If your cat loves to chew on trash bags, it’s essential to keep them out of your home.
Fortunately, you can defend your bins from these pests. Here are a few tips on how to prevent the bags from breaking in your cat’s mouth.
So, how to stop cats ripping bin bags?
Cats are naturally curious creatures.
As a result, they often rip bin bags and try to chew on their contents. Cats will rip bin bags if they see food inside and if they can smell it.
They can also rip bin bags if they’re bored or trying to escape. Unfortunately, bin bags are very difficult to open when a cat is inside.
Cats aren’t the only animals that can rip bin bags – dogs can as well. It’s therefore vital to keep bin bags out of reach of cats, either with clips or with a bin bag holder.
Can You Keep a Cat Out of Your Trash Can?
Yes, a cat can find its way into a trash can but it won’t stay there for long.
You will have to empty the trash can more often if you let your cat outside unsupervised, as cats tend to make a mess while they’re outside exploring the world.
However, controlling the litterbox area is much simpler than controlling a cat’s movements around the house.
For instance, a heavy-duty lid will keep your cat out of the trashcan, as will a small pet door that connects the litter box to the yard.
You can close this door at night to prevent the cat from escaping while you’re not at home.
How To Stop Cats Ripping Bin Bags
Don’t Dump Food in the Garbage Can
This is a typical situation that you may encounter with your cat: they tear your bin bags to get your food, and you have to put those plastic bags back in your trash bin every day.
You’re going to take some of the blame for this problem because feeding cats leftovers from the table is one of the causes of tearing bin bags.
You could even do the washing up just to stop your cats from ripping bin bags, but this solution is not ideal because it will waste a lot of water.
As you would expect, when the cat is hungry, they will rip open any plastic bag in order to get some food.
Change the Bags Frequently
Changing the bags is an excellent strategy to prevent this from happening because a fresh bag will be harder to tear open than an old one.
Nevertheless, this method won’t solve the problem permanently because the cat will soon realize that the bags are still there and will return again.
Cat Repellent Should Be Sprayed Around Garbage Cans.
Because cats are attracted to the aroma of food, these repellents will stop them from eating the garbage until the food is disposed of properly.
Keep in mind that these repellents are effective for short-term use only because they lose their strength over time.
After a couple of weeks, the odor of the repellent will be too weak to repel the cats.
They will eventually start eating the trash again because the smell will have dissipated.
Spraying the garbage bins with air fresheners is another solution that is temporary and ineffective because it will only mask the smells and not get rid of them.
Install a Cat-Resistant Garbage Can
The most straightforward approach would be to install a cat-resistant garbage can.
These are garbage cans that are specially designed to deter animals from getting into the trash.
They have a heavy lid that prevents them from opening it, and they come with locks that prevent them from being able to lift the lid at all.
These are the most effective solutions because they will keep the animal out of the trash for good.
However, they can be quite expensive, so you need to weigh up your options before making a decision on whether to invest or not.
The benefit of these cans is that they will discourage cats from ripping the bin bags open in the first place, so you won’t have to deal with cat litter all over the floor anymore.
There are other variants available as well such as cat flaps that you can attach to the outside of the trash cans.
A cat-proof trash can merely limits a cat’s access to the trash and they don’t actually prevent your cat from getting into the trash at all.
Why Do Cats Like Trash Cans?
Cats like trash cans because they can sniff out food, water, and shelter inside.
In fact, most cats spend around half their time in or around a trash can. This is because cats like to eat and sleep in the same places.
Furthermore, cats like to drink water from puddles and streams, but they can’t drink from lakes or rivers because they have too many chlorines. Therefore, cats normally only drink water from puddles or streams.
Finally, cats like to sleep in dark places. They also like to curl up in tight places, such as on top of trash cans.
For all these reasons, cats like trash cans.
Why You Need to Be Proactive?
In today’s world, everything is happening too fast.
If you are not proactive and chase opportunities, someone else will grab them away from you. Proactive means taking action before something happens.
For example, if you are planning to sell a product online, you should be proactive and just put your product online first.
Being proactive will help you generate sales and boost your profits.
Also Read: Why Are Cats Afraid Of Balloons?
Final Words
Whether it’s changing the bin bags often or installing a cat-resistant garbage can, you need to take charge of the situation before it gets out of hand.
Until then, you’ll always find yourself cleaning up cat poops without much success.
