My Vegetarian Cat (Grrr)

Okay, my cat is a gay vegetarian. We know this. We've had her for two years plus, and she's always been like that. Prior to being spayed, she went into heat whenever another female cat was around, and would _beat up_ any males who came anywhere near her. And she steals lettuce right off my plate, while turning up her nose at any meat we ever offered her (including wet cat food). She'll eat the dry stuff (Oh, it tastes like cardboard, must be veggie in nature, right?) *laugh*

She'll eat fish flakes, but not fresh fish. She'll sniff at ice cream but run away from milk. She'll snitch cucumbers, but rears back if we even offer her, say, a tasty morsel of steak from our plates. Heck, she thinks she's a person, she even demands a plate at the table (she loves boxed breakfast cereals like Rice Krispies and Special K). So we know she's weird.

But... HOT PEPPERS?!

Oh, my poor, poor container veggies... how I miss you. Look! Darned cat! Beets, Cascabella Peppers, eggplant, peas, everything but the hairy squash-and-pumpkin stems have been BITTEN by this beast. She's working on the carrots, but hasn't finished them off yet. She doesn't touch the tomatoes, thankfully.

I'm considering getting catnip just for her - and I have GOT to find a way to keep her off my veggies, without keeping ME off them! What do I do? Anyone know a good cat-deterrent that is suitable for inside use? My poor winter veggie garden is suffering because of her. Even the ladybugs think she's a monster, although they're more resistant than the plants, thanks to the shells.

-Sev

My kitty Sophie thinks every plant is her own personal salad bar. The only thing I've found that works is to keep her physically away from the plants. Hanging baskets, high shelves, closed doors... you get the idea.

Good luck -- if you find something that works, I'd love to hear of it!

Outdoors I have sprinkled cayenne red pepper to keep bunnies away. I think that your cat might get the sniff hint with that.

My cat loves catnip but nevers bothers house plants or veggie seedlings

I don't know if cayenne would do it.

She ate the hot pepper plants.

*boggle*

-Sev

What a crazy cat! Have you tried growing grass for her? and I would get catnip. I have tons here, easy to grow. I'm sure you still would have to protect your veggies.

I tried growing normal grass for her (from the yard, wild 'just grass' stuff), and she dug it up and peed on it.

She hated catnip when she was a kitten - if she got it at all, she got really grouchy and nasty, and mostly she'd avoid it. She gets high on it now, though. I'm hatching a plan to make her a bed of catnip, so maybe she'll be so distracted she won't notice my other plants. But I also don't want to _encourage_ her to eat and roll in plants, since she might get confused and do it to all of them!

Dang cat ate a Habanero plant this morning.

A Habanero!

Spraying her with water just annoys her. She gives me dirty looks. Yelling works, but I can't be there all the time. Mesh might work, but that keeps ME off the plants - is there a mesh that would protect without being difficult for me to water and care through?

-Sev

There could be a lot of difference between eating pepper plants and eating cayenne pepper!

Oh, and making slippers out of the cat doesn't count as a solution, tempting as it may sometimes be.

-Sev

My sympathies. She sounds like she has some serious brain chemical 'issues' Could there be a vet college nearby that needs subjects for 'cat Wellbutrin' studies?

A couple of years ago, we had a dog that was insistent about being on the couch, and a cat who would continually make a break outside whenever possible (and in our area, that's really not a good place for cats to be.) We finally got one of those electronic collars, the kind that give a little zap when they get within the field produced by a wire at the forbidden location. The dog learned within 10 minutes that the couch was off limits, and hasn't tried to get on since.

The cat never learned.

sevidra, try citrus rinds. Might not be effective on a vegetarian cat, but worth a try. I've had the best luck with key lime and grapefruit, but that was when I had trees. you can just put the peels in the pots, shouldn't hurt anything but kittie's nose:)

This message was edited Nov 17, 2007 7:52 AM

hum, catmad, think I'll try that when I get some, but we don't have any right now (Mittsy has a key lime for me in a few months when she comes back north, but that won't fruit for a while). Maybe I'll buy a few grapefruit at the store.

Will let you know how (if) it works.