Hey guys, wasnt sure where to post this question, but, you guys have been quite helpful, I thought Id try here. Last winter a stray pregnant cat showed up on my door step. Since I felt so bad for her, and already had a cat and supplies, I decided to let her in. MISTAKE! She pooped in quite a few of my plants. I had a huge container of christmas cactus that had a bunch of different colors I have collected over the years. Completely dead! Now I have a few more that look like they may be able to be saved, but, not sure where to begin. One is a plant full of a bunch of different types of orchid cactus, a couple rhipsalis, and a staghorn fern. I dont think she got any of the other plants, or if she did there is no evidence of it. I know Im probably going to have to repot with new soil, but, anything else you guys would ad to that?
gross, but need help
Wash the roots and adding fresh soil is all I can think off.
Feces on the surface wouldn't be a problem. Just remove it.
If she urinated in them, it might have killed them. If you discovered it in time, you could just flush the urine out of the soil by running water through it for a while. In case any got on the plants directly, just spray them down well as you start to run water through the pot.
The urine is liquid, and, even if it deposited ammonia or harmful concentrations of salts, they should all dissolve and rinse through. If you're left with the odor, I can give you another solution for that.
well, since they were fading so fast, the roots looked bad, and they were all either rhipsalis or orchid cactus, I just chopped them all up, saved what I could, and I am rerooting them. Ill just have to wait a while to get a bloom, but at least I saved what I could.
Lismil, I,m glad you could save some. I'm sorry about the cat. I have 2 indoor cats and a dog, so all my plants are in an unused room. What about the MamaCat? Did she have her kittens at your house? I rescued a cat once and took it to the vet, and it had feline aids and feline leukemia. It was put dowm, at my expense. So now I have to be strict about things like that because I can't afford it. Luciee (:^)
She had a misscarriage I think. She was all fat, and I could feel babies, and then suddenly one day, they were just no longer there. Since I already have a cat who bothered her all the time, and a dog, and she always was trying to get out the door, I waited untill it got warmer out, and then let her outside. She still stays in the yard, and I kind of take care of her, but, I dont really want another pet right now. Ive been trying to find her a home. It also cut WAY down on expenses, because oddly, I was having to change the litter box every single day with her, but my cat rarely needs his box changed this often. I do think she might have some problems a vet could fix, but, I just cant afford to do it, and put my own pets first.