Those of you with cats....NVR
For my birthday yesterday, I got some beautiful carnations from a friend and two beautiful bouquets of flowers from my BF. The cats have been chowing down. The day before that I bought two new little house plants. I put them on top of the fridge. Got home from work today and they have been chewed on too. I have had cats most of my life and have yet to find a way to keep them away. I grow cat grass for them. They love it but they love all flowers and house plants as well. Nothing like seeing Smedley walking across the room with a carnation in his mouth. Only my 19 1/2 year old cat no longer eats things like that because she doesn't jump up on things anymore. It is free game to the other three. One of the little plants I bought two days ago was a money tree. Now there is quite a bit of 'money' missing!
Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks
Di
My cat does eat some of my flowers, but he knows he's not supposed to... I have OK luck fussing at him to get away from my plants, but he still takes the occassional nibble.
Be careful not to bring lilies into the house because they're toxic.
I don't have any suggestions about how to keep them from eating plants, but since they do - here's a list of plants that are poisonous to cats.
http://www.cfainc.org/articles/plants.html
Wow! It's a wonder my cat isn't dead already...I've let him eat almonds before...he LOVES them. Well, no more of that!
Thanks for the great link, HH!
Mine have nibbled on a few of the poisonous ones before and never been sick on any of them. That was before I had the list of poisonous plants.
I can get them away as well Opera Chic when I am home but I am at work and out of the house 9 to 10 hours a day. That is when they do their dirty work. They know better than to do it when I am home! ;D
Try rubbing the pot and the stems of the plants with citrus oil from an orange or lemon peel--cats HATE the smell of citrus. You could peel a lemon or orange with a potato peeler and arrange it around the plant, hanging from a stem, or whatever.
Cassie cat knows that the flowers are hers. The vase too, so if it breaks when she knocks it over getting to her flowers, tough. And all that water that drips on the electronics & other stuff? That certainly does not concern Cassie cat!
So, I treat myself to flowers weekly -- at work. ;) Besides, I sit at my desk more than any one place at home, & they are a nice pick me up.
So was it a landmark birthday, Di? Or are you a few years younger than I am? I hope it was a good one & that you have many, many more!
Do they know its wrong to jump up on the table or wherever you put the flowers? you have to teach your cat these things. Its easier when you first bring them into the house, but you may still be able to teach them not to jump up on certain tables/counters/dressers by consistently telling them not to. Yell or clap loudly & roughly push them off or squirt them with a water bottle. Alternately, put the flowers on a really high dresser they cannot reach.
lol...My cat KNOWS where he's not supposed to go, so he only goes there when he wants my (even negative) attention, especially at night when I'm trying to get to sleep. After fussing at him and telling him to get down from wherever a few times, I end up scooping him up and snuggling him into bed with me. I know it's only encouraging his bad behavior, but at least he settles down and sleeps happily once I "rescue" him.
::)
my cory will be "naughty" when she wants attention. she likes to go next to her scratching box and then scratch at the carpet while she looks at me working with a "ha ha i'm on the carpet!" look in her face.
;D How did my cat end up at your house? I know that look all too well.
If our cat doesn't take out his frustrations on my screen door, he usually takes it out on our poor dog. Kitty waits for the dog to fall asleep, then he sneeks up on him & starts wailing on him. It's funny as heck but I feel for the dog. Thank god the cat doesn't put the claws out when he does that.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep cats off of couches? I know that might seem kinda cruel to not let my cats up on the couch, but in all honestly, they can roam or sleep wherever they want. Just not the couch. They have tons of fur that I'm trying to keep down, and it gets embedded into the fibres of the sofa. It's kinda inconvenient when we have guests over, getting fur all over their pants! Anyways, I was reading some suggestions here, and I don't really feel like sprinkling hot chili powder on my couch! LOL! They both know enough to stay off when we're at home (mum and I), but when we go out, we usually come back to white fur spots on there. The carpet idea sounded pretty good (with the "spikes" on the one side), but I'm wondering if anyone else would know of something that works?
Try rubbing the pot and the stems of the plants with citrus oil from an orange or lemon peel--cats HATE the smell of citrus. You could peel a lemon or orange with a potato peeler and arrange it around the plant, hanging from a stem, or whatever.
Most cats hate citrus ;)
I wear a satsuma mandarin perfume and my cats try to lick it off my wrists and neck. They rub against me, roll around on my lap... They're crazy! ;D
Di, happy belated birthday!!!
My grandmother bought me a flower for easter (which wasn't a lily, thankfully) and it is living it's life in one of our extra bedrooms. I only see it when I water it, but it's alive and so are the cats. Sorry I'm not much help!
Thank you for the birthday wishes mdvegan!
Cassie cat knows that the flowers are hers. The vase too, so if it breaks when she knocks it over getting to her flowers, tough. And all that water that drips on the electronics & other stuff? That certainly does not concern Cassie cat!
So, I treat myself to flowers weekly -- at work. ;) Besides, I sit at my desk more than any one place at home, & they are a nice pick me up.
So was it a landmark birthday, Di? Or are you a few years younger than I am? I hope it was a good one & that you have many, many more!
Hee hee hee...No Lezly, not the landmark one! When I get to that one, I am starting to work backwards. Thanks for the birthday wishes!
Funny I was just asking about you and Tweety a couple of weeks ago and both of you posted this week. What have you been up to? Is all well?