P is for Plants and Pets

Plants and pets, two things that don't mix well. At least from my experience. I have had six cats during my adult life and all of them have loved to nibble on plants. Nibble, nibble. Throw up. Repeat.

I thought maybe when they were kittens, they would grow out of it, but they didn't. When I tried to grow seedlings for the garden, they would eat them. After we put the seedlings behind netting, they would dig at the netting until they could get at the seedlings and eat them. I finally told Ward to not buy me any more flowers because of the battle with the cats. It seemed no matter where we put the the flowers, the cats would somehow manage to get them and do the nibble, nibble, throw up routine. It became evident pretty fast, we needed to be very careful that we didn't have any plants that could be harmful to them because they couldn't leave them alone.  We tried growing grass for them to eat several times to no avail. That they would pull up by the roots and then string dirt around the house.


We finally started to put our plants potted and otherwise behind closed doors--usually in an extra bedroom. Then it became our problem with out-of-sight, out-of-mind and we let more than one plant die that way.

Christmas cactus before cats

As time went on and we decreased our number of cats from four to three, things seemed a little better. That's why I agreed to take a very large Christmas cactus that Ward's father was giving away. It was nontoxic to cats, so why not? The first week in residence, the cactus was left alone. Then I started to notice bite marks in the leaves. Later I noticed pieces of it laying here and there. Soon it was necessary to also banish this plant to the extra bedroom behind closed doors if there was going to be any chance for it to survive. However, anytime the door was accidentally left open, we would find more pieces and parts around the house.

Cactus after cats

We are slow learners, but we finally realized that this was a battle we weren't going to win. Then I had an idea. I would have a terrarium with a secure lid for my bit of inside greenery. And guess what? It worked. I finally have a little green growing in a place I can see every day. No more nibble, nibble,... And all is right with the world.

Terrarium before cats (Lid removed for photo.)

P is for a Perfect solution to my Pets and Plants Problem. 

Terrarium after cats. (Lid removed for photo.)