Cats and plants

[Anoxos]

I've read the stories of pets and plant mayhem... I have 4 cats, and a bunch of plants, some CP and some non... And they get along fine. How do I do it? A little forethought!

1. I grow a ton of cat grass in a pair of litterpans. This gives them something to chew on that is okay. You can get seeds at some farm supply stores and nurseries, that's cheaper than buying potted catgrass from pet stores. I rotate the pans so only one is in reach, giving the other time to regrow.
2. Give them 'indoor formula' cat food that has some greens in it. Then they don't feel so compelled to eat outside grass or my good plants.
3. I train them NOT to eat some plants... Do this by first bringing in plants like aloe that are bitter (they bite it and YUCK! but are non-toxic). Then the tastier plants, but mist them with a cocktail of cayenne pepper and water. Hot tongue! Eventually they learned that only the catgrass is safe to eat.
4. My really delicate plants are kept either in terrariums or on shelves where I made a real effort to make sure the cats have NO extra spot to stand and reach it... just in case.

It took some work, and the sacrifice of a boston fern to the training process, but hey, I'm happy now... And so are my Japanese ferns, CPs, aloes, cats and etc.

 

[schloaty]

tobasco spray, eh?  Heh heh heh.... I might just do that for the fun of watching the cat go zooming around the house afterwards....  

 

[Ozzy]

I have to tell a story that happened to a guy that I sold some plants too.

A 15 year old guy bought one of every plant I was selling at the time, VFT, D.capensis, D.capillaris and a S.purpurea.
He went home and looked on the internet for other cp's. He sent me an email and asked if I could get him some of the other plants he saw online. I said of course. He spent over $70 more on these plants. So in all he had around $100 in the plants. That's a lot of money for a 15 year old.
About two weeks later I saw him on online and I sent him a message that asked how his plants was doing. He messaged back they are all dead. I asked him what happened and he said his sister's cat ate them all. I told him that some may regrow from the roots. He said no, it ate the roots too. Some of the plants were almost full grown S.flavas, and other pitcher plants.

I really felt bad for him. I offered to sell him any plant he wanted at cost. He declined and said he didn't want to get any more plants until he could keep them away from his sisters cat.
I give my contact ifo with every plant I sell.

 

[Ozzy]

Schloaty, the best thing to do is to tie a helium ballon to their tail. You'll never see a cat run so fast.

 

[aprilh]

Well, little Vodka got hisself twisted up in a plastic grocery bag a couple of weeks ago..somehow he got his body through both handles...and he freaked out.  

The faster he ran, the louder the grocery bag went "flappity, flappity, flappity" the faster he ran.....the louder it went "flappity, flappity, flappity......."

We finally cornered him in the bedsprings of the bed in the guest room, and we were able to cut the plastic bag away...but he was traumatised for a week!  

It was so funny, I'm sorry to say. I use the kitty hot mouth spray in my house. Boil a couple of hot peppers in 4 cups of water for a couple of hours. Strain into a mister bottle. spray plants. Kitties no like the hot mouth!

 

[Finch]

heh my birds ate a couple pings once. They actualy willingly eats hot peppers (birds dont detect taste very well)

 

[Trapper7]

Good job Anoxos

Shloaty and Ozzy,you two are bad

*Niki*

 

[jimscott]

Congratulations on your "ounce of prevention" techniques! Our cat is at home, but my CP's are either at work, at the lab, or outside in a mini-bog.

I am reminded of two stories, however. Last fall a girl or woman on our forums, new to the CP's, referred to her kitty as, "side of cat". Seems she had an unpleasant experience with the mix.

I just went looking for that topic and found a parallel topic from another girl / woman with cats and similar circumstances. Within the link is the story of how our cat was investigating a rose in a Waterford vase that I got for my wife as a newliwed and how we heard this crash in the middle of the night...

Well, the topic I was looking for, from someone called Sarilka, has eluded me.

Grab's topic

Coincidently, "Grab" also lives in an apartment and has like no sunlight for her VFT (hearkening back to the previous topic).

 

[Treaqum]

Well I don't have a cat but the dog is so afraid of the vacuum. He runs to the edge of the yard and cowers there even though the vacuum is inside. I taught him the words "voom, voom" mean the vacuum is comming out. Anyone remember that Mazda commercial with the little kid who said "voom, Voom" that was on all last year. It was so funny because the dog would freak out ever time that was on. HE would race around the house barking.

 

[Ozzy]

My dog is terrified of the vacum cleaner too. He either runs upstairs or hides under a desk.
What even funnier is when I mow grass. He barks at the lawnmower, runs up and bites the wheel then runs away. Then he does it all over again.

 

[SarraceniaScott]

Quote[/b] (0zzy @ June 05 2005,7:27)]I have to tell a story that happened to a guy that I sold some plants too.

A 15 year old guy bought one of every plant I was selling at the time, VFT, D.capensis, D.capillaris and a S.purpurea.
He went home and looked on the internet for other cp's. He sent me an email and asked if I could get him some of the other plants he saw online. I said of course. He spent over $70 more on these plants. So in all he had around $100 in the plants. That's a lot of money for a 15 year old.
About two weeks later I saw him on online and I sent him a message that asked how his plants was doing. He messaged back they are all dead. I asked him what happened and he said his sister's cat ate them all. I told him that some may regrow from the roots. He said no, it ate the roots too. Some of the plants were almost full grown S.flavas, and other pitcher plants.

I really felt bad for him. I offered to sell him any plant he wanted at cost. He declined and said he didn't want to get any more plants until he could keep them away from his sisters cat.
I give my contact ifo with every plant I sell.

If that were me, I would have introduced my sister's cat's neck to a meat cleaver, and stuck the kitty head on a pike to warn neighborhood cats.

 

[PlantAKiss]

Ollie loves my vacuum. He loves to play with it. However I have finally taught him that the back and forth motion of it is NOT a game. I have some cute pics of him as a puppy rearing up to smack the hose. He also does that to the mower but I think he will get over after he sees it a few times this summer.

I wish I could teach him to mow the grass...

If I could harness all his devilry and channel it into something constructive, I could just kick back and relax.

 

[pinkerton]

i have found surrounding my plants with lace leaf sundews to be the best protection. discovered my accidently actully. didn't like their face covered in a stciky gooness and remeber it well. i also leave wheatgrass (aka catgrass) avaiable for 'em to munch.

 

[aprilh]

I wish I could teach the cats 1) not to chew my plants, and 2) to change their own litterboxes.....

 

[jimscott]

Quote[/b] (aprilh @ June 06 2005,6:09)]I wish I could teach the cats 1) not to chew my plants, and 2) to change their own litterboxes.....

Supposedly, they can be trained to use the toilet / flush. But not my cat! Yeah, that would be a handy little trcik with all your cats and boxes! But then you'll need more toilets! Hey, I know how to fix 'em - cheap!

 

[Finch]

Quote[/b] ]Supposedly, they can be trained to use the toilet / flush

yeah my great aunt's cats did that.

My dog loved the vaccume hose and will get his maw and smack it.. its kind of hard to discribe but he's playing with it.

 

[pinkerton]

Quote[/b] (aprilh @ June 06 2005,6:09)]I wish I could teach the cats 1) not to chew my plants, and 2) to change their own litterboxes.....

i have somewhat sucessfully trained one out of three to use the toliet. he prefers the litter still, but every little bit counts right?

 

[Treaqum]

I bet my dog would be afraid of the lawn mower but we don't let him out when I'm mowing the grass. Although he did attack the lawn man on his chariot lawn mower the other day. He did not really attack but barked then saw the machine comeing towards him and took off down the street. I had to run after him for quite a while until I could catch him.

 

[fudog]

Hot sauce works great for cats I have to wipe down all cords. xbox/ps2/lights/cable/phone everything so they will stop chewin. I reapply every few months.

 

[Mannex17]

My sister's indoor pet rabbit likes to chew on a few things, so I took a paintbrush and painted tabasco on the baby gate that he chews on, and he just licked it all off. He actually enjoyed it...