Re: Mint?
 
> My wife heard from a co-worker that if you want to keep cats off of something
> put a small mint plant there.
> Something about cats not liking the smell of mint.   Anyone know anything abo
> this?
> I know some plants are fatal to cats, so I'm leery to start doing things like
> this.
> Joe

I think mint is pretty benign but many plants are toxic to cats. I have a
beautiful Maine Coon / Ragdoll mutt who lost his voice eating Caladium
leaves. It has the same Oxalic acid in it as Diffenbachia (Dumbcane, hence
the name). It burned his throat so bad he had respiratory problems and
couldn't breath. Our vet did surgery to remove some of the tissue. The poor
boy can hardly meow and it's been at least 7 years since this happened. 

Some folks are brewing a tea of hot pepper sauce to repel squirrels from bird
seed. The birds don't care but the squirrels hate it. If you grow hot peppers
in your garden ( I do since I dry them ), dry the peppers out and then
heat them up in a baking sheet in the oven 325 degrees for like 5 min. Roll
the peppers with a rolling pin in a zip lock bag and then put the grounds in
a coffee percolator. Recycle the water through the pepper grinds until you
have a thick tea. Here you have a natural repellant that most domestic
animals will find offensive. Makes a nice Tabasco substitute for chile
recipes too :) 

Jim Haight RN
aka Jahmas

MySTeRia MaJiCKa BBS: BaLTiMORe MD: TeLNeT://MaJiCKa.DaRKTeCH.ORG FiDO 1:229/444


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