Why is EVERYTHING single plant toxic to cats??? How do you guys keep houseplants?

I had plastic plants in a vase on my window sill. Had plastic plants. The cats broke two vases so far. We cannot have nice things.

I'm going to repeat my earlier post with a stronger suggestion/question about being diligent about providing green stuff they CAN eat.  Now that my cats are inside only, five of them are, I realize HOW IMPORTANT eating grass is to them.  Two of these cats have been inside since they were 9 days old, never been outside, yet they chow down on cat grass (which is just oats) every day.  They will even eat grass I pick outside and bring in to them.  They don't eat the houseplants, maybe I'm just lucky here but if you don't provide edible greens please try it.   And darn it, now the one feral/stray who comes in at night is eating it too.  Joey has access to all kinds of greenery outside, why can't he leave the inside stuff I have to buy for the inside cats?  LOL  

Thank you all for the great ideas. I will try them, and yes, maybe I cannot have nice things, but I gotta try at least!

(one of my kitties isn't interested in the fake plants, but the other one definitely is) - I did think of getting them some grass to eat since they are inside cats. I have to keep shutting the door where the flowers are because kitten keeps trying to get them.

I buy cat grass for Baby,and place it on the floor in the living room. I have two orchids on a table in my room which she lives alone. She seems to know the difference. All I have to do is tell her "not yours" when she gets an interest in my orchids and she leave them alone. In fact all I have to do is tell her "not yours" about anything and she'll leave it alone. Cats are pretty intelligent creatures and easier to train than most people would think. You just have to be consistent with them and use the same words over and over just like you would a dog. Takes a little longer to train them than it does a dog but you can train them.

A long time ago when we had 2 kittens they used our floor plants for a litter box.  Ever since then we stopped having plants in the house with the exception of a floral bouquet someone would send on a special occasion.  It's a personal decision, not for everyone, but we decided it wasn't worth the trouble or worry to keep plants in the house.  I'm not a big fan of artificial plants but once again that is a personal decision.  I'm sure with the proper research you can find a good compromise.  Wishing you the best of luck and success, please let us know what happens.

I took back one of the fake plants and the other one is way up high on a shelf the kitten cannot get to. I can close up the shelf when I'm gone so I won't worry about the flowers anymore. kitten is like a magnet to them, her radar zooms in to them wherever I put them. Now she can't reach. Simple. thanks for all the comments!

Once she grows into adulthood, she probably won't go after the plants anymore. Mine never touch any of my real plants.

DreamerRose said:

 
Once she grows into adulthood, she probably won't go after the plants anymore. Mine never touch any of my real plants.

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But mine are all (5) adults now and all of them do eat the cat grass, or I see the outside ones (2) eating the oats growing from seed spilled from the bird feeder.

We had our first frost here this morning, so it's time for me to pull my two poor pineapple plants in.  I guess Wurp will be glad to see his butt-warmer back

Be really careful of floral bouquets ..[emoji]128552[/emoji]
They often contain lilies and other flowers that are toxic to cats. Especially since the bouquet is a new, thus fascinating thing in the house...

Docs Mom said:

Be really careful of floral bouquets ..[emoji]128552[/emoji]
They often contain lilies and other flowers that are toxic to cats. Especially since the bouquet is a new, thus fascinating thing in the house...

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I work as a florist and am a Certified Master Gardener. The cut flowers that you buy have a high probability of being heavily sprayed or even dipped in insecticides or fungicides, especially if imported.  So even those non toxic flowers could cause problems if the cats chew on them. I do have a few houseplants and my cats leave them alone. I will not have anything that they bother - if I bring it home and they show interest in it - it finds a new home. The only cut flowers I have are roses (no babies breath) and sunflowers because they leave them alone.

posiepurrs said:

 
I work as a florist and am a Certified Master Gardener. The cut flowers that you buy have a high probability of being heavily sprayed or even dipped in insecticides or fungicides, especially if imported.  So even those non toxic flowers could cause problems if the cats chew on them. I do have a few houseplants and my cats leave them alone. I will not have anything that they bother - if I bring it home and they show interest in it - it finds a new home. The only cut flowers I have are roses (no babies breath) and sunflowers because they leave them alone.

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We only have cut roses in our home also.  My fiance knows not to buy any other type of bouquet for me.  

Luckily, I also grow roses and other flowers and never use insecticides on them, nor is my lawn sprayed with anything poisonous.  I feel safe bringing in flowers from my garden, although any I know to be problematic stay outside (i.e.; Daylilies for instance).  We're also lucky neither cat has shown any interest in greenery of all types.  I can safely leave them out, but put them on the fireplace mantel most of the time to be sure nobody ever has a chance at them.

I have non-toxic plants, but even so, I hang them from the ceiling. Even if they aren't deadly to the cat, the cat is still deadly to them.   

Oh, and I give little sticks to the cats to chew on. Tree sticks and bully sticks (normally given to dogs). If they have the urge to chew, why not let them?

Herbs!

I have a lovely lemon basil on the dining room table, purple basil in the office, cat grass in the lounge etc.

They grow easily, look nice, aren't toxic and you can use them in your cooking.

Here is our Lexie licking her lips to show how much she appreciates her cat grass.