My kid’s two kitties (not yet adults) are coming to stay with me for a week while she enjoys a vacation with her husband. Apparently they like to climb and get into everything, which I have ideas for, and they like to eat and destroy plants. I have a bunch of young succulents that I’m still rooting/establishing up on a shelf that I’m sure the kitties will be tempted to climb. Should I take the shelves and plants down and hide them away somewhere, or is there a good spray I can use to deter them from climbing up and causing mayhem?
Double-stick tape on surfaces they might jump on is a good deterrent – they hate the sticky feel.
Might be more of an investment than you want to make for a week’s visit, but I have a few SSSCat air sprayers that are good deterrents to my brood. Once they get a few blasts of air from those, I can put them around places I want to keep them away from and I don’t even have to turn them on anymore. :)
My girlfriend tried the double sided tape years ago to try to get the cat to not scratch the couch. He got his face stuck to it for some indeterminate amount of time while we were both at work. She got home first and cut him free and feels bad about it to this day.
I’m still mad at her for not taking a picture first.
Aluminum foil over the surface might work. My cats hate the stuff, and won’t get near it.
You can buy a bitter spray for the plants that will dissuade them from eating them.
Maybe double-sided scotch tape and not double-sided industrial adhesive strips!
Try to love them and they will definitely hate you.
Meanwhile my new adopted year old cat was munching on a foil candy wrapper that didn’t make it into my trash can last night…really hoping we caught her before she actually swallowed any…
We are a few weeks away from new kittens. Based on some cats we have had in the past the house plants will have to go on the patio. We got rid of our drapes so that won’t be a problem. We figure when no one is around, at least a while, they will live in a bath room.
I’ll agree to avoid the foil (mine does the same as Armando’s), and the tape can also be problematic. Sprays can be useful, but they may harm the plants so be careful. Honestly, I’d tuck them away. Note; some cats freak out about closed doors and will try to dig under them.
While we’re talking cats… My girlfriend is moving in in about a month and she has two cats. I have three. I’ve introduced cats before when I’ve rescued them, but only one at a time. This is gonna be interesting.
I think the boys (3 of them) will be fine. I’m a bit worried about the two ladies, as they are both the dominant cats in their existing households.
Current plan is to douse the house in Feliway dispersers and introduced them slowly through a crack in the door of the room the newbs will be staying in.
Pray for me.
That’s going to be a scary few days ahead of you ;)
Based on what I’m seeing here, at this point my plan is to put the succulents outside, take down the shelves and store them away, hide Tom Servo somewhere, and to keep the blinds raised. The kitties show up in May, so there should be plenty of time to add to the plan and fine-tune it. This feedback has been great, thanks guys.
When my oldest daughter moved back with us several years ago she brought 2 cats and we already had 2. Three of the cats got along but our older female wanted nothing to do with them. We had to keep them separated so if she was out they had to be in a room and vice versa. She died of cancer a couple years later and the other three were fine. Sad way for that to play out.
My daughter moved to Portland two years ago and took her cats. Our old guy died last year of old age.
Look, I just want pics of said cats
There is madness in those eyes. You’re doomed.
DO WANT!
That’s not just me reacting to that lovely cat, but also what the cat is thinking about the prospect of destroying @barstein’s home. “DO WANT,” those eyes scream, swimming in visions of chewed succulents, windowblinds madly askew, and a shattered Tom Servo:
“DO WANT! DO WANT!”
j/k! You’ll be fine. She looks like a perfectly well behaved beast. I look forward to the updates. :)
You think you have it bad, my girlfriend and I hope to be moving in together in a new home soon and I’ve got a 15 year old cat and she has two five year old dachshunds. We plan to segregate floors, but hoo boy, this should be fun.
That little guy is Benji, and as you correctly surmised he is the more mischievious of the two. He gets into and climbs everything, apparently.
Koshka (Benji’s adopted sister) is the shy one and I haven’t had a chance to meet her yet because she hides whenever my daughter has guests.
I’m really looking forward to having my grandkitties stay with me, but hoo boy will it take a lot to kitten-proof this place. I have time to do so, fortunately, but I don’t think I’ll be able to prevent them from waking me up as I’m in a studio apartment and the bedroom, while walled off, doesn’t have a door.