[Rayona]

My two kittens, ten-week-old females, are angels in every way except that they will not leave our houseplants alone! I have tried spraying them with water, clapping, yelling 'no', distracting them, putting them in timeout...

I have never had a cat before that was interested in the plants and I don't know what else to do. They have nearly killed my palm, and are working on my lovely Dracena.

Does anyone have any advice? I can't really move the plants, because the only off-limits room is my bedroom, and it doesn't get any light. Thanks!

 

[Aonir]

Cats will naturally try to eat plants. Make sure you don't have any poisoness ones that will cause them harm! I suggest you get grown grass and keep it indoors to chew on, or grown catnip. They should have these in petstores. Once you get one, re-direct kitties to the grass and praise them for eating/tearing apart it

 

[queen of the nile]

What I had to do was hang all my plants using those macrame hangers. My cats are still very interested in them but just can't reach them. I found that if I sprayed them with water, that just meant they would eat the plants when my back was turned. Now I have no problems at all.

 

[Rayona]

Thanks guys! I guess I wasn't very clear about what the cats are doing. They aren't eating the plants, they are playing with them. They climb up the trunk of the dracena, dive-bomb the frond plant and go after its leaves like they are a kitty wand. Once they pull the leaves off they just drop them where ever and attack the still attached and living fronds. These are really big floor plants, so I can't hang them.

If you want to see what the plants are, go to [/url] http://plantshed.com/Merchant2/merchant ... ory_Code=P . They are the Dracena and the Areca palm. Right now it's just close supervision and lots of time-outs. Argh.

 

[Aonir]

Ohh they are playing with the plants, not eating them. Have you tried getting one of those door-knob toys? So they can jump and swat at it? That might help. Re-direct them to a toy they can jump at and try to tear down.