper. As you can see, with almost 500 reviews around the web, this is another product that has a healthy amount of solid customer feedback. In this case the satisfaction rating is slightly lower than the previous two models, however, still extremely successful at just shy of 80% satisfaction levels from people who actually use it to keep cats away.

Contech Catstop

The worst performing cat deterrent is the Catstop from Contech. As you can see, with a 73% satisfaction rating from consumers, this product is the least well received from customers out of the products we examined for this review. Nevertheless, this still means than 7 out of ten owners were satisfied and got good results with the unit – stoll making it a worthwhile product to consider, even if it is slightly more expensive than the rest. So, while the catstop may look like it would be the bottom of your shortlist, don’t lose sight of the fact that the overwhelming majority of customers are having success with this unit.

Garden Creations JB

The JB from Garden Creations is the most inexpensive model in this sampling, and if you glance down a little to the bar chart you can see that it is not one of the highest selling cat deterrents on the market. However, similar to the rest of the range, it achieves an 80% satisfaction rating from actual customers. From a price versus effectiveness point therefore, this is the best cat deterrent you can buy.

So, what if we look at these results side by side…

The Final Results on Customer Satisfaction with Outdoor Ultrasonic Cat Repellents

Looking at this chart we can see at a glance which cat deterrent sells most, by virtue of the number of customer reviews, and also which has the best customer satisfaction. So well done to the Yard Sentinel for being the most popular cat deterrent on the market, and congratulations to the Frostfire for have the highest level of customer satisfaction.

A quick sidenote for readers in the UK, all of the above devices are available in the USA, for a highly recommended UK product check the Catwatch cat deterrent. The catwatch is the only UK cat deterrent that is approved for use by the RSPB. We have a full review of catchwatch including a video of it scaring a cat away here. Also, we have not covered cat spray, water or powder repellents in this report which is specifically for high performing ultrasonic deterrents.

Finally, if you would like to read more on why these devices actually work, read our report on do cat repellents work.