Pets and orchids don't mix!

[sii]

Ouch! That's awful. He needs a time out chair!

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by silken

Oh dear! So sorry Camille that this disaster has happened. Is the entire spike gone or is there hope that it could send off a secondary spike from it.

I just brought home 5 orchids of someone else's that I am caring for while he undergoes cancer treatment. I barely got them in the door and set them on the cupboard and my %@^#%# cat Stanley is up on the cupboard chewing all the ends off the leaves of a grassy Phrag. Now this exact moment he is barfing!!!

Looks like your cat is just as bad, maybe even worse because he justs barfs it up after! It's like animals have orchid radar and the minute they sense one nearby, they hone in on them to wreak total devastation.

I have no idea if the Phal will make a side spike, he bit it down past most of the upper nodes that would branch. Oh well, at least the plant is alive and healthy, I just have to wait another year, unless the plant feels cheated out of blooming and puts out a new spike.

[Discus]

Camille: get a Nepenthes rajah, it should just about handle a cochon d'inde!

I have 6 rats, and they have free range playtime at the other end of the house to orchids, behind a barricade. Other "out" times are closely supervised one-on-one events!

[Leafmite]

It is natural for guinea pigs to graze and be curious. Our daughters had a rabbit and guinea pigs and when they came out to play (the rabbit was nearly always out), we would put out a plate with romain lettuce, carrots, apples and, during spring and summer, whatever fruit was in season (we have fruit trees and berries). My house plants would be sniffed and passed up. If you don't give her Timothy or Alfalfa hay, a little of this each time she is out might solve the problem, too. Hope this works!
Leafmite

[camille1585]

My guinea pig is just that: a pig. He gets as much hay as he wants, as well as countless veggies throughout the day, and now that tender grass is popping up he gets some of that too. But he's a walking stomach, always on the search for more food, even when he just ate. He just happens to love the orchids.... I've lost track of the number of times that I catch him on tippy toes trying to reach the plants on the bottom shelf of the plant stand!

I should have put him back in his pen while I went to the kitchen, but since he had been out of sight snoozing under some furniture for the past hour, I completely forgot that he was out!

[silken]

Originally Posted by camille1585

My guinea pig is just that: a pig. He gets as much hay as he wants, as well as countless veggies throughout the day, and now that tender grass is popping up he gets some of that too. But he's a walking stomach, always on the search for more food, even when he just ate. He just happens to love the orchids.... I've lost track of the number of times that I catch him on tippy toes trying to reach the plants on the bottom shelf of the plant stand!

That sounds just like my cat! A walking stomach! and if he isn't eating the orchids, he is tearing thru the house at top speed and often knocking them over! We do try discipline, and he is a smart and mostly good cat, but so full of energy!
We certainly have to find workarounds for our pets (or is it the orchids), don't we

[Merlyn]

Silken, look in your local pet store for a grow grass kit, I forget the brand. It's good grass for a cat to eat and barf ! Never did figure out WHY they always barf grass ! I DID have one cat that was nuts about peas ! They were like a treat for him and he never barfed them ! It was a gas to roll them on the floor and watch him pounce and attack, then eat them !!!

[silken]

Originally Posted by Merlyn

Silken, look in your local pet store for a grow grass kit, I forget the brand. It's good grass for a cat to eat and barf ! Never did figure out WHY they always barf grass ! I DID have one cat that was nuts about peas ! They were like a treat for him and he never barfed them ! It was a gas to roll them on the floor and watch him pounce and attack, then eat them !!!

Thanks! I was just saying to hubby (after all the ends of the Phrag. were eaten) that we should grow him some grass. City laws dictate that cats are not allowed loose so he is a house cat with too much energy to burn. The only thing is the barfing. If they always did it on the tile floor it would be OK, but we have some carpet as well. I always thought it was to encourage the elimination of fur balls but who knows as usually only the grass comes back up!

[Merlyn]

Yeh, I know, the carpet feels more like natural ground I guess !

[merkity]

LOL - I can just imagine the guinea pig off and running - they are smart. I had a kitten once that ran off with a pack of baloney bigger than she was and then shove it behind the stove...