How to keep kitties from chewing....

[ehuber]

Hello fellow orchid fanatics!

My boyfriend recently moved in with his two cats. Lately, I have been noticing some suspicious chew marks on several of my orchids' leaves, and was wondering if you had any advice for an orchid-safe kitty repellent that I could spray on the leaves. I have been researching "Bitter Apple," which works very well from keeping bad kitties from eating furniture. However, is it safe for orchids? Any advice?

thanks so much!
Emily

[ehuber]

Nevermind, I did find some info online. Apparently bitter apple spray will work well but I have reapply it periodically. If anyone has any other advice, though, I'd love to hear it!

[Des]

My neighbors cats were raiding my greenhouse causing chaos , so I told them that my plants are deadly poisonous and that if they loved their pets the same way I love my plants , they should keep them inside at night or be prepared for some tragedy . I have not seen those cats for some time now!!

[Dorothy]

There are a number of past threads that have addressed this issue - allow me to post the links here so you can read the stories of member's with the same dilemma -
Orchid Salad
Orchid Salad Bar??

[ehuber]

Thanks Dorothy, I appreciate it. Oddly enough, the two kitty culprits are orange tabbies! I picked up some bitter apple spray today and sprayed all of my plants within Bastien's and Josi's reach, so hopefully that will help. If not, I'll go with the hot pepper spray.

Emily

[Dorothy]

[Paul]

I've never tried it but have heard that putting down a sheet of aluminum foil can be used to keep cats off countertops and such. Whether its that they don't like the sound it makes or the feel of it under their paws I have no idea? :shrug:

[irrka]

uhm... my cat thinks aluminum foil is a perfect toy. Pretty much nothing will keep her off countertops (the moment i leave the room)... so there's one advantage to not having any counter space

[Taceas]

I've had good luck with cotton balls soaked in clove oil, my cats hate it and won't go within 3 ft of a plant with a cloved cotton ball in it. Mine don't play with plants, but like to chew the leaves off my peace lily mostly.

For the hanging plants with long tendrils that hang down like cat toys, such as my spider plant I put clear packing tape sticky side up in the area where they have to sit to reach them. After the first couple of "tapings", they don't bother with it anymore. And before I get yelled at for animal abuse, it was older stuff that wasn't good for packing, but had enough adhesive left to stick to cat feet and tails.

[ehuber]

Wow, this is really great advice. Bitter Apple spray seems to be working (for now at least), though I will also try the packing tape idea.

Now...if I can only get rid of these persistant gnats.....

Thanks for your advice again. I will post an update soon.