There are some natural ways, but I wouldn't use them near the kitty cats. Some natural oils are deterrents and there's also boric acid and sugar apparently although I've never used that. I live in an area where there are the big flying ones that sometimes sneak in. They're gross although the tiny little roaches are worse.

I use whole cloves here and there in cupboards. They keep ants away. Peppermint oil is good too and think that works for roaches. However, if they're those tiny little brown roaches the building people should spray but they'd probably use a poison one and not a naturspray which is a pain.

I prefer taste of butter especially for cooking but haven't used butter since I started eating vegetarian. I use a plant margarine now if I need any. Some nut butters are nice.

I quite like a cashew butter but that's more of a spread. I found that my cholesterol used to go up a little bit if I ate too much better. Not now though. All my blood tests are perfect. Go figure.