Keeping them out of my plants

I like to grow and take care of plants, but Tyran and Miki (mostly Tyran) are out to destroy my plants. I currently have a small beginning plant that is barely 6 inches tall, and already Tyran has tried to dig in the small pot. Its about the size of my palm. I want to keep the plant out where I can see it but I now have to keep it shut in the bathroom when I'm not at home. And then when I am home, I have to put it on the windowsill, shut the wooden shutters behind it, and place a heavy object against them to keep Tyran out. So I never really get to enjoy my plant.

Any suggestions?

I have one houseplant that I keep in a hanger hooked to the ceiling in my kitchen. The kitties sometimes perch on the edge of the table trying to bat at the vines, but it is just out of their reach.

You might try putting orange peels around it, or any citrus peels. Supposedly, cats don't like the smell of citrus. I would also recommend spraying it with bitter apple, but I'm not sure how that would affect the plant.

Stephanie

Soka,

I completely understand your concerns. One of my old roommates had a cat that liked the soil in the pot better than the litter box (if you know what I mean). That was really bad, because the urine destroys the plant!

I've heard of something called Liquid Fence. I don't know how effective it is, but it's all natural (just made of plant oils), so it's supposed to be safe for the plants. I kill plants despite my best efforts to take good care of them, so I've personally never needed to worry about it. I checked epinions.com, and there were only 5 reviews, but it rated 4 out of 5 stars. Check out what people said if you want:

http://www.epinions.com/hmgd-Lawn_an...splay_~reviews

Good Luck!!

My kitten does the same thing, so I have covered the dirt with aluminum foil. He seemed a little confused by it at first, but now he leaves the plant alone.

I have a huge plant that has turned into a tree in my living room. It is very sensitive, and loses leaves when it senses stress in the house. (Honest.) My kitten started digging in it and tried to climb the trunk, so now I have a broiler pan perched against the trunk. It looks very decorative, if I do say so myself.
Mimi

A few moth balls placed on top of the soil around the plant will help. But you have to get used to the smell....

Moth balls are toxic to kitties, so I'd stay away from that.

I have over 30 houseplants at home. I keep cat grass available at ALL times for my two, and this keeps them from chewing my other plants.

To keep my kits out of the dirt, I bought this: Cat Scat and it works GREAT!!!

My plant-chewing kitty likes the smell of citrus and bitter apple, and thinks tin foil makes a great toy, so I've learned to be creative. I spray the leaves of my hardier plants with water and then sprinkle cayenne pepper (lightly) over them so that the water makes the pepper stick. I wouldn't do this to fragile or temperamental plants, as the cayenne pepper can dehydrate or "burn" the leaves, and I've never tried it on blossoming plants so I don't know whether it would work on them or not. You also have to be careful not to sprinkle on too much cayenne pepper, because even the hardiest plant will wilt in places where there's pepper build-up. It definitely works to keep Spike away, however: he'll sniff at the leaves then suddenly recoil, and although he's a bit dim and tends not to remember things, eventually even he realized that peppery plants are not his friends.

I've used cayenne spray in my garden and was wondering what effect it would have on cats, so I didn't mention that. Glad you've tried it and it works on hardier plants.

Stephanie

You could try a bit of netting or small wire over the dirt. That's one reason why we don't have live plants in the house Any plants/flowers we have are OUTSIDE.

You could try using pretty rocks to cover all the exposed soil - that stopped my cats from digging in the plants, yet still makes it easy to water the plants.

Originally Posted by GingersMom

Moth balls are toxic to kitties, so I'd stay away from that.

I have over 30 houseplants at home.

I keep cat grass available at ALL times for my two, and this keeps them from chewing my other plants.

Click to expand...

To keep my kits out of the dirt, I bought this: Cat Scat and it works GREAT!!!

Click to expand...

I do the same thing, in fact, I put my cat grass right along with the other plants and Persi goes for the cat grass and leaves the others alone. There used to be a song, long before anybody else here on this board could remember, called "Keeping one step ahead of the cat" which I believe applies here.