Cat is doing his job in our indoor potted plant

We have a fairly large potted plant in our living room and for some reason Hobbes has decided to use it as a litter box every once in awhile. He just jumps right in there, tinkles (no poo), and leaves.

We have two nice sized litter boxes that are not that far from the plant and one of them is hardly ever used. Both boxes get cleaned out daily so it's not like he's forced to find a clean place to his business. He's done it about 3-4 times now (we see the dirt that he kicks up on the carpet). I even placed two sheets of aluminum foil on and around the dirt surface but he just batted it away this morning and did his thing.

Any suggestions? We'd like to keep the plant.

Can you put tin foil in the plant? That might deter him....or else cover the dirt with something (like a wire/mesh?).

Originally Posted by white cat lover

Can you put tin foil in the plant? That might deter him....or else cover the dirt with something (like a wire/mesh?).

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I've laid the sheets of tin foil all around the surface of the dirt in the pot so it would bug him when he got in there.

The wire mesh, or something like it, is not a bad idea. How about barb wire?

I read in one of my multitudes of cat books that you could place decoratives rocks along the surface - shiney ones so that it doesn't look natural and there's too much to dig down. The water can still filter through down to the plant roots that way too.

That crazy cat! My wife called to tell me the cat did it again this afternoon.

Help!

Sometimes people use rough edged gravel to cover the dirt in their plant pots. It's not comfortable for kitty, so they end up leaving the plant alone.

The gravel is not sharp enough to hurt the kitty, by the way! I wouldn't advocate hurting the kitty.

Originally Posted by rahma

I read in one of my multitudes of cat books that you could place decoratives rocks along the surface - shiney ones so that it doesn't look natural and there's too much to dig down. The water can still filter through down to the plant roots that way too.

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That's what I did when my cats were digging in a large potted plant I had. They weren't doing their business in it, just making a mess with dirt. It worked.

Nothing worked with our Hemmy. He practically uprooted my potted fig tree. He did ALL his business in it and threw dirt all over the floor. Oddly enough, the tree seemed to like it but naturally I did not. Frankly, I gave up on the tree.

Sounds to me that your cat is just doing what comes naturally. Thingy prefers to go out to urinate and defecate because it's what, as an outdoor cat, she always did plus she can pick her spot and dig it over afterwards. I've watched her on the prowl and she has definite favourite spots which she finds by smell, of course. She will use her litter tray, if she can't get me to let her out or, for some reason, she's decided not to bother me. I can tell it's not her favourite thing. She has difficulty positioning herself comfortably and gets very frustrated when she extends her digging outside of the tray because all she gets is linoleum.

I don't know what you do to persuade a cat to do the unnatural thing, i.e., use a litter tray if they've taken against it. Aside from the things others have suggested, a citrus smell keeps some cats away and what about putting a small bowl of food near the pot. I do know that cats, just like humans, like to keep their food separate from their waste functions and if the cat comes to associate that area with food, it might stop using it as a lavatory. I'm a definite newbie when it comes to cats so this may not be useful but it might help.

I have learnt that sometimes you just have to give up on plants. On my terrace, Thingy, other local cats and foxes have all nibbled away at my potted plants so effectively that only two are left with anything in them. They've eaten there way completely through a Rosemary bush and a small Acer and have only ignored the Lavender and the Cordyline.

Using decorative rocks as rahma suggested (at least the size of a quarter or larger) to cover the soil completely worked for my cats. No soil to dig in, no soiling.