Stop cat from eating plant?

[sammilynn]

I have one lonely plant in my apartment, and my cat eats it all the time. every chance he gets. I tried to stop him, moved it around, no matter what I did he continued. he almost completely destroyed it, and a lot of other things trying to get to it, so I put it in my bathroom and closed the door. I would much rather have that door open, and have the plant somewhere else, but I need to get him to stop all this first. So does anyone have any idea how I can get him to stop? Spraying him with a water bottle doesn't work either, he loves water... Thanks.

 

[AppleMay]

You might try getting him his own little plot of grass. Check with your local Pet store and see what they have. I think it is actually grass that you can plant in a small square container that they can nibble on and it's just for cats.

 

[JoshTheBoss]

Actually greens are good for cats. I saw that on Jackson Galaxy's show. One of their cats would go outside and eat the garden, so instead, they had the family make the cat his own garden to eat from. That way, they didn't lose any of their herbs or crops

 

[sammilynn]

Thanks for the suggestions, I tried giving him cat grass, and he loved it, but any chance he got to eat the other plant, he went at it. The plant isn't toxic thankfully, but it does make him puke, so I want to stop him from eating them. I do want to have plants in the house, so it would be nice if he would stop.

 

[SifuPhil]

Could you put aluminum foil around the base of the plant on the shelf so that he'd have to step on it? Cats usually don't like foil.

All of my cats used to nibble plants no matter what I did, so I just got rid of the plants.

 

[ssamcd]

Did you go into the pet supply store and ask them. They may sell a spray repellent for the cat to stay away. I have heard of someone putting pepper on the leaves. When the cat goes near the plant make a hissing sound.

 

[JoshTheBoss]

Thanks for the suggestions, I tried giving him cat grass, and he loved it, but any chance he got to eat the other plant, he went at it. The plant isn't toxic thankfully, but it does make him puke, so I want to stop him from eating them. I do want to have plants in the house, so it would be nice if he would stop.

Yeah in his mind, since one plant is okay, the other must be. They don't get the differnce.

My cats have scratchers upstairs and love to use them. The thing is, they still scratch my beautiful rug downstairs and it's very annoying.

It's hard to teach them the difference.

 

[LiquidatorBrunt]

Wow, a cat that loves water?! Are you pulling our legs?

The spray bottle method has worked with my cat pretty well, but we have another tactic that works well with her. Double sided tape. Cats hate it! I would try putting some around the plant and see if that deters him. Another possibility, I haven't tried is use a dog whistle. Perhaps you can train him with that, I've heard they really annoy cats. Blow it when he starts digging around in the plant and maybe he'll get the idea to stay out of there.

 

[xenon]

Put a a drop or two of citronella oil with a cup of water in a spray pack and spray your plant. Cats and dogs hate citronella.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citronella_oil

 

[ohiotom76]

This would be kind of mean, lol, but I wonder if dusting the plant with cayenne pepper would work.

 

[HealthyS7]

I first train my cats by spraying them with a water bottle so they stay away and if that doesn't work, I sprinkle some pepper flakes around the plant and they hate sniffing around it. That usually keeps them and strays away from my plants.

 

[Kaybee517]

I have one lonely plant in my apartment, and my cat eats it all the time. every chance he gets. I tried to stop him, moved it around, no matter what I did he continued. he almost completely destroyed it, and a lot of other things trying to get to it, so I put it in my bathroom and closed the door. I would much rather have that door open, and have the plant somewhere else, but I need to get him to stop all this first. So does anyone have any idea how I can get him to stop? Spraying him with a water bottle doesn't work either, he loves water... Thanks.

I had the same problem whenever I had flowers in the house. My cat would make a B line right to the plants. No matter where I put them, she'd go for them. I tried the spray bottle but it doesn't work when I'm at work 12 hours a day, so now I just don't have plants in the house. I would either say don 't keep them in the house and get artificial plants or put very high on a book case or something where the cat can't reach but also where you won't forget to water the plant.

 

[dissn_it]

I'd be tempted to try the foil trick and if that didn't work, I would use some finely ground black pepper sprinkled all over the plant and potting soil. It won;t hurt the plant or your cat but a good taste of it should keep the cat from eating it again.

 

[sandooch]

This is my problem, too. I love plants but can't have any in the house because all 3 of my cats love to nibble on the leaves. I've tried many of the suggestions above, but no success.

 

[quitetenacious]

Try placing aluminum foil over the dirt. Some cats don't like it. I have one cat who could care less and just peels through the aluminum foil to get to the plant. If that doesn't work try pine cones along the dirt. I have never seen a cat find it worth walking across pine cones to get to a plant.

 

[sandooch]

Try placing aluminum foil over the dirt. Some cats don't like it. I have one cat who could care less and just peels through the aluminum foil to get to the plant. If that doesn't work try pine cones along the dirt. I have never seen a cat find it worth walking across pine cones to get to a plant.

That really wouldn't work in my case. My cats don't bother with the dirt of the plant. It's the leaves they're interested in.

 

[HealthyS7]

My cats don't like certain smells so I put pepper in the soil to keep them from digging in my garden. You can also try other offending smells like Vicks Vapor Rub on popsicle sticks (just make sure they are not licking them!)

 

[ohiotom76]

I used to hear that spraying cider vinegar on furniture would keep dogs from scratching and chewing it, not sure if the same would work for cats. But cider vinegar seems relatively harmless - as long as the acidity doesn't damage the plant itself I guess.

 

[rayne]

Let the cat outside so he can eat all the grass he wants. My guy goes out every day and eats his fill. Needless to say he doesn't bother my indoor plants. If you live in a place where he can't get outside, then take him to a park on a harness. That will work too.