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| Ollie |
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Why does my cat enjoy poking and playing with my plants?
Complaining isn't a solution my dear cat parent, let's really dig deep into 'why' do our cats enjoy ruining our plants, why do they like jumping and tearing them apart, is there an answer?
Well, the answer is short. There is no specific reason, but keeping it pretty obvious, cats just love playing with anything around, especially due to boredom and in other cases being deliberately vexing to enjoy their owners yell and chase them behind, feeling the thrill of someone running behind them, while knowing their furry little selves will be able to escape in less than a jiff, (not applying to a cat who is a sumo wrestler!).
How to stop my cats from attacking my plants?
As for the reason, no clue why - but, 'how' to stop them? Plenty of answers!
You might find a solution in your head thinking if boredom causes it, "I'll play with them, preventing them from harming my plants", however, a practical answer to that isn't neglecting your chores playing with your cat all day, it's learning to adjust or have a mind further than your cat!
As a cat parent, I'm here to share with you the 3 best ideas to keep your cat away from your plants - that has worked brilliantly for me.
1. High spaces, and regular visits
Think about a slab of chocolate at your reach, or in an inconvenient case, on a high unreachable area. Which will pressurize you more to persuade yourself to get it?
Either case, a cat's instinct will tell them to attack a plant if they are on the ground, and if in high places, jump and topple everything. So.... does it mean we must stop our Plantae friends from having a home and let them be homeless, giving preference to our felines?
No, both deserve the best.
Now, most importantly- as cat owners, we will definitely know where our cat regularly visits and where do they enjoy hanging out mostly. We must observe them to know where we should place our plants. In my case, my cat Ollie is most attracted to window-sills and corners. I remember once being delighted with a cute plant on our room window-ledge that I just placed, I went out for an errand, and when I returned it was all toppled over and crushed. I realized after multiple mistakes that my cat is not the worst one from hell that abuses plants, but the type that is more than ready to destroy a plant that disturbs her way to her destination.
Okay, let's now get into the tips!
I have fishtail ferns - the common victim of oppression in my case, as known they are a stunning masterpiece and they look amazing in our living area, unfortunately, someone thinks that they are for her pleasure to destroy. That's how I figured out the solution of 'high spaces and regular visits'.
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| Ollie is ready to attack my fishtail ferns... |
From day one when I got my fishtail ferns, I saw Ollie was highly impressed by it when I was repotting it, she kept poking, biting roots and running away, and pulling the leaves, but silly me didn't take much of notice until I had put it in a spot. Ollie was a demon, she was not just a demon she was Satan!! It was difficult keeping her away from it until I found a high gorgeous place to keep it, ever since then she'd never poke on them.
If your high place is having space, it's not a good idea, but if it only can have a top to hold the pot, it's great because the cat - come rain or shine would not be able to jump to the surface!
Regarding regular visits, I later realized this one. At first, I was as stubborn as a mule, I thought no matter what I'd keep a plant even if she wasn't happy with it. We are here to be on both sides happy, us and our felines! So we must have plants but learn to again have a mind further than our cats. More than being not happy, it's a case of a thrill to damage a plant blocking a regularly visited place, because the cat gets more in contact seeing the flowy hanging plant that tempts them. The solution is to NOT put plants where your cat notices and commonly passes by.
2. Abhorrent Tantrums
Our cat is obsessed with climbing on rubber plants and chewing ferns, tearing spider plants, and uprooting ZZ plants. I have put my rubber plant out because it's poisonous for pets and it prefers sunlight, however, our cat is allowed to go out to enjoy herself in the garden, so it worried me if she would take interest in it, but I noticed indoor plants are the main victims for some reason.
Tantrums are put early morning for my sister and me. At 4:55 AM. Our cat usually gets mad seeing us do preparation for her food, she wants it put right when she asks for it, unfortunately, her plan is always unachievable so tantrums are put. Climbing plants and pulling leaves are her favs because she knows that annoys me best!
I'm pretty sure this is an unusual case, but most of your cats will suddenly become hyper at night or early morning at 3:45 AM because they are nocturnal. What hyper means is 'mad'. Tantrums.
As for me, I have an opinion that only suggests for those of you who live in homes that have large gardens. Just put them out. If you are living in an apartment you could take them out for walks just like dogs, common mistake is that cats don't need walks while in reality they also love exploring instead of being every day in their home with boring cat toys all over. Freedom is a feeling of relief just like if one's put in a cage he'd try breaking the bars, but when let out he'd be the sweetest, It's the same for our cats. It's not the case that they are always liking to do it, sometimes they want something, but being unable to speak and let us know, tantrums work best for them in their little minds. So we mustn't get annoyed with our pets calling them words of disgrace instead we must try to understand what they are trying to explain to us by their movements.
3. Punishments
Okay okay… No, I'm not a witch. What that means is if in any case your cat doesn't listen to any of the above or they just are from hell. What I mean is not strait punishments, it's just solutions to prevent them by doing slight nasty actions.
1. Spray water
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| Photo by Lucas van Oort on Unsplash |
Cats hate water. A little spray will make them run away.
2. Cloth hitting
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| Photo by Susan Wilkinson on Unsplash |
A cloth pat works for me, hit the floor lightly where your cat is standing, mine dashes away with a sense of extreme guilt.
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