My Cats are eating my house plants!!!

I just recently got some house plants for my new house. my cats love them because they think they're toys. however, they play a little too rough and are chewing and shredding the leaves. I've tried to be firm with them to let them know that they aren't toys, but now they just wait till I leave the room to play. I was wondering if there is anything that maybe I could put on the plants to keep them from ruining them. or any other suggestions of what to do would be greatly appreciated. Please help

What kind of plants are they? There are many that are toxic to cats. You need to find out for sure what kind of plants they are and go from there. If they are toxic then your cats could be in trouble.

Unfortunately, I've had to remove all plants from the inside of my house to make sure the cats don't poison themselves on plants. Even cut flowers and fake ones tempt Henry! I've taken to putting fake flowers where Henry can't get to them, but that doesn't always work too well.

What I do get in the plant family is wheatgrass. Henry loves to sit next to it and chew on it. I also saw on (US) television (Petkeeping with Mark Morrone) that some of the plants not harmful to cats are Ponytail Palm, African Violet and Prayer Plant. I'm considering getting one of those because I do love plants and their benefits and want something that I know won't harm the babies.

I wish I had a better answer than "remove them," but that's what worked best for us. Good luck!

Hello cheer_grl,

I love plants in my home too, however, to be on the safe side I keep all plants well out of the reach of my five kitties.

Well I had a cat that would eat any plant that it could get it's paws on. Then puke it up in the middle of the night. So plants no more!

Good luck

I'm sure you can find a listing of safe plants on the internet. I know I have a spider plant and a potted basil plant and those are safe. Josie doesn't like the basil. She thinks it smells bad. I love having fresh basil for cooking! One plant that is especially toxic to cats is any kind of lily. I'm a bad meowmy because I have one. I always keep it high where she can't reach it. It's from my last grandparent's funeral and I just can't part with it.

I am going through the same thing *sigh!*

When they first came home, I treated the problem with a spray bottle of water, and whenever they made any attempt they were sprayed mercilessly. They learned that had plenty of other toys to play with after a day or two of wetness.

I thought I would move their litter out of the bathroom and into the walk in closet that leads from the bathroom into the master. I was tired of walking on the litter they would shake out. The carpet feels much better, lol. But I placed this plant that was in my room to the bathroom, and they thought "new plant to play with!" and instead of going through the same spraying issue -- they were wreaking havoc on the plant this time, I just moved it out of reach in the bathroom. They can look, but they cannot touch.

The water bottle is what I stand by, and I think it works wonderously. I have about 6 of them planted in different rooms so one is always close by. One squirt and they're off. If I can't reach for a bottle, I just clap very loudly, once. That does it too.

I miss my plants also. I have tried everything to keep 7 away. Nothing works. I just ended up feeling sorry for the plant as he shedded it.

I've heard, but not tried, spraying a plant with orange or lemon bitters will deter cats from eating plants. I only have one plant and its a hanging variety which they can't reach w/ my current furniture setup. Also, I keep a list of poisonous plants in my purse so that if I see a plant I want, especially at a plant sale, I can look it up and not be disappointed later if it does turn out to be poisonous and I have to get rid of it.

I go with no plants at all (especially since I have whatever the opposite of a green thumb would be). However, a couple suggestions would be bitter apple spay on the leaves, or I've even heard of putting hot pepper on the leaves. Don't know if the hot pepper is safe or really works, but I've heard of it before.

I love plants and each of my cats has in turn tried the fun game of climbing them, tasting them (they are all non-toxic) and shredding them. Oh, and peeing in the pots! Some plants recover better than others from this treatment. I spray lemon oil on the leaves and that helps a bit during training them, but I have found that after a while the cats lose interest inthe plants and then they recover. Persil, though does love napping in the parsley pot!

Originally Posted by jennyranson

I love plants and each of my cats has in turn tried the fun game of climbing them, tasting them (they are all non-toxic) and shredding them. Oh, and peeing in the pots!

Some plants recover better than others from this treatment. I spray lemon oil on the leaves and that helps a bit during training them, but I have found that after a while the cats lose interest inthe plants and then they recover. Persil, though does love napping in the parsley pot!

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Samson does as well -- and they love getting the dirst everywhere!

Our cats love the plants too - make sure you have non toxic plants! One thing I do is put plastic netting around any open dirt, then cover the netting with small (not small enough to be swallowed) stones - very attractive and stops kitties from peeing in the plants. Also, we spray any hanging leaves with Bitter Apple or a lemon juice/water mixture. They do get bored with them after a while, we also have a small tray of cat grass that is strictly the cats - they love to lay in it.

Mine used to do that also. What I found that stopped it was growing them a big pot of cat grass. Now they eat that and leave the house plants alone.