How to dissuade your cat from attacking your plants?
Cats can easily become a nuisance to houseplants. Many of you have even given up decorating your home with pretty plants!
So how do you manage to get cats AND plants to live together, without them having fun climbing on them, scratching the ground, chewing the leaves, or even sometimes, for the more playful, knocking them over?
We have several tips to give you, but first, let's take a look at the behavior of your 4-legged friends.
Plants allow cats to satisfy certain physiological needs. They are important for providing certain nutritional supplements to their carnivorous diet and also allow them to "purge" themselves, that is to say, to eliminate the balls of hair they ingest while grooming. It is indeed thanks to the vegetable fibers present in the plants that they can overcome it.
Thus, it is quite normal for your pet to eat your plants, so don't worry about it. However, some plants can be poisonous. In order to avoid unpleasant surprises, we advise you to read our article presenting our selection of non-toxic plants for pets.
First, think about buying catnip so that it can satisfy its needs other than by eating your pretty plants. You should also know that there are decorative catnip cups that will fit perfectly into your interior.
Cats are very playful animals, they can easily confuse your banana tree with one of their new toys... So make sure he has his own toys ; a scratching post, a basket or even a cat tree so that he can have fun without destroying everything in his path.
If, despite this, your cat continues to scratch your plants, try to surround them with an unpleasant surface by covering their soil with pebbles or shells. These surfaces are very unpleasant for their pads and will deter them from going there.
It is also possible to hang your plants in beautiful decorative baskets, if they allow it. Here you will find our favorite hanging plant: the chain of hearts .
Finally, if despite your best efforts your cat continues to eat your plants, spray them with a repellent . These are safe for them, but will deter your cats from bothering them.
You can easily make your own repellent spray using household vinegar, the smell of which cats don't like at all. Mix one part vinegar to 3 parts water. Don't worry, the smell is barely perceptible to humans, but your companion, who has a much more developed sense of smell, will no longer approach your plants.
You can also add a few drops of lemongrass or peppermint essential oil to the jar. Your cat won't appreciate these smells, and as a bonus, neither will aphids.
