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CATS!

C

Canesisters

Guest
I love houseplants. They add SO much to a room, and a home. But the only ones I can have are small and live on top of tall shelves or cabinets. If they are down low, the cats graze them to bits.
How do you teach adult cats to NOT eat them???? I have several peace lilies that I keep at work but would love to be able to bring home.
 

Mike

Might know the answer
Messages
977
Location
Kentucky
Planting Zone
6b
Spray bottle with water.. squirt them each time they mess with the plants. You might also be able to spray something like Bitter Apple on the plants that are low to the ground. They will hate the taste and stop messing with them. I've used this with both of my Labrador dogs when they was growing up to prevent them from chewing.
 
C

Canesisters

Guest
I keep spray bottles handy for both the dogs and the cats. But that won't help 5secs after I leave the house.
Has anyone used bitter apple for cats?? Does it work on them?
 
M

Melissa

Guest
I have seen ground pepper, of almost any kind, from regular black pepper to hot pepper 'oil' applied to leaves. This can also work well if you have cats that get into wires, making a light paste and spreading it on the wires. No I can not guarantee this will work. It did for me. I had a fern that was torn to shreads by a wounderful kitty I adopted as an older adult. We were able to regrow the fern, and used pepper on the plant. I have also used pepper around the soil to prevent kittens from deciding to dig, or lay in the base of a pot. Only one of my Maine coon cats could have cared less what I did to the pot she loved. I always found her in it, but she never injured the plant as luck would have it.

Good luck.. Oh another idea is to actually plant cat grass. Not cat nip, but a winter wheat, or one of the other 'cat grasses' out there. I made a small square of 'lawn' for my cats with a tin foil lasagna pan, about 3 inches of soil, and spread out the seeds. I did need to put the pan on a cookie sheet so the water could drain out of the few small holes on the bottom. My old man cat would chew on this grass and not go after any of the other plants. And if it was in the sun, and warm, he would sleep on it.
 
J

JGarden1

Guest
I agree with comments above. I also have a spray bottle of water and every time my cat tries to bite my plant he gets 'watered' :D The problems comes when I leave my house and cat stays home on his own. I also bought a special repellent which keep cats away from what you aplly it to, but unfortunately it did not work.
 
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