![How To Keep Cats Away From Indoor Plants? [ 4 Ways ]](https://www.floradelaterre.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/image-of-a-cat-with-indoor-plants.jpg)
You can be a plant-lover and a cat-lover at the same time. However, this affection can prove to be very harmful to both.
Your curious cats might poke around everywhere around the house, and eventually, you find a way to be okay with it.
But having cats and plants inside the same house can be clean and a health disaster (for both of them). If you, too, are tired of your cat (or cats) knocking over the plants just for the sake of it, this article is the right one for you.
How to keep cats away from indoor plants?
Everyone loves having feline friends until they jab their paws on everything visible. Several problems are faced by cat owners with a fondness for house plants.
Cats sometimes knock over plants playfully and cause a mess. They can put their paws in the soil and walk in the entire house, making the carpet and the floor messy.
Worst case scenario, cats sometimes eat the leaves of the plant, damaging the plants and making themselves sick. If you face such issues, let us show you some ways to keep the cats away from indoor plants.
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1. Using a spray bottle
(Just water spray!) It is a cheap and easy way of teaching your kitty that going near the plants is a bad idea. Cats can be trained just like other pets, but it is a slow process that requires you to be patient and consistent (Which is kind of a given if you own a cat!).
You can keep a spray bottle ready in case your cats decide to visit the plants. As soon as the cat comes near it, you can spritz water on it.
It is a simple reprimanding technique that eventually teaches the cat that it is not good to go near the plants. Your pets will eventually understand not to do something that you disapprove of (unlike children!).
This technique works best with young and obedient cats, and they develop an aversion towards the plants.
However, some naughty cats become rebellious and try to go near them when you are not around. For those cats, you can follow the other techniques.
2. Provide kitty with its plant
If your cat is insistent on eating the leaves of your precious plants, you can buy a plant that is just for her to chew.
Certain plants are not harmful to cats. Catnip comes to mind. But it might be too difficult to get the cat away from it.
Some other moderately loved plants by cats are- cat grass (which is just wheat, oat, barley, etc.) and thyme.
Your cat can sit by these plants and even eat their leaves if they want to without causing any harm to themselves. Having these is a great way to keep the cats away from your other indoor plants.
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3. Make your plants unappealing to the cats
The taste of plants and their smell draws the cat towards it. You can use the same concept to draw the cats away from the plants.
Cats have an extreme aversion towards all the citrus fruits- lemon, orange, lime, etc. These are the common ingredients in any household.
You can spray the juice of these fruits diluted with water on the leaves of plants. The smell will keep away the cats, and even if it doesn’t, the taste will. But make sure that it is very diluted and is not acidic enough to damage the leaves of plants.
You can also use a mix of water and scented soap like lavender to spray on the leaves.
Another option is to use garlic puree in water for a more pungent scent. Apart from these homemade remedies, you can also buy cat repellent mixtures online.
Another way of keeping the cats away from your plants is to leave citrus fruit peels in the soil. It will repel the cat from coming near the plant.
Replace the peels every week to keep the smell strong. You can also keep a burlap spritzed with diluted citrus juice in the soil. It will keep the cat from digging in your planter.
4. Change the placement of plants:
If none of the other ways work, you can resort to changing the position of your plants. There are several places in your home where you can place the plants such that the cats cannot reach them.
You can put them in hanging baskets away from all furniture. Using planters that mount directly on the wall without any shelf is also a good idea.
Ensure it is away from furniture so that the cat cannot leap at it and cause more damage. If possible, place the plants in a No-Cats-Allowed room and lock the door.
If there is such a room in the home that you can close for your kitty, then placing the plants will be a great idea.
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How do you keep cats from digging in potted plants?
Cats seem to have a fascination with everything in the house that can cause a mess. They dig around the planters and make a mess around it as well as around the entire house.
Due to the soil, the potted plants look a bit like kitty litter to the cats. It leads to more mess. To avoid your cat digging around the pots, some of the steps you can follow are:
1. Make the pot inaccessible
You can hang the pot in the middle of the room away from all the furniture so that the cat cannot reach it.
There are some pots which can be fitted on the wall directly without any stand. That is also an easy way to keep the cat from getting its paws anywhere near it.
2. Cover the pots
You can cover the pot with a netted cloth and hold down the covering using the bottom of the pot. It protects the plant from being invaded by the cat.
3. Create a boundary
You can create a simple boundary around the plant to keep the cat out.
For example, you can keep the plant in the middle of a tabletop and surround it with plastic cups. If the cat tries to jump, the cups will be enough to scare it off.
4. Mulch potted plants
Cover the soil’s surface with 2 to 3 inches of wood bark mulch. It has a thick texture and makes it difficult for the cat to dig into it.
Another convenient option is to place decorative rocks on the soil to keep the cats away and give a nice touch to your interior. Eventually, the cat gives up and stops coming near the plant.
5. Make the plants repellent to the cats
You can do this by spritzing the leaves with store-bought cat repellent sprays or with homemade things. You can spray water on the leaves and sprinkle cayenne pepper on them.
This scent drives the cats away and is not harmful to them even if it comes in contact with their fur. You can also put orange or lemon peels on the soil to drive the cats away.
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How do I stop my cat from attacking my house plants?
If you have a very agile and mischievous cat, it might attack the plants in the house. Sometimes, it can even break the pot.
The way to avoid this is to keep the cat as far away from the pot as possible. You can use the techniques mentioned above to stop the cat from digging into the pot and attacking it. Another handy way would be to train the cat into staying away from the plants.
How to keep cats away from eating houseplants?
Cats like the texture and taste of the leaves, and it leads to their fascination with eating them. To avoid that, you can use cat repellent sprays like diluted lemon juice, diluted vinegar, cayenne pepper solution, etc.
The smell of these is enough to stop keeping your cats from eating the leaves of your plant. Another way is to get the cat its plant to eat.
A cat grass, which is not a different plant, just a combination of cereal grasses, is a great idea, to begin with. You can also plant the different seeds in the same pot on your own.
How to keep cats away from pooping in house plants?
To keep the cat away from pooping in the house plants, make sure to keep the plants at an elevated level from the ground.
Another way is to keep the litter box of your kitty neat and tidy by cleaning it regularly as cats do not like dirty or smelly litter.
Most of the people who enjoy pets also seem to enjoy having a little greenery in the house.
Generally, plants and pets go great together, but in case they do not, I hope this article helps. Sometimes you have to take some measures to get the cat out of the house plant.