Cats love to explore and find new things that are foreign to them. Some things they come across they love, whilst others they seem to hate for some reason including cucumbers and foil. But, why do cats hate tin foil so much?
Cats have excellent hearing and hate tin foil because of its sound and texture. Tin foil is too loud for cats, and its odd texture is uncomfortable for cats.
There are several things that we might not be bothered by, but our cats will hate being around them.
Tin foil is one of those things.
Cats hate tin foil, and it is because of how it sounds and feels. It might not be much of a big deal to us, and the noise wouldn’t affect our ears much, but cats have extremely heightened hearing; even a pin being dropped would feel loud to them.
The crinkling sound of tin foil we hear is way louder to cats than we can imagine. The loud sound can startle and scare cats, and the texture of tin foil also makes cats feel uneasy.
Cats also do not understand what tin foil is, so they get defensive because of its loud sound and texture, thinking it’s something dangerous.
Cats hate walking on uneven or sharp surfaces or those surfaces which make loud noises. This is why sharp-edged gravel can work well to deter cats as can chicken wire on the ground.
Yes, most dogs also hate foil. They find the noise and texture both off-putting so will steer clear of it where possible.
Is Tin Foil Poisonous to Cats?
Cats aren’t used to seeing tin foil, so when they approach it, the loud noise it makes and its texture makes cats uncomfortable and scared.
People often play with cats by seeing their reactions to walking on tin foil. When cats walk on tin foil, the texture and sound are very foreign to them and startles them, so they jump back from where they touched it, thinking it’s harmful.
They think that the tin foil hurts them, but in reality, the foil bothers them a lot due to its reflective and wrinkled appearance and texture. Tin foil is also unsafe for your cat if it is using tin foil as a toy by ripping it and trying to chew it.
Tin foil is not physically dangerous to a cat but rather physiologically dangerous to a cat.
It’s physiologically dangerous for a cat because the tin foil is foreign to them, and due to its unusual texture and loud noise, cats are scared of it and think it will hurt them.
It’ll be dangerous if used as a toy because tin foil has sharp edges and can hurt.
Because of those sharp corners, a cat can accidentally cut one of its paws. While walking on the tin foil, cats can accidentally tear pieces of it due to their claws, and the pieces could get stuck in their claws.
Can You Deter Cats with Tin Foil?
A cat has senses that are over 10 times more powerful than yours. A cat can hear even the slightest noises and sounds. To you, tin foil may seem like ordinary tin foil, but for a cat, tin foil may seem like a threat due to its odd texture and loud sound.
Because a cat has heightened senses, a tin foil’s loud noise causes a sensory overload to a cat.
Tin foil is new to a cat as they have never encountered something remotely similar outdoors or indoors, so they have no idea how to handle it. Tin foil has a reflective and shiny surface; people often think that cats think tin foil is water.
Most cats can’t swim and are too afraid to get wet, so when they see tin foil, they think of it like water, so they avoid going near it and walking over it.
Cats are animals that avoid taking risks. They’re calm and intelligent, so they will avoid taking unnecessary risks when they see something new to them.
The other reason a cat dislikes tin foil is the loud noise it makes when someone steps on it. Cats like to walk silently because of their evolutionary skills. They walked silently while in the wild, so their prey remained unaware of them, making the kill easy.
This instinct is still present in household cats and their wild relatives as they stealthily sneak up on their prey when hunting and attack from behind without their prey noticing them.
Even if a cat is not hunting, it won’t like its presence being detected by any other animal and will want to walk silently as possible. A tin foil gives the cat’s presence away by making loud noises when it’s stepped on, which a cat truly despises.
You can use a cat’s fear against tin foil as an advantage by using it to deter them from places where you don’t want cats to be, such as in the garden.
Fed Up With Cats In Your Garden?
We’ve Put Together a Complete and Free Guide on How to STOP Cats From Pooping In Your Garden – Including 9 Deterrents to Try:
Summary
Cats find certain things scary, which may be completely normal to us like a vacuum cleaner or everyday used materials like tin foil.
Cats hate tin foil because they’re not sure what tin foil exactly is. The hatred against tin foil is that cats do not like the loud sound tin foil produces when someone steps on it, and they also hate the material’s odd shiny texture.
Ryan is a keen gardener from the UK who’s spent years dealing with countless, common pests over the years so knows the ins and outs of how to deal with pests in the garden
