Cat-proofing plants can help prevent cats from damaging them and making a mess. Place crunchy sounds around the base of plants to deter cats. Dr. Alice Barker shares 10 methods for keeping cats away from plants, including using pet repellent sprays and planting cat-friendly plants. Physical barriers, such as mesh or chicken wire, can also be effective in keeping cats away.
To keep plants out of reach, place rocks over the dirt, place orange peels around them, or choose plants your cat will love. Use sticky materials, cover them up, and provide a distraction. Aluminum foil can be used as a deterrent, as cats dislike the sound and feel of aluminum foil on their paws. A bitter citrus spray can also be used to discourage cats from chewing on plants. Mix a few drops of lemon juice with aluminum foil peels to create a natural deterrent.
Scents can also help keep cats away from plants. Change the plant’s location, tweak the plant with tinfoil, cover the soil, and provide cat grass. Some plants that keep cats away include cittronella, lemongrass, lemon thyme, lavender, and the scaredy-cat plant (Coleus canina).
Teach your cat to leave plants alone and wrap tin foil around plant pots. There are six vet-approved methods for keeping cats away from plants: mustard or pepper repellents, lemon and other citrus-based repellents, and tinfoil. Remember to use methods that won’t cause harm to cats and only use those that won’t cause harm to them.
📹 How to Keep Cats from Destroying Your House plants l 7 Tips & Strategies
I will be sharing 7 tips I use to stop my cat from eating my plants using simple home design and reinforced cat behavior training.
What smell do cats dislike the most?
Cats are sensitive to various smells, including Eucalyptus, Citrus, Bananas, Vinegar, Coffee, Gone-off food, and Dirty litter trays. They communicate through scent and use scent to learn about their environment. To deter toileting tabbies from visiting your garden, strong smells may work, but some substances are toxic to cats. Pawrents should also be aware of the smells cats hate to avoid upsetting their feline friends at home.
Does vinegar stop cats from eating plants?
To deter scent-detecting cats, a solution of equal parts vinegar and water can be prepared in a spray bottle. Subsequently, add Castile soap to the mixture in order to facilitate its binding. The resulting solution can then be sprayed down the plant’s pot or lightly misted onto the leaves.
How to stop cats from going in plant pots?
To deter cats from digging in pots, it is recommended to line the top layer of soil with aluminum foil or to spray plants with a dilute solution of water and citrus essential oils. The use of aluminum foil is an effective deterrent as cats are averse to the smell and texture of the material.
How do you cat proof a potted plant?
To keep cats out of potted plants, use rocks, orange peels, and sticky materials to keep them away. Cats often play with plants to keep their hunting skills sharp, and using their paws to nudge them off the counter is a way to keep their attention. Cover the plants up, provide a distraction, and provide a variety of plants to choose from. Cats may also be just messing with you, so be prepared to deal with their mischievous side and keep your plants safe.
How do I stop my cat from tearing up my houseplants?
Cats are generally unattractive to citrus plants, so they can be deterred by placing orange and lemon peels in their pots, spraying the leaves with diluted lemon juice or orange oil, or using cayenne pepper as a natural deterrent. However, citrus oil extracts found in insecticidal sprays, dips, shampoos, insect repellents, food additives, and fragrances are toxic to cats. It is essential to avoid citrus oil extracts in these methods.
How to stop a cat from eating house plants?
To keep your cat from causing harm to a non-toxic plant, sprinkle chili powder on its leaves. This will make the plant less attractive to your cat. Water the plants from the bottom to prevent the spice from washing off. Additionally, place aluminum foil around potted plants to prevent cats from feeling under their feet. This content is provided by pet wellness experts at Hartz, who understand the importance of adopting a pet and strive to help pet parents feel confident and become the best possible pet parent.
How to protect indoor plants from cats?
Cats can be a significant chewing target for plants, but it’s crucial to keep them away from them to prevent illness. Animal and plant experts offer various tips to keep cats away from plants. Some effective methods include using scents, changing the plant’s location, using tinfoil, covering the soil, and providing cat grass. Cats may respond differently to different scents, so experimentation is key.
One effective method is to introduce citrus scents, which can cause digestive irritation and vomiting or diarrhea. To avoid this, mix the juice of a lemon, lime, or orange with water and spray it on the plant’s leaves. This will help prevent cats from chewing on plants and avoiding potential health issues.
Can I spray lemon juice on my plants?
Lemon juice has been demonstrated to act as an effective deterrent for cats and dogs, while also proving to be safe for use on houseplants. A solution of a few drops of lemon juice in water can be sprayed on plant leaves, or the lemon rinds can be placed over the soil to deter digging. This method has been demonstrated to be effective for both cats and dogs. It should be noted, however, that JavaScript may be disabled or blocked by extensions, and cookies may not be supported.
What smell do cats hate most?
Cats often dislike certain smells, such as citrus, perfumes, dirty litter boxes, strong cleaning products, and smoke. These smells can be both obvious and unnoticed to humans. Understanding these smells can help create a more pleasant environment for your cat and potentially deter them from entering areas they are not welcome. These 15 scents are considered top feline offenders, and understanding their dislikes can help create a safer environment for your cat.
What smells keep cats away from plants?
To repel cats from yards or gardens, plant rue or sprinkle dried rue, along with scents like citrus or lemon, garlic, ammonia, vinegar, coffee grinds, pipe tobacco, mustard, citronella, or eucalyptus. These scents diminish over time, so re-applying is necessary. Motion-activated sprinklers trigger a short water blast, while motion-activated, ultrasonic alarms emit a high-pitched sound that repels cats but isn’t heard by humans.
📹 How to keep cats away from houseplants
Cats and houseplants. Can they live in harmony? Yes. Here are some ways to keep cats out of houseplants and how I trained my …
I should have mentioned to be careful with mint and citrus oils because they are toxic to cats if they ingest them (I doubt they would since they abhor those smells so much but I wouldn’t coat my plant in straight up essential oils). Spritzing a diluted mix on the soil ought to be fine. I do not advocate spraying cats directly with water, only using a jet of water nearby to distract cats from an activity. I know that using positive punishment as a method of training cats is controversial and I think that redirection and positive reinforcement are key. These steps worked for me and I no longer worry that my cats will chew on my plants. My cats certainly do not fear me or being near my plants. Worm likes to crawl around in my plants like she’s a jungle cat, Teddy checks my plants with me every day, and we all cuddle every morning and every night before bed. They’re very happy and we share a trusting environment.
I’ll add the one that worked for me – get more plants! Seriously, my cat was obsessed with my plants when I only had 5 and they were novel and exciting. The more I got, the more my cat seemed to think they were old news and completely lose interest. These days she doesn’t bother them at all unless I put a super-tempting plant (like a parlour palm) in a new place, especially a place she sees as “hers” like the windowsill.
My cat was doing so well not eating or chewing any plants and then (I’m convinced) she started getting jealous of how much time I spent on my plants (I had spider mites and was cleaning off leaves with vigor) and I suddenly started to see punctures on some of my plants and caught her knocking one over. 😭😭
I purchased an item called a “Ssscat.” It’s a motion-sensing canister of compressed air, and I have one set up above some double-stick tape in front of my aspidistra (one cat was DETERMINED to eat that plant, so I had to double down on protection), and another in front of my huge dieffenbachia for now…it’s out of reach as far as I know, but I don’t want to risk them getting to it. That plant is going to be rehomed soon for safety. The Ssscat works great because the cats don’t associate the negative consequence (in this case, the burst of air) as coming from you, but rather as a direct consequence of going near the plant. I can’t recommend them enough. Our cats stopped setting off the one by the aspidistra in less than a month, so now they’re not even trying to go near it. My poor spider plant is another story. 😑
I have 3 cats and 2 of them couldn’t care less about my plants. Cat #3 however would chew everything down to the stump if I let him. My solution is to keep everything on shelves or in hanging baskets where he can’t access them. I wish I could be more carefree with the placement of my plants but this cat would exist solely on a diet of my houseplants if left to his own devices. To anyone in a similar situation with an untrainable lawnmower of a cat, try keeping a snake plant in the areas you want to have a plant but can’t because of your cat. Mine won’t touch one, I don’t think he recognizes the structure as vegetation.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS!!!! Last night, my cat knocked over my spider plant (my first plant ever that I am in love with)… she was trying to eat the leaves. I will try these tips! Thanks a bunch. Also- I just found your website by searching for this topic, and you’ve inspired me to get more plants!!!! Your website is amazing.
I adopted a kitten last week and it’s been YEARS since I’ve had a cat. In that time I’ve collected over 30 houseplants. I’m doing my research and I was so close to putting Cayenne in my plants after perusal other articles! I am SO THANKFUL I clicked on your article. Yours is by far the most helpful I’ve found.
Recently bought a few plants…didn’t think my cats would pay them any attention as they are mostly chill cats. Well I placed the plants on the window sill and they proceeded to eat a leaf off each plant and knock them all down. So, I decided to just buy a bunch of wall shelves and put all my plants high up. Also bought a few hanging plant pots to hang in front of the window away from their reach.
Cats are sneaky. I never see the cat damaging the plant. I just see chewed off leaves. My two plants are now in a Guinea pig cage so that they can regrow their leaves. It can get frustrating. I have three cats too so it’s tough to figure out who is doing the chewing. The best out of reach areas also don’t have enough light for the plant. I may just get a grow light.
This is serious stuff. My sister in law had a cat that died after chewing on a diffenbachia. One of my two cats likes to chew on my plants. I have about two dozen…but I’ll bring home a new one, and I’ll find her scoping it out almost immediately. I got a mini orchid as a gift Friday night…she didn’t see me bring it into the house. I put in on the kitchen windowsill, left the room, and when I came back a minute later, she was up on the counter, her face right in it. I guess she must smell them. Can’t tell you how many beautiful African violets I’ve brought home, only to find the flowers gone after she gets to them! I have had her long enough to know what kind of plant she is likely to be tempted to chew on…so I try to keep those types of plants where she can’t get to them. I have a few philodendrons, though, which are supposed to be highly toxic…she doesn’t seem to be interested in them, but I keep them hanging or out of reach.
Two pieces of advice – To stop your cats from digging in the dirt of your plants, top them with pine cones. The pine cones do not conduct heat and they compost down but the cats don’t like touching them because they have pointy places and a sticky resin. Pine cones also close when it rains so if they are open, it can tell you to check and see if your plants need watering. Also, they can be quite pretty. Second bit of advice – the PetSafe SSSCAT Spay Deterrent. It’s a motion triggered air can that blasts a loud blast of cold air when your cat triggers the motion detector. The sound and/or air startles the cat away. This device is harmless, refillable and you can place it anywhere you don’t want your cat to go, including near your stove top! It costs about $30 and has the benefit of you not having to be there to shoo your cat. You can also use it to protect your blinds or outside, near a window, if you have a neighbor cat coming to taunt your cat, which can cause your cat to start spraying.
Positive reinforcement and redirection worked wonders for me. Sadly not in time to save my favourite chair from Esme when she was a kitten, but it worked for the plants, and that’s what matters. Nicodemus (currently seven months old) has never even attempted to nibble, but he does like to hide amongst the foliage so he can jump out and box his long-suffering sister. Sadly he mostly ends up boxing the plants. 😢 He’s a work in progress, but aren’t we all. Might be worth mentioning when essential oils are brought up that many are toxic to our furry friends and it’s always important to check each one before we use any smelly stuff. I hear a lot of people suggest citronella as cats hate it, but it’s actually toxic. Same with citrus, peppermint, etc. Best to stick to the jet of water close by or the clapping and banging and tearing out of hair (ours, of course). 🤣
Watched this article by myself. THEN… watched a second time with the boyfriend in tow, so that he could see first hand, just what exactly I was (poorly) attempting to summarize and retell all the INSPIRING and practical methods you provided on this article, which honestly kind of gave me some (much needed) hope and PROOF of successfully co-habiting with my beloved kitty baby, and my oh-so VERY missed and longed for passion of filling my space with beautiful, lush, greenery and my mini garden! Your article made me really happy because me and the boyfriend have legit been racking our minds tryin’ to give our home a good balance of life. I could really hear your passion and feelings when you talked about the cayenne pepper method. For that I am so so glad to have got the warning! I have had my wee Georgie now for 2 years and no matter what we tried…. It just never worked out. It would always be while we were sleeping when he’d plan his take down of my beautiful greenery. lol I’m excited to try out this method of, “startle, establish an uncomfortable feeling associated with the negative behaviour, redirect and then positive reward. Also, you really helped us out by talking about utilization of the (forever disputed) spray bottle! I really respect the way that you go about it. thanks so much! Looking forward to viewing more content! 👋👋👋🙌
i was super worried about my cat when i started getting plants as i had some before and he regularly knocked them off the windowsill, my temporary solution was to close off the room with plants, unless i was in the room to supervise. these days i never worry about my cat and my plants because: the plants are no longer on the windowsill. my cat does not dislike plants, he likes looking out windows and the best place to do so is on the sill even when they werent on the windowsill i wouldnt let my cat near them for fear of him hurting the plants, but after exercising a bit of trust and letting him sniff the plants to his hearts content and then make his way to the windowsill to watch cars go by, my cat does not have any interest in eating or knocking over my plants. (he did knock one over on accident once. the noise startled him very badly, but both plant and cat were unharmed)
My cat loves tape and stickers, spray bottle is kind of working but not really well she just does not care sometimes. She is only 9 month old so I hope I can still train her some “good manners” like don’t go on tables or kitchen counter of course also don’t eat my plants. I was on a pretty good way but then I had to go into the hospital for 2 months and we lost a lot of the good progress we made.
I got one of those bark deterrent frequency remote control things for dogs & it works on cats very well. After the first time I used it in my cats direction, from then on all I had to do was reach for the remote that I strategically placed in an easily accessable spot in the living room & bedroom so I could say his name to get his attention, tell him no & if he didn’t stop whatever he was doing, he could see me reach for it & he’d run like a cat out of hell.
Thank you so much for mentioning NOT to use pepper! The water bottle worked for me too and I used it the same way. My cats getting older and less ambitious was also helpful. My goal with tables and counters was “I know you get on them, just don’t do it in front of me.” Side note: Your arms are GOALS!!!!
I just moved to a place with a cat. I brought my houseplants and began noticing that the cat would terrorize the leaves and what not. I too, used a small spray bottle once or twice, and now, all I need to do is pick up the spray bottle and point it in the cats direction and the cat knows to run the other way. Other than that, I’m nice to the cat. I don’t know what it’s going to be like in the long term, like will the cat begin leaving the plants alone? Will I always have to be there with a spray bottle?… I might move the plants into my room, and the coffee plants are going outside once it’s warm enough ((if they can make it that long)).
One of my cat like to push all my plant pots from table to floor at night. The other cat like to chew the plants at night. I mean midnight when I was sleeping. I have tried everything I can. The only solution is only keep a few plants are big and tall enough which the cats can’t reach it. So I have huge cat palms and fiddle leaf figs. Cats are different. Some cats just can’t get alone with plants at all.
This is super helpful! I got the advice of spray bottle from a friend but I love how yours is much less aggressive and more directive. My cat has been digging soil of our houseplants which made a mess and killed the plants…. Definitely gonna try this! Thank you for sharing, Betsy! Do you have any advice for cat who doesnt use the scratch post at all?
Really amusing and not patronising or annoying at all. Very helpful! … I’m about to get a kitten in a couple of weeks and wondered about how I might be able to have the best of both worlds! I don’t necessarily want to chuck out ALL plants upon the arrival of kitty. It’s all about managing instinct and intelligence – I’m willing to try to achieve best of both worlds! And maintain a good relationship with my cat – Thank you very much :). Some hope!
Great article!! Our cats are indoor cats and we get that cats consume plants as roughage, and so we didn’t want to take that away from them. Our solution was to just have plants that are safe for cats indoors, and if we have an unsafe plant, it’s somewhere the cats can’t access it. Though I do really want some monsteras but I know one of our cats would love to have a go at one – so I might have to try some of these tricks!!
thanku the pepper info was so important ti me u just watched a article that says use it. lucky i never believe just one persons advice unless it sounds like good advice. chilli powder. burns my hands what it gonna do to my fur babys. thanku for telling us. i think your spray bottle sound like great advice.
my cats don’t eat my plants but they love to get the soil out of one of them, I used the stones, but they are strong and just like you said I find myself woke at 3 am with the sound of he rocks in hardfloor. One of the 2 cats actually enjoys the water so the water gun doesn’t work, at the point I don’t know what to do hehe
This is a slightly more expensive option but has worked WONDERS for me. SSSCAT motion detection spray detergent. It’s just canned air with a motion detector that triggers even at night. It has been key for me because my cat loves getting in the plants when I’m not around. It only took a couple of sprays for him to figure it out. Now I have the motion detector turned off and just the sight of the can will keep him away. It also works wonders for keeping them off counters and from door darting. If you have a lot of plants this isn’t a solution for all of them. Just getting your cat to associate the spray might keep him out of the area and you can move it from one plant area to the next. I have plants he can reach in one area and all my others are out of reach and guarded by double sided sticky tape and diluted mint spray. I’m also looking into converting a curio into a plant growing space for my smaller toxic plants. inquisitivegreens has a great article on this! Thank you for the article! Despite my success with the SSSCAT perusal this article was helpful!
I had one plant my cat wouldn’t stop chewing on. I sprayed it with orange juice one day and he hated it so much he wouldn’t even look at the plant or go anywhere near it. Even though it probably no longer tastes like orange juice I’ve never seen him try to bite it again and it’s been probably 6 months.
Well I have 5 house kitties. All but one has been detoured. But that one is a maniac on plants. Done all you mentioned and never would have considered pepper of any kind. So 4 of the 5 respond to hand clapping now because they know if they do not stop what they are doing water spray to follow. The big 18 pounder just looks at me like oh so what I LOVE water and often comes into the shower with me if I forget to shut the bathroom door or miss seeing him up on top of the 6 foot tall cabinet. Plant stands resemble more plant jail. At least it slows down so many plants and dirt heading to the floor. This guy is going on 2 years old but I am not giving up. I have mostly stopped buying the blade like plants. They all have been chewed. Around the base of the plant stand where he launches himself from the floor up over 5 foot to land in the plants I have lined up large Sansevieria plants. Same for in front of the master bath wicker hamper which also has a kitty scratching post. I adore my kitties and I adore my house plants. I have found many of the poisonous plants all kitties leave alone. I also hung my spider plants far out of reach. A plant I love and so do they. Now they are doing amazing with out regular leaf chewing. I also have wheat grass which they are totally board with. They also have cat mint growing in the outside catio in summer.
Sometimes it’s a challenge to have plants and pets in the same environment. Generally, more issues with cats and birds. If anyone needs more proof re: how toxic some plants can be, just watch the movie, “Into the Woods”__be sure to watch till the end, as that is where you will find VALUABLE insight into the plant world! Thanks for posting this article, Betsy__great suggestion. BTW, got a kick out of the intro, the music and dancing with kitties__hysterical! 😹🌱🌿🙌🙌🙌😺
My previous cat loved chewing on plants but he never really damaged them so we didn’t do anything about. I have never heard of chilli or pepper and I would have never used anything like that because I can’t even imagine what that would do to my plants and I want to rid the mental image of my babycakes with chilli powder all over her fur. Unfortunately, my sweetcheeks does love to kill my plants, she has being a plant killer from the very beginning, pushing the poor pot out of what she thought was her sit. It was a ceramic pot, it crashed horribly and the plant was buried for far too long T______T My mint is saved because it has strong visible roots that my cat doesn’t like messing with, my basil on the other hand… I have had to say goodbye to 3 basil plants thanks to that cat, at the moment the only thing that seems to help is very small pots, she likes to jank and dig into large/big pots, sometimes she pees on them and sometimes she doesn’t. I think she’s stressing over territory, cause pandemic has made everything feel so small. Especially since our 3 dogs are no longer having 45min outside daily… I hope things improve in the future. What I’m trying to do, apart from the small pots is to increase the number of places my cat can call hers, so she can mark them with claws and sleep there and forget about the dogs… and my plants
my cat was biting on my plants as well and i tried the waterspray method but every time that she wants attention she just goes and does something so that I come with the waterspray bottle and then she runs around the house, she seems to like it haha…. But I had a little cactus at home once and when I was away she even started to chew on the cactus… I have rescued this cactus by putting it on my balcony but since then she doesn’t seem to pay any attention to the plants anymore! XD cats are strange…
You can’t punish cats, because they just don’t care, if cat know that there is an anger lies behind your behavior, they feel something negative they’re gonna just do it on purpose this time,just because you don’t like it, but if you’re patiently training them like you do, they’ll eventually work with you. I admit it, I was not patient with my cat, I just couldn’t stand how she doesn’t care, she just gets her way, I tried a lot of stuffs,different sprays with essential oils, even I bit her, this time she didn’t care about the plant, she was just doing purposely. Finally I’ve realized that I can’t compete with her, when I start to be friend with her, she just stopped eating my plants. She is like a human being,God I didn’t ask that cat’s gonna teach me life lessons 🥸
..; they just never tried to eat the toxic ones, ever. Never had to train them, never had to say no, never happened. They eat the cat grass though. I guess they can smell what’s toxic or not. Yet they love peeing in the big pots, I put leka on the soil and chopsticks, they don’t like pointy things. No problem anymore.
It seems like people who have cats can never have nice things. Lol Everyone I know who has cats pulls their hair out with one or all of the issues stated here or others like Chritmas trees. Even with my worst behaved dog, I had a fraction of the issues cat people seem to have. Cat people are a devoted group for sure. Cats are a handful.
please trade cats with me, yours aren’t possessed by the devil when they’re mischievous, as mine are. I bet you could electrocute mine (NO, I wouldn’t do that!), they’d stay dead for 5 minutes and then finish whatever they were doing before that. If I want to stand any chance of keeping them away from my plants, I’d have to give up my job, my sleep, my TV… so I could stand right next to them ALL the time. The sticky tape for instance, they just walk over it.
I’ve tried everything you talked about in this article besides the pepper bullshit. You have to be a moron to put pepper out where your cat can step in it 🤦🏽♀️ My cat potatoes, she has been on a mission for weeks now to destroy my plants! I even put those sensor canisters(SSSCat) that spray air when the cat goes near it, she figured out a way to get past the sensors!! I had to re-pot three plants yesterday that she knocked over and when she succeeds like this she walks around proud like she accomplished some thing. I don’t know what to do…. lol
Dumb….how did you get anything like this to work … I’m going to have to go for something extreme like an electric fence or something shock collar for a cat is that a first..lol the two I have are strays that we rescued as kittens for some reason they just will not stay out of the plants even after we bought them cat grass and everything tried the orange zest lemon zest vinegar(white and apple cider)