Wednesday, February 1, 2012

I have a 3year old female cat that has decided 2 use my house plants as a litter box. How can i get her 2 stop

Powdered Cayanne pepper in the planters should help dissuade her from using them.

It's cheap and you don't have to reapply every 3 hours like some products %26gt;.%26gt;

I have a 3year old female cat that has decided 2 use my house plants as a litter box. How can i get her 2 stop
haha i had this problem to... put popcicle sticks in the dirt of the plant
Reply:Get small rocks and place them on top of the soil. Before you do this, take the plants and put them under the sink and turn on the water slow and let it run for awhile to flush the urine smell out of the soil.
Reply:First - you should remove the old dirt and replace it with clean soil to eliminate the smell of waste material. this will eliminate the signboard that says "do it here"



You can cover the soil with fairly large rounded stones - smooth so cat can't get it's claws under them and pull them out of the way.



You can make a little forest of popsicle sticks or cut pieces of 1/4" dowel to keep the cat from stepping into the planter and finding a comfortable place to squat. These should be especially dense along the edges of the planter. A good defense is the best offence.



At worst, make a wire cage that can fit over the planters to keep the cats away. Eventually cat will get used to the idea that this is off limits.
Reply:We have 8 cats.

Before anything, you might take kitty to the vet and check for infection, as this behavior is sometimes symptomatic of that. If the vet gives him a clean bill of health, then here is what you need to do:

First of all, where are you putting the cat's food and water?

The first rule of kitty elimination is that cats hate to eat where they "go" and they hate to "go" where they eat. If you have the food and water next to the litter box, you have committed the most common mistake that cat owners commit, which is the single biggest cause of kittys going elsewhere. A kitty would rather risk going somewhere else than risk contaminating their food, so your best bet is to move the food and water either to the opposite side of the room from the litter box, or, even better, to a different room altogether from the litter box. Then make sure you have at least 2 - 3 inches of litter in that litter box and that you keep it scooped and clean. Kittys also hate not enough litter, and they hate dirty toilets. You wouldn't like going in a dirty, smelly toilet. Neither do they.

Your next step is to get a cleaner that has a chemical in it that breaks down the enzyme that causes an odor from the urine that you may not be able to smell - but your cat can - and clean the spot where kitty has been "doing it" with it thoroughly. Such a cleaner is available at most pet stores, and will help the kitty not to be attracted to that spot. Petco and Pet Smart have "Out" odor remover and "Nature's Miracle". I haven't tried Nature's Miracle but have heard a lot about it. You might ask the employees for their recommendation.

Then remember the first rule of kitty elimination again: Cats hate to eat where they "go" and hate to "go" where they eat. Your kitty needs to be reprogrammed with positive reinforcement for proper elimination behavior. You do this by getting small bowls of food and putting them on top of any and all spots where your kitty has been "going" (as long as those spots are NOT by the litter box!). In this case you should keep those bowls consistently filled with a dry "kibble" cat food for the next few weeks. This will communicate to the kitty that this is a happy, secure place (which cats associate with food) and not a place for improper elimination. (This may seem messy and inconvenient, but it works!!!) After a few weeks, you should be able to remove the bowls and the kitty will may longer be attracted to those spots for improper elimination.

Keep in mind that these tricks WILL NOT WORK if you have not made sure that the food and water is far away from the litter in the first place.

We have 8 cats, have had up to 11 - at ages all the way up to 19 years old, all are indoor kittys, and this method has worked like a charm. All respect litter box rules.

One last note: Kittys seldom respond to punishment. They are unable to associate punishment with behavior - especially if it is after the fact. They do, however, respond to positive reinforcement.
Reply:There are a couple of ways. First of all, the scent in the soil may bring her back. You may have to re-pot them. But then, you want to make sure she doesn't do it again. Marbles on the top of the soil provide a barrier, as cats like to dig, and cannot push aside the marbles. Other approaches are plastic spikes, and I have posted a link of what they are.



Fortunately, my cats have not used planters for litter boxes, they simply like to shove the dirt out of the pots. I use hardware cloth around the base of the plant to discourage digging.
Reply:move the plants out of her sight and she'll furget


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