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#1
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Cats chewing houseplant leaves - please advise
We recently combined out home with that of my father-in-law. He lost his
wife to cancer in August and has a few health issues of his own that are worrisome. His two cats and our two cats are being very good about things, although they're still a bit territorial and the random bit of hissing still happens. My problem is with some large potted plants that my FIL received at the time of my MIL's funeral. He has them in two large urns just inside the front entryway, and they're quite beautiful but my cats are insisting on nibbling the ends of the large, pointed leaves. A friend of mine quite knowledgable in houseplants told me the name and said they are safe for pets and children (we have a three year old girl and a baby on the way, not to mention the cats, so of course I asked). Irregardless of their safety for cats, I need to get my guys to stop chewing on them. If these plants die because of my cats, my FIL is going to start grieving all over again for his wife. The huge number of plants he received are his therapy, more or less, and I would hate to have any sort of setback that could be avoided. He's been very understanding about moving some of the plants out of reach of my family, but this would be tough. Before I go out and buy five different kinds of spray and deterrent, does anyone here have recommendations for me? I've never had to deter a cat from doing this before so I know next to nothing about what's available. I've tried the squirt bottle trick but my two big lunkheads have never been bothered by that before, and now they think I'm just playing a game. I can't use hot pepper oil or anything because my three year old will surely get it on her hands somehow and then transfer it into her eyes. Can anyone give me some pointers? I'm stumped this time. --Threnody |
#2
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Try the spray called "bitter apple". You might also pur a tray of cat grass
near the big plants to distract them away from those plants. Won't hurt kids or cats. Cats will probably prefer the grass. Karen "Threnody" wrote in message ... We recently combined out home with that of my father-in-law. He lost his wife to cancer in August and has a few health issues of his own that are worrisome. His two cats and our two cats are being very good about things, although they're still a bit territorial and the random bit of hissing still happens. My problem is with some large potted plants that my FIL received at the time of my MIL's funeral. He has them in two large urns just inside the front entryway, and they're quite beautiful but my cats are insisting on nibbling the ends of the large, pointed leaves. A friend of mine quite knowledgable in houseplants told me the name and said they are safe for pets and children (we have a three year old girl and a baby on the way, not to mention the cats, so of course I asked). Irregardless of their safety for cats, I need to get my guys to stop chewing on them. If these plants die because of my cats, my FIL is going to start grieving all over again for his wife. The huge number of plants he received are his therapy, more or less, and I would hate to have any sort of setback that could be avoided. He's been very understanding about moving some of the plants out of reach of my family, but this would be tough. Before I go out and buy five different kinds of spray and deterrent, does anyone here have recommendations for me? I've never had to deter a cat from doing this before so I know next to nothing about what's available. I've tried the squirt bottle trick but my two big lunkheads have never been bothered by that before, and now they think I'm just playing a game. I can't use hot pepper oil or anything because my three year old will surely get it on her hands somehow and then transfer it into her eyes. Can anyone give me some pointers? I'm stumped this time. --Threnody |
#3
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Try the spray called "bitter apple". You might also pur a tray of cat grass
near the big plants to distract them away from those plants. Won't hurt kids or cats. Cats will probably prefer the grass. Karen "Threnody" wrote in message ... We recently combined out home with that of my father-in-law. He lost his wife to cancer in August and has a few health issues of his own that are worrisome. His two cats and our two cats are being very good about things, although they're still a bit territorial and the random bit of hissing still happens. My problem is with some large potted plants that my FIL received at the time of my MIL's funeral. He has them in two large urns just inside the front entryway, and they're quite beautiful but my cats are insisting on nibbling the ends of the large, pointed leaves. A friend of mine quite knowledgable in houseplants told me the name and said they are safe for pets and children (we have a three year old girl and a baby on the way, not to mention the cats, so of course I asked). Irregardless of their safety for cats, I need to get my guys to stop chewing on them. If these plants die because of my cats, my FIL is going to start grieving all over again for his wife. The huge number of plants he received are his therapy, more or less, and I would hate to have any sort of setback that could be avoided. He's been very understanding about moving some of the plants out of reach of my family, but this would be tough. Before I go out and buy five different kinds of spray and deterrent, does anyone here have recommendations for me? I've never had to deter a cat from doing this before so I know next to nothing about what's available. I've tried the squirt bottle trick but my two big lunkheads have never been bothered by that before, and now they think I'm just playing a game. I can't use hot pepper oil or anything because my three year old will surely get it on her hands somehow and then transfer it into her eyes. Can anyone give me some pointers? I'm stumped this time. --Threnody |
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