I should plant some catnip around my house... more cats, less mosquitos? Win win
this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2026
75 points (100.0% liked)
Science
21750 readers
16 users here now
Subscribe to see new publications and popular science coverage of current research on your homepage
founded 7 years ago
MODERATORS
hows is more cats a win? they will fight each other, crap on your lawn, and kill local wildlife.
I am perpetually in a battle against the local wildlife (which also crap on my "lawn"), so I see few if any downsides here.
Cats kill the things that kill mosquitoes, just saying.
also other bugs too
Funny enough, that's a leading theory of why attraction to and the desire to roll around in catnip by felines was selected for.
cats are smart :)
Repels mosquitos. Pumas, panthers, leopards, etc...not so much.
The trial compared the catnip lotion against 15% DEET, so it's unknown how it compares against stronger formulas. However this is quite promising and I hope further studies are conducted globally! Catnip, as a member of the mint family, is quite a fast-growing, hardy plant, and could easily replace DEET for both home and commercial products if it continues to prove effective.
Most of the "effective as DEET" oils only last a very short amount of time because they evaporate too quickly. Which is why the CDC doesn't recommend them when traveling to locations with high mosquito disease transmission.
Curious if Catnip oil has the same issue, the article doesn't say.
So ... we just need to mix catnip/peppermint oil into a less volatile carrier to slow the evaporation, yes?
Then they're less effective.
We found that lotions containing both concentrations of catnip essential oil were highly effective at preventing mosquito landing, with 6% catnip oil performing as well as 15% DEET.
%15 deet does absolutely nothing. You need the %40.