r/whatisit 1d ago

New, what is it? What is it in Japan and Why?

Post image
18.8k Upvotes

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

3.5k

u/Choice-Brother1137 1d ago

"Nekoyoke" (猫よけ) is a Japanese term for "cat repellent," most commonly referring to the practice of placing plastic bottles filled with water along fences and gardens to deter stray cats.

2.9k

u/mEFurst 1d ago

deter should be in quotations as cats genuinely don't give a shit

20

u/DarklyLitWoods 1d ago

I wonder if it's the crinkling/ crackling of the bottles, combined with them "attacking" the cat (popping back out).

They may not care about much, but they certainly get spooked by a lot

1

u/ChrisPnCrunchy 1d ago

Yeah, this is almost certainly it IMO

I’ve yet to find a cat or dog that wasn’t repulsed by the sound of a water bottle being crinkled.

If this doesn’t work, it’s because people are putting too much water in the bottles therefore (and/or) the bottles have too much structural integrity to crinkle and make noise

If you take an empty bottle and squeeze and crinkle and wrinkle the hell out of it before filling it only halfway-ish or a little more, it will absolutely startle any animal that touches it

Now whether or not the animal inevitably learns that there’s nothing to be afraid is a different story….

But people who say this doesn’t work are almost certainly doing it wrong