Cat Eating Houseplants

You will surely agree that cats are very intriguing creatures with a bizarre behavior full of surprises. From hiding in tiny boxes, through panicking while seeing cucumber or chewing plastic things, to bringing you kills. Cats are indeed pretty hard to understand individuals.

Even though you need to get used to some of the cats’ weird behavior, you also should be able to teach them some rules. Kitties are well known for being a bully in the places they live in. They like to target flowers and destroy them. If you have a vast collection of greenery, better be careful, these animals have no mercy. Below we pointed out the possible reasons for such behavior and few essential ways to stop your cat from attacking your houseplants.

Reasons why cats eat houseplants

According to Pet Place, “plant-eating may have some survival benefit to cats and thus be genetic. The purpose of the activity is thought to be to supply dietary fiber, which may or may not assist with certain digestive processes. Dietary fiber is obtained when cats eat the intestinal contents of small prey animals.”

Another possible reason why your kitty consumes the greens is the self-defense. If the leaves rustle, they can interpret it as a potential risk of the enemy and simply attack it thanks to its self-preservation instinct. That’s what cat would normally do in the wild.

How to keep your cat away from houseplants?

Sometimes eating plants can suggest improperly chosen cat diet or digestion problems. Whenever you see that your cat eats your houseplants regularly, it’s a good idea to go for a medical checkup.

Maybe the reason for the constant digestion of greens is an underlying health issue, such as vitamin deficiency or some infection. The vet can rule out these health problems.

Keep the plants inaccessible

The easiest way to avoid plant damage is to keep them out of reach of your cat. Even though cats are flexible and agile, you can should be able to find a way to separate your cat from the houseplants.

Consider buying high plant stands. They not only look attractive as a display but also keep your plants out of your pet’s reach. Unless you have one of those cats that are really into high-flying acrobatics.

If your cat can climb on the stands and attacks the greens anyway, another idea is to place it even higher.

Hanging baskets should be out of reach for even the most athletic cats.

Make plants unattractive to your cat

There are many sneaky chemical ways to make your cat lose the interests of your houseplants. Kitties avoid the smell of vinegar. If you spray the flowerpots with it, you can successfully keep your pupil away.

Careful with spraying! Flowers, as well as leaves and roots, can suffer after being treated with sour vinegar.

Cats don’t like citruses. Mix some fresh lemon juice with water and spray it around your little garden. It does not harm your houseplants and can successfully stop the cat from attacking your green babies.

If you don’t have time for making your mixtures, you can always go to the pet store and ask for the cat repellant spray that will surely keep it from the plants.

Try to train you cat

This task can be hard to do, but it’s not impossible! Whenever your pupil moves away from the houseplants thanks to your order, show the approval, reinforce its good behavior with a snack, or any other kind of treat. Also, make sure to let it know whenever your cat acts wrong, for example, spray its nose with water. Do not ever hurt your kitty. Any kind of training should be gentle. If you keep rewarding the good behavior of your cat, it is going to gain motivation and may really give up the bad habit of attacking your plants.

Provide your cat its own plants

If its too hard to keep your kitty away from the houseplants, provide it with greens that it can play with. In this way, you can make the cat ignore your plants and focus on the new ones that it has full access to. Cats love catnip, wheatgrass, or mint. In this case, you don’t need to worry about your flowers, and the cat will be satisfied with greenery to play with.

Our friends at Alcove have a great article on how to find cat-friendly indoor plants.

The bottom line

I hope you will find this guide useful and save your plants from the kitty as soon as possible. One crucial suggestion, though – try not to keep plants that are toxic for your cat in the apartment. Eating them can cause real trouble for your pupil. Even with this guide, accidents happen.

Best cat safe houseplants

Some of the best cat safe houseplants include Spider Plants, Staghorn Fern, Money Tree, Polka Dot Plant, and Succulents.