Attn Cat Owners

[JohnAndSancho]

What works to keep cars from using potted plants as a litter box? 

 

There's 15-20 ferals that my mom feeds. One of them is pretty obviously sick, and keeps pooping in my spindle. I've tried placing it up on a brick wall, and it just gets knocked down. I read that cayenne pepper works, and now there's peppery turds and peppery soil kicked all over the patio. I'd really like to keep this palm outside until it's cold, but this is gross, and having to add soil over and over is annoying. It's the same cat, the others leave it alone. 

[idontknowhatnametuse]

I have a cat that almost destroyed my coconut palm, my Acrocomia and my Attalea Butyracea some months ago. I had to do this to them.

It did work though, I did this on In-Ground palms but it should work in potted palms as well. At least around the pot.

[PalmsandLiszt]

Put rocks on the exposed soil. Spiky ones all the better. They need to cover all accessible medium and be big enough such that the cat can't move them with its paws; gravel won't work. Cats are generally hardwired to want to bury/cover up their doings; if they can't, they'll go elsewhere. Of course, you might just have a very atypical cat that's really obsessed with your palm, but this would put off the average cat.

[JohnAndSancho]

I need a follow-up on how to keep cats from chewing my Mangave. Literally all of my patio plant damage has come from the same cat, even though there's 20-30 running around 

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I need a follow-up on how to keep cats from chewing my Mangave. Literally all of my patio plant damage has come from the same cat, even though there's 20-30 running around 

Not a cat related problem but in Australia on fruit farms birds destroy crops every method of trying to stop them has failed except for exclusion with bird netting it looks unsightly but this may be the only option you may have to put wire around your pot plants 

[mnorell]

13 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I need a follow-up on how to keep cats from chewing my Mangave. Literally all of my patio plant damage has come from the same cat, even though there's 20-30 running around 

Have you thought of using a decoy plant or two to remove the interest in the Mangave? You could try planting some catnip, cat-grass, something of that sort that cats love to chew on that would remove the interest of the Mangave? Alternatively you could plant some odoriferous plants that cats hate close to the Mangave and hopefully he/she would lose the interest in that plant...I just googled quickly and it seems that lemon thyme and some other herbs, and anything with a strong citrus scent, has a high chance of acting as a deterrent. Maybe citronella would be a good choice to plant next to your Mangave, that has a pretty strong smell and may drive away mosquitos at the same time.

Perhaps the most immediate and successful trick would be investing in a few catnip-containing chew-toys and putting them nearby, I think that could very well solve your problem. I've never known a cat that can resist these things. In my experience the best are the cloth banana-toys and little "sardine" fish-toys, there's also a little half-doughnut colored like a rainbow that they chew on and then use as a pillow for a post-thrill nap...you can buy these in pet-stores or on Amazon, etc. made by Yeeowww and their catnip is somehow extra-pungent to cats and they just go crazy for them. After a session with these things I can't imagine there'd be too much interest in chewing on a succulent that is suddenly dull by comparison...

[JohnAndSancho]

Lol wish I had thought of this sooner. This seems easier than bricks and a bunch of empty nursery pots.