How do I keep my cats from chewing up my house plants?

Question

I've got a variety of house plants place sporadically throughout my house, but where ever they are, my cats find them and chew them all up! I don't want to put them out side, but they won't stop! I've tried the squirt bottle, but they do it alot at night. I can't keep track of them 24-7! The younger one also has dug up my begonia plant so many times that it's now dead, spilling dirt all over my floors and bookshelf. HELP!!

And killing the cats is NOT an option for the cat haters out there

Answer 1

Hi Kathy...consider rubbing dried catnip and sprinkling them onto the cat greens and see if this will entice the cats to take interest. To safely discourage your cats from eating the other plants consider using a pet-friendly spray deterrent called Grannick's Bitter Apple® http://www.grannicks.com found worldwide at most pet stores.

Please avoid using mothballs. They are considered toxic and should NOT be used. Here's more information on this:
http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/ope/enotes/showarticle.cfm?id=89
MOTHBALLS are toxic to cats which contains the ingredient Naphthalene. Mothballs are approximately twice as toxic as paradichlorobenzene, and cats are especially sensitive to naphthalene. Signs of ingestion of naphthalene mothballs include emesis, weakness, lethargy, brown-colored mucous membranes and collapses. Paradichlorobenzene mothballs may cause GI upset, ataxia, disorientation, and depression. Elevations in liver serum biochemical values may occur within 72 hours of indigestion.

Answer 2

There are some sprays you can buy at almost any super store (wal mart and what not). They aren't very expensive.

It is basically a training aid. The odor isn't appealing at all to the animal but in no way harms them. (I have had MANY MANY cats, they are my favorite animal). You can only smell it a little bit and the aroma doesn't spread around the house like an air freshener does.

We use this to spray around the Christmas tree...so I have found out that it doesn't harm the plant either.

You just spray it around the areas you don't want them to go and it really works actually. I believe it's called something like Pet Training Aid...but don't hold me to that.

Also, there is something called a scat mat but, I'm not sure how many areas you have plants in. If it is just one general area then this would work...I have it on the attatched link. It's called a scat mat.

Hope you find something that works!

Answer 3

To stop your cats from digging in the dirt around your houseplants, go to the craft store or even k-Mart and buy a few pieces of that plastic needlepoint mesh. Cut it to fit the pot, and make a slit and a small opening for the plant. Place it on top of the dirt.
Or, sprinkle a tissue or paper towel with oil of cloves, then place in the pot .

Cloves, lemon, orange, cayenne - cats usually hate them all.

But then go out and buy those "bad little guys" lots of toys, and scatter them throughout the house. A cat would much rather be chasing a "mousie" then chewing your plants.

I always have a shallow pot with grass growing in it for my cats to nibble on, and some catnip as well.

Answer 4

Well there are products to help with animals going into places where you don't want them to go, such as Boundry. There is also sonic and spritzer products that do the same thing as the squirt bottle however they have sensors so you don't need to stand there 24/7. As far as the chewing thing goes, this is common. Animals eat plants for two reasons, one to get more nutrition and second is when they feel sick. Normally a rough blade is for the latter. I recommend getting Kitty Grass it's a combination of grasses to suit their needs. Try also feeding a healthier food. You can e-mail me if you need advice on the food.

Answer 5

There is actually a plant out there that cats can and should get into. I forget what it's called, but it's good for cats and I believe that if you get one of those they should leave the others alone. You might have to do a google search for it, or call a pet shop.

Do you have the plants somewhere where it's breezy? Is it possible that the heat/AC vents are blowing air onto them making the leaves blow and making them more attractive to the cats to play with?

Answer 6

I'm glad you don't want to kill them because that's mean but my parents have a cat who likes to chew on their house plants. There's not much you can do because like you said you can't keep track of them 24-7 and they do it when your asleep or not at home. All I can say is you might have to put the plants outside so they'll stop or just keep getting on to them when you see them do it.

Answer 7

I had to let the plants go, even though I loved them. I tried spraying bitter apple on the plants, squirted the cats with water, nothing helped. It's fun for them. Don't use pepper spray or anything though. My vet said that it can get in their eyes.

Answer 8

You can try aluminum foil, but your cat sounds just as stubborn as my boy cat and he will eat the foil.
You can get some sour apple spray from the pet store (it lasts for a couple of days) so you have to respray it.
What we had finally resorted to doing is hanging the plants from the ceilling. Also bought a couple of nice shelves (with invisible brackets) to put plants on as well in a place the the cats couldn't jump on something to get on the shelves.

Answer 9

Might sound weird, but how about buying some giant venus flytraps like the one that appeared in Little Shop of Horrors. The first cat that tries to chew one will be eaten, and the rest of your cats will learn to stay away.

Sorry about that. Try Bitter Apple (link below).

Answer 10

Orange. Orange in the squirt bottles. Orange peels around the base of the plants.
They hate the orange. I think lemons work too. Our cats used to do it all the time and now they don't after using the lemons. Also put some cactus's around. They got "bit" back too.

There's also a repellant you can use: