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How to Stop Cats from Peeing in Plants?

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We all love our fluffy, furry cat friends, and if you are a cat parent and also have plants, then you would know how difficult it can be to manage those little minions around the plants.

Cats love to sit in the plant pots.

However, it doesn’t stop there! These little friends love peeing in them as well.

If you are another cat parent who cannot figure out how to stop cats from peeing in plants, welcome aboard! We have the solution (actually, a lot of solutions).

Here we believe in feline supremacy and love cats just like you, but we love our plants just as much. The cats treat the plants as their personal property and pee in them, leaving a foul smell that lingers forever.

Not only does it smell bad, but it is also very harmful to the health of your plants.

If you are annoyed by this ordeal and are lost for ways to prevent it, keep reading our amazing ideas on how to stop cats from peeing in plants.

Let’s dive in!

How to Stop Cats from Peeing in Plants
How to stop cats from peeing in plants? – Image via Anna Kumpan.

Why Do You Need to Stop Cats from Peeing in Plants?

If you are wondering in what ways could the cats’ piss damage your plants, then we are here to explain.

It is crucial to address how cats peeing in plants can damage them so you will know how to stop them from peeing.

Cats can be chaotic, and they love creating a mess around the house. Nevertheless, they get off quickly owing to their cuteness and our love for them. However, their menace toward the houseplants needs to be stopped.

As gardeners, we know all the care and hard work that goes into growing plants.

When your cat decides to use a plant as their litter box, it doesn’t seem like a big deal at first, but if they repeatedly pee in the plants, it can damage or even kill them.

The urine contains a high amount of urea.

This urea acts as a fertilizer and releases excessive amounts of nitrogen in the soil. Too much amount of nitrogen in the soil can cause fertilizer burns.

The pee also contains salts and other waste substances that cause acidic build-up in the soil.

Too much salt leads to dehydration.

To save your plants, continue reading our article on how to stop cats from peeing in plants.

20 Ideas on How to Stop Cats from Peeing in Plants!

Here are a plethora of ideas to stop your cat(s) from peeing in plants:

  1. Use strong aromatic essential oils. Usually, citrus oil works wonderfully, as cats hate the pungent smell.
  2. You can try adding citrus and lemon peels to the soil; however, their smells fade away quickly and become ineffective.
  3. Place a layer of double-sided tape on your plant’s soil or make balls of layers of tape with sticky sides outside. Cats hate touching sticky things on their paws. The sticky tapes will send them away when they go to the plant to pee.
  4. If you happen to catch them in action, spray them with a water bottle. This will discourage their bad behavior.
  5. Use a mesh wire or chicken wire to cover the soil. They dislike the feel of wire and hate it when they cannot dig.
  6. Use moth balls to keep the cats away from plants. Even though moth balls have a strong smell, their smell is relatively better than the cats’ piss.
  7. Use window screens and cut them into the size of your pot to cover the soil.
  8. Use a plastic sheet or serene wrap to cover the pot. Make sure the sticky side faces outwards.
  9. Use rocks and boulders to cover the soil so the cats cannot dig in. Using big rocks is suggested so that the cats cannot move them.
  10. Fill up the pot with pine cones. This one works so well and looks aesthetically pleasing, so it’s a win-win!
  11. Mix coffee grounds into the soil.
  12. Use long skewers made of wood to create a fence around the plant. This will prevent the cats from climbing in due to sharp skewers poking out of the soil.
  13. A much easier and more convenient solution is investing in a cat-repellent spray.
  14. Adding aluminum foil in or around the planter has proven to be effective. You can either cover the soil as it is or lay out the foil around where the cat climbs. The noise and feel of the foil will deter the cat.
  15. Some people suggest adding cayenne pepper to the soil. No harm in trying!
  16. Stick plastic forks into the soil with their sharps side poking out.
  17. Soak some paper towels in ammonia, place them inside a Ziploc bag, leave a small opening, and put it in the planter. Cats loathe the pungent smell of ammonia.
  18. It sure can be a long and tedious process and requires a hit-and-trial method to figure out which way works best to keep your furry babies away from the green babies. Once you find the best approach and implement it, replace the soil in your pot with new soil. It will give your plant a healthy environment to thrive and reduce the temptation for your kitty to pee in the plant.
  19. Apart from using these tips and tricks, the real solution, though a little challenging, is to train your cats. Use cat-deterring tactics and other ways to discourage the negative behavior of cats, so they learn not to treat your plants as their litter box.
  20. Place sandboxes and other litter boxes around the house, so the cats have a proper place to go when nature calls.

There you go! That’s all.

However, here’s a video showing how to repot your plant if your cat has peed in it:

What to do when your cat pees in your plants? – Repotting my Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree | Ladesa – YouTube

Conclusion!

Being a pet parent as well as a plant parent can be such a tedious chore!

Cats are the most majestic creatures, but they can be a little evil and start a ruckus around the house. One universal problem that almost all cat owners with plants are facing is that their cats keep peeing in their plants.

To maintain the health of your plants and the hygiene of your house, our experts have shared 20 excellent tips on how to stop cats from peeing in plants.

Share which method worked best for you in the comments!

Regards.