Tips for Keeping Cats Out of House Plants

Has Snowball made your jade plant her newest litter box? Or has Smokey decided that he'd rather eat your callas than his own food? Before you have to dispose of another houseplant because it is drenched in cat-spray, try these easy, inexpensive, and fool-proof methods for keeping cats out of your planters.

One obvious and easy solution is to use only hanging plants. A planter that is hooked to the ceiling is well out of the reach of your feline friend, and you won't have to struggle to keep it poop-free and un-eaten.

If this isn't a desirable option for you, try lining the soil of your floor-blased potted plants with jacks (used in children's games). Puff will not want to walk on these, and will find the acrobatics required to get around them too frustrating to be worth the endeavor. If you can't find any jacks locally, try using twigs or jagged stones.

Covering the surface of the potting soil with pebbles, marbles, or river rocks will also work, because they will limit your cat's access to the soil itself. This layer of glamour on top of the soil will also add beauty to your plants. I prefer using green glass marbles.

There are many odors that cats do not like, because they irritate their nasal passages and throat. Cayenne pepper, cinnamon, lemon, orange lavender, and mustard seed will all deter your kitty from your houseplants. Be careful not to overdo it with the lemon or orange, because they might make your soil overly acidic and harm your plants.

If none of these measures work, punishment might, but I believe it should only be used as a last resort. Spray-bottles filled with a mixture of lemon juice and water, squirted every time you catch Fluffy doing her business in the begonias, will eventually teach her that what she's doing is bad. However, punitive measures may damage the trust that your cats have in you, so it is best to use them only when other alternatives have failed.

Mothballs are one option that should never be used to keep your cats out of houseplants. While moth balls are effective at repelling cats, they are highly toxic to them. The combination of chemicals used in mothballs is intended to be toxic to moths and, unfortunately, they are also dangerous to your pets. Play it safe and do not use moth balls around your feline companion.

Cats and houseplants can coexist peacefully. It may require a bit of effort, a small investment, and a little creativity, but you can adjust the lifestyle of your plants and cats so that they can live together. You don't have to choose between your pets and your plants!