With a Murderous Mind this morning....

[LizB88]

My Eplc. Charlie Brown Hawaii had 3 new leads, I was happy and over joy, they were very healthy and growing, and coming winter I had to move my plants in, and also I am moving them from one home to another, but that is another story. So I had to bring most of my plants in, and before having the set up in the basement in the new place they had to spent some time in my kitchen.

Well everything was going well, the cats did not mess with any of my plants so I was very proud of them, however about 3 week ago one of the cats could not bear the temptation any more and attacked the 3 new lead on my charlie Brown, (I was angry but I thought, there was still hope for more). I treated the small stomps trying to prevent infection (I had a Den nobile that was kill by an infection introduced by a cats bite). BUT, it was no use, two days later the remaining stubs stared to get mushy, I cut them treated again.
It seems like I had successfully stop the infection, and them last week all the pbulps started to turn brown, my plant is gone!

And this morning looking at the rotting mess, I want to kill the cat!

Sorry for such a long post, I just need to rant, specially because I wont kill the cat.
Now to look and see if I can find the same plants some where, which will probably cost me more than when I first got it 4 or 5 years ago. At that time I only pay for a blooming plant $15.00.

Is bad enough that I am more than capable of killing my orchid all by my self, don't need help from any of the family pets.

Dem cat! I tell you, between bugs,snails, squirrels and cats I don't know how I have not gone nuclear on all of them.

any ways thank you if you read this, and sorry again for the rant. Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday weekend!

[Subrosa]

One hybrid Catt? One of mine ate an entire flask full of Dendrobium subuliferum seedlings, and the growth points on my Acineta, Aciopea, and a Gongora fulva which resulted in the deaths of the Acineta and Gongora. Let me give you a hint. Terminate all those other pests with extreme prejudice, and chalk up the cat damage to your own lack of planning.

[Leafmite]

Sorry to hear about the orchid.

[silken]

Sorry for the loss. I hope you can replace it. I have a cat that chews on all the leaves of any Oncidium and grassy leaved orchid. Fortunately he leaves the Cattleyas alone. But for the ones he chews, when I bring them in from the greenhouse to enjoy blooms, I put a wee bit of olive oil on the leaf tips and then dip them in a bag of cayenne pepper. He certainly leaves them alone then! And when it is done blooming I just wipe the leaf tips clean. I am lucky that they normally reside in the greenhouse where he isn't allowed. But I always have some orchids in the house while in bloom.

[Optimist]

My little kitty is pummeling the cimbidiums I took in to save them from the worst of the winter freeze. She litterally sits on top of them to bat them with her paws. I have also had pet rats take a munch or two from my orchids when I let them wander around the living room. Yum, orchids. I have never heard of a bacteria or anything from the mouth of one of these that killed an orchid, or plant. Oh yeah, you get trashed leaves and chunks taken out, but I never thought that something like that would kill them. It would be anti-evolutionary to die off if an animal took a piece out of you. Many plants get nibbled on and they don't die. So--- I guess I don't know what is going on. (I mean cats, being obligate carnivores do not poses Amylase in their saliva which is a protien that breaks down carbohydrates. (Carbs-- AKA glucose and simple sugars as you would find in a plant). People have amylase (which is the biggest reason you can say people are plant eaters and not carnivores) Other plant eating animals have amylase, but not cats. So I have no idea what the protien/ bacteria/substance that this cat is getting on the orchid. Amylase specifically is in saliva and breaks down the cell structure of plants, and cats do not have it.

I tend to think that it is more of a reliable assumption that the "wound" caused by the cat is getting water in it, and that is starting the "rotting" cycle.

Just a guess.

[bellini girl]

Sorry to hear about your plants. 😢😢😢😢Hope you find replacements soon

[My Green Pets]

Our kitten pierced a Cattleya leaf with its fangs and within a month, there were black circles growing larger and larger around those tooth marks. I removed most of the leaf to prevent any further spread -- but that was a serious infection and would have kept getting worse, I'm afraid.

[katrina]

Sorry 'bout the plants. I've been there w/the cats too. One or our cats was such a huge plant eater that I had to actually wrap all the shelving units w/a black mesh fabric that allowed light and air through and you could see through it but it created a good barrier that he couldn't get into them. Any even slight opening and I'd find him sitting in the middle of the shelf gnawing away at anything in his reach. I sometimes thought he did it because of the attention they got because he would just chew the ends of leaves off and then move on to the next one. Or just bite down on the thicker leaves and move on to the next one and gnaw on it for awhile and then move to the next. Never really eating anything...just chewing things up. Little brat...but I'd take the leaf chewing again if I could have him back. Even though he was an ornery plant mauler...we miss him immensely.

As for the cat giving the plant a disease...I don't think that's the case. More likely the punctured/damaged areas being open wounds were just susceptible to what was in the environment. The cat was the cause of the damage which then became "infected" w/something in the environment.

Open wound + spores/pathogens = problems.

[Luizacft]

My cat loves to eat plants too. That's why I hanged all my orchids - so he cannot reach them. It's better for the plant and for the cat since I think some orchids are poisonous to them (at least that's what the vet told me).


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[Don't 'Leave']

Cats actually have a toxic bacteria in their mouths that can cause serious infections in anything it bites, including plants. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the bacteria right now but if you google it you will come across it. It is not in the cat's mouth every second of every day that is why it can happen sometimes and not others. I don't know what it is about them, but cat's are devils in disguise, all those old wives tails are based on some sort of truth. Similiar reason why pregnant women can't be around cat litter. So sorry about your orchid.