Need Help with my houseplants please??

KD Redlowske
by KD Redlowske
Does anyone know how to get a cat to stop eating all of her houseplants? I love houseplants especially in the winter, but I don't purchase them anymore as my cat will eat all the leaves and if African Violets, she'll eat the little flowers off.
  7 answers
  • Janet Pizaro Janet Pizaro on Feb 23, 2017

    cats do not like the scent of citrus,so spray all around your plants with a scented spray.

    • KD Redlowske KD Redlowske on Feb 23, 2017

      Thank you. However, I have plug-in around the house with citrus odors. It doesn't faze her one bit. She is a little devil and can opens cabinets and drawers.

  • Johnchip Johnchip on Feb 23, 2017

    Put toothpicks in soil or bamboo squewers on the oustsde.

  • KD Redlowske KD Redlowske on Feb 23, 2017

    Thanks for the suggestion. I am afraid she would be able to figure out how to get around them. She is very sneaky and a little devil. I can just see her picking them right out.😁

  • Try putting a few moth balls on top of the soil in each plant pot. Jerry Baker (America's Master Gardener) has this "Scat Cat" solution, saying, "Too keep cats from digging in container plants, indoors or out, dribble this elixir lightly over the top of the soil's surface": 5 tbsp. flour, 4 tbsp. powdered mustard, 3 tbsp. Cayenne pepper, 2 tbsp. Chili powder, 2 quarts water. Mix all of these ingredients together and sprinkle the solution around the perimeter of the areas you want to protect. " (From "Backyard Problem Solver", by Jerry Baker, pg. 231.)

    • See 2 previous
    • I'm not sure, but it's worth a try! Also, Jerry Baker recommends putting mothballs in nylon stockings and hanging them near the plants you want to keep deer away from. (There's also a tonic recipe. ) For rabbits he suggests sifting wood ashes around outdoor plants. I've been a JB fan for decades! You can probably find his books at the library, or online or bookstores if you wanted to buy them. (And no--I'm not related nor getting any kind of "kickbacks". I just like his common sense and mostly non-chemical solutions to gardening problems. )

  • Jane Jane on Feb 25, 2017

    My cat too loves to eat my plants. She has cut down my shamork, my fern and has started on another. I planted cat grass...which she ignores, I've sprayed her with vinegar water...this worked! Now she grazes at night once I'm asleep! Stinker!

    • KD Redlowske KD Redlowske on Feb 25, 2017

      I know, the minute my back is turned she sneaks right up and when caught acts as if she isn't doing anything. If I catch her before she knows I'm there she jumps down and runs.

  • Jane Jane on Feb 25, 2017

    I know mothballs work outside but I'm not crazy about having my whole house smell like mothballs'.

  • Dfm Dfm on Feb 26, 2017

    have you given your cats a hairball remedy? have you sprayed the leaves 1/2 water and 1/2 hot pepper juice?


    when my cats have gone for the greens, they usually hack a hairball.