Cat Owners: How Can I Keep My Plants Safe?

I don’t know if it will harm the plant or not, but bitter spray works good for electronic cords and such.

The easiest method is going to be using a topical gel (like BitterApple). It tastes absolutely atrocious, and if he gets a taste or two, he’ll not mess with it again.

In cats, you’ll often get an extreme reaction – he may fly around the house, frothing and drooling, but it doesn’t harm them.

Hang the plant. My cats laugh at bitter spray.

I’m with @tinyfaery. I can’t have plants. I have only one, and it hangs.

If your cats are plant-eaters, make very sure that none of your plants are poisonous.

@syz @erichw1504 Good idea about the bitter apple. I’ll definitely check it out.

@tinyfaery @Seelix Actually, last week, we hung it up. It was on top of our fridge but Darwin managed to get there too. Today, I saw him staring at it and trying to perfect his vertical leap, hence the question. None of my cats showed any interest in plants so its never been a problem until now.

Apparently Pothos is listed on the poisonous plant list. I had checked once before but I must have missed it. Truly a shame since its one of my favorite plants We received this one as a clipping from a dear friend who passed away. I didn’t really want to get rid of it but I don’t want to poison our cat either.

Put the plant in a room the cat can’t get into.

Then go out and buy him a catnip plant to play with.

@WestRiverrat Our cats are generally allowed free roam of our apartment, but a cat friendly plant that he can access might be a good solution.

Grow a “sacrifice plant” such as grass or cat-nip for the kitty to munch on. Hang any plants you wish to save.

@Raven_Rising has a good point. I have a couch just for cat scratching, as a decoy, so they don’t scratch the real couch. It works. Maybe put out some cat friendly plants that you do not care so much about in areas where the cats can get to them.

Did you ever thinking about getting him his own plant? You can place double side tape around the access areas to the plant in question you want to save; cats do not like sticky stuff on the paws, worked with my cat to train her to stay off the top shelf. Or if you have time to do a more hands on method, whenever Darwin goes for the plant you squirt him between the eyes with a squirt gun, cats do not like water on their faces, so it seem. That is what I would try.

@Hypocrisy_Central I think you should know that the reason we named him Darwin is that his pattern recognition skills are poor enough that, were we not there to protect him from himself, he would likely win a Darwin award, so I don’t think the squirt gun idea would work. (He’s clever but not exactly intelligent, if that makes sense.)
However, I like the tape idea. I think we’ll have to give that a try.

@Hypocrisy_Central It seems like he gnaws on it whenever I’m busy doing something else, so water gun behavior modification isn’t an option. @jerv exaggerates Darwin’s pattern recognition skills, but he is clever enough to get himself into trouble that he can’t get out of (the cat, not @jerv). However, as you and others have mentioned, hanging the plant and getting him a green, leafy thing of his own might be the best solution.

Even if you buy him a plant for himself and hang the plant .. It might not work because as you said “he’s to clever for his own good ” , he might find ways to “Attack” the hanged plant .
I do recall when a cat [ from a few years ago ] was eating my plants I sat and babysit the plant and after 1 month or so the cat stopped eating the plant . Another cat stopped eating when I gave her freedom to go outside more .

Not to mention that they WANT and NEED grass to take care of their health .

I have a simple solution for you. Either just kick the cat out or get rid of plants.

I’ve seen cat grass plants for sale in the grocery store, and I’ve seen seeds for sale at pet stores. If you’re thinking of getting a plant just for Darwin, that might be a good idea. You could also just use regular grass seed, I suppose. I know cats like to eat it (although they sometimes just throw it up when they come back inside).

Wheat grass is usually what’s used for the ones they sell in grocery stores and it’s actually quite healthy for cats and people alike (rather than regular lawn grass.)

The most economical alternative would be to go to a gardening center and buy some wheat grass seed (very cheap) and some small starter pots and some potting soil. This way you can stagger the plantings so you’ll always have nice fresh grass available for him.

But still use the sticky tape and bitter apple stuff for the Pothos until he learns to prefer the wheat grass :)

@Hibernate Yeah, I figure that if he’s craving greens, he’s craving it for a reason. We feed them high quality food but let’s face it, its not a great substitute for salad. Since our cats are indoor only though we live in the city near a busy road, bringing cat friendly greenery in would be a good idea. Not to mention I would love to have some more plants in our house (again, big city, air quality, aesthetics, etc).

@jeremyh I could get rid of the plant, but I’d rather not if there is an alternative solution. As I mentioned before, it was a gift from a dear friend that passed away two years ago. As for the cat, I’ve made a commitment to take care of him and I tend to stand by my commitments. With the exception of eating my plants, he’s a wonderful addition to our family, so I’m not open to getting rid of him.

@Seelix @Buttonstc I’m going to swing by the pet store tonight and see what they have for wheat grass, until I can grow some of my own. Thanks for the suggestions!

Well… half a can of chicken cat food to the left, half a can to the right (for the other cat), and Darwin is still going after the wheat grass in the middle. I guess that cat loves his salad!

@jerv – Glad to hear he likes it! I hope your other plants will be safe :)

Much like the tape idea, I have one cat who thinks it’s fun, I’ve had some success with a light spritz of tabasco mixed with water around the enticing object. Plant, china, bird, whatever the case may be if they don’t mind bitter apple try diluting some hot sauce with water and either dabbing it around the area or lightly spritzing. I’ve had others tell me essential orange oil works too or sometimes even orange rinds are enough to do the trick. Watch him to find out what he doesn’t like then find a way to make that into a deterrant. If he’s skittish possibly one of those motion activated dancing flowers or a coffee can with pennies or pebbles he can’t help but knock over en route to his prized salad. @;-) best of luck