Catnip lotion as effective as Deet at repelling mosquitoes, study finds

rbanffy 11 points 4 comments July 15, 2026
www.theguardian.com · View on Hacker News

Discussion Highlights (4 comments)

ggm

> Whether or not local cats were more likely to follow lotion wearers was not part of the research, Scofield admitted. “We did not conduct any experiments to see if it is attractive to cats, but given that the active ingredient [nepetalactone] has well-known cat-attractive properties, I would expect they would quite like it,” he said. To forestall the obvious questions.

nellyedels

Interesting d2c startup

nellyedels

Also for its cat-attractiveness properties. I'd try the lotion.

manarth

My cat enjoys catnip, but I have to be careful after she eats some – she gets excited and wants to play, but she forgets her usual "care and attention" with her claws, and can be a bit "scratchy". Not deliberately – she just forgets she's got razor-sharp needles attached to every limb. It's probably worth extending the study to explore cat behaviour, to cover all bases/risks/eventualities. Also: repels mosquitoes and attracts cats? TAKE MY MONEY! I'd choose this over Deet any day!

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