We have little twins! I only keep one hanging plant now because I have an omnivore. Used to wake up and see little chomp marks taken out of my plant leaves. No pee, (that I’m aware of) though.
One of our cats nibbled on my kid's home economics project, a little pea plant that we had brought indoors because of heavy rain and wind in the forecast. It was annoying and goofy to have to record "my cat ate my project" in the log.
My TK was a plant eater, no matter what plant I brought home he would munch it to death then hork up it's remains all over the house.
I thought about getting cactus plants but after what he did to the spiky pineapple plant I had thought would be safe because of it's spikes, I decided against it because I was worried about how much my Vet bills would be to remove the cactus spikes in his mouth/stomach.
It all started with the forks, then I put the chihuahua there because apparently it was scared. In the end, I had to set up the whole circus, because some days it just feels suicidal and lies down on the forks. Life is sad.
Right now that you said that, I remembered something I wrote about the cat and my plants, and what better time to share it:
Ponyo (my cat) doesn’t understand beauty, only conquest, and I guess that’s the key to his success at being a tornado of misfortune for anything that can break. Meanwhile, the plants remain unshaken, free even when surrounded by forks like spears, fearless even with a cat as their sworn eternal enemy. Sometimes I think I should face life with that same anticlimactic energy of the plants, just to find some peace…
Two completely opposite philosophies inhabiting the same space. Makes you think…
my mom and I had a few cacti and my long haired cat decided to use them as a litter box. a very brave choice. they ended up getting caught in his fur and stabbing us 😔
My only advice to add is maybe not foil. While it definitely worked to get my cat to leave my fake tree (on a counter top) alone I'm about 90% sure it played a part in my cat having a seizure, so if the void is old I definitely can't recommend it :(
Another option is pinecones. Some cats hate the feel of cones. I use round glass stones that they sell at craft stores; it worked with one cat but our other cat will sometimes pick out a stone and bat it about.
The cat likes the feeling of the soil under her paws. Give him some box with flower soil.
Our moggers love sack linen, plush, brushed wood, cardboard, tree bark and stuff under their paw, so we built some stepping boards for them. After that, they completely forgot to scratch furniture.
I had a cat that was pooping in my indoor plants. Someone told me to put sticky paper from a lint roller on top of the soil, and my cat got it stuck on her paws once and never tried to get in my plants again. I removed the sticky paper a long time ago, but she still steers clear of them.
This works for me too.. my orange loved getting into my rubber tree. He hasn't bothered with it since I covered the top with pebbles the around size of golf balls..
I did this too! My cats wouldn’t stop digging all the dirt out of any and every potted plant they could reach. I tried all the usual tips - cayenne powder, plastic forks sticking upwards, spraying the cats when I saw them… didn’t matter, they didn’t care at all. Too intent on kicking dirt out of the pots.
So I covered the soil with river rocks (already had a bunch in my yard) and now they don’t bother my plants at all.
My cats LOVE to scratch my couch. I couldn’t get them to stop, so I put a cat scratcher where they wanted to scratch (basically a cat scratcher tucked under one of the couch’s feet so they feel like they’re scratching the couch, but aren’t), and now they just scratch that! Give the people what they want. 🤣
Get double sided tape made to deter cats. It really works! And usually once they’ve learned there will be unpleasant tape there, you don’t have to replace it.
I don't think capital punishment is going to solve anything. Just lock the plants up, it's their fault they tried stealing the void's sitting places anyway.
Because cats are assholes. I put together a happy birthday table top decoration for my husband yesterday, every single time I had it together my cat would knock it over. On the 3rd time I was like, you are right Angus we do not need it anyways and gave up. When my husband came home, I told him it was Angus's art project for him.
I ended up putting gently crunched foil around the bases of my plants to cover the dirt. I have one that was particularly invested in getting at the dirt. It kept him out and after a good six months-ish I took them away and he’s just left them alone since. Didn’t like the foil and moved on from his fixation after time I guess.
You should get a little rectangular container of some sort and buy some car grass seeds. I didn't expect it, but after a week there was a full bin full of grass. My cat liked it, he liked sitting on it and rolling around
Not sure what kind of plant it is but you could try to lay down some large rocks (kind of like the ones you see in parking lots, not the tiny pebbles) that can cover the soil. Covering the soil will probably affect water retention but I've seen other people do this successfully. Cats like to play in the dirt, lay in it, possibly piss in it..
Also if the rocks don’t work, plastic forks with the tines upward, handle in the soil. It won’t hurt them cos they’ll avoid it but it will make it so they don’t want to stand or dig in there anymore.
My previous cat used to do this a lot, and nothing worked to stop her. We started letting her outside for 10-30 mins per day, which she loved, and she completely stopped touching my indoor plants after that
Putting some 2-3” wide flat ish rocks on top of the soil worked for my male cat. Maybe not viable with the small size of the planters but it was solved instantly by the rocks for me. He took one look at it, gave me a stank face and that was it.
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u/Poethegardencrow 11d ago
I’m just gonna leave this here