I’ve had this philodendron for at least ten years… and… I really like it… I’ve meditated with it… a story for another blog… it’s been through several moves with me… and it really is thriving in the light at the tiny house…
Enter… kittens…
Thelma and Louise… immediately decided that Philly was a giant green… wiggly… toy… and they went after her… unfortunately… philodendrons are toxic to cats…
But… they wouldn’t leave it alone… I tried moving it… but honestly… there’s essentially no place in this tiny space that I can move a plant… or anything else… that they can’t get to… so I did the practical thing… I went to Amazon… Amazon is a close tie with Google for being my favorite internet location…
Of course, I found what I was looking for… a spray that was touted as being a cat repellent and trainer… perfect for keeping cats out of house plants… I ordered the smallest size they had… thinking that I could quickly get a larger size if I needed it for the other plants… Bertha… rolled her eyes… and mumbled something about a cold day…
Anyway…
The trick was to spray the plant three times a day… while the kitties were watching… and they would be repelled by the citrusy smell… which isn’t offensive to people… easy peasy… right…
Wrong…
Have you ever tried to get two cats to look at something at the same time… while you sprayed it… and… said… NO…
Let’s just say… it sounds easier than it is… usually they would be messing with the plant… and I could catch Louise but not Thelma… and… even holding her… did not guarantee that should would look at said plant… while I sprayed it… and Thelma was behind the couch… seeing nothing…
Of course… as soon as I released Louise… she dove right back into the citrusy smelling plant… and Thelma quickly joined her… I guess it wasn’t offensive to them either…
So… I Googled some more… supposedly… the philodendron will burn the cat’s mouth if they bite into the stems or leaves… the main problem would be diarrhea… and if they actually ate the whole plant… it could be serious…
After much internal drama… and I really don’t do drama anymore… I realized that if the kittens were really biting into the plant… they would do the Mexican Hat Dance like I do when I find a hidden jalapeño in my nachos … so… mostly they were just swatting… they haven’t had diarrhea… and I would know… because I clean the litterbox… so it’s unlikely they ingested any…
That’s when the plant went back to its spot and I quit spraying it… interestingly… they aren’t bothering it now… knock on wood…
Although… Bertha… did enjoy seeing me chasing kittens and attempting to turn their heads toward the plant… as I sprayed… she reminded me… sometimes… I just make too much of things…
Well… maybe…
Jane
Such a picture that paints in my head. LOL Excellent, as always.
Thanks Sandy… truth is definitely stranger than fiction… Now that the philodendron seems safe… they have massacared a poor innocent poinsetta which I had amazingly kept alive for two years until they decided to play in the pot and scatter dirt all over the bed and the floor while breaking the plant in half… I’m looking at it now… knowing I need to give it a decent burial… but… I can’t quite let it go…