How I stopped my cats from eating houseplants

Keeping our pets safe is the number one priority of all pet owners. If you have a love for plants but also a pet that likes to chew on anything green, you might want to consider to bring into your home pet-friendly houseplants.

In my experience, dog owners will have it easier in this situation. Dogs will rarely play with your plants and chew on them, but cats on the other hand.. they will play with the foliage, chew the tips of the leaves and maybe even play with the soil of the plant.

What plants my kittens like to eat

My two kittens are only attracted to long narrow leaves like the ones of the Areca palm, Dracena Marginata, Ponytail palm or Spider plant. You see where I am going.

They never chew on large leaves like the ones of the Monstera Deliciosa or Ficus Elastica, but… they also like unfurled baby new leaves from whichever plant, and so I have to keep close attention to this.

How I control my cats from eating my plants

If you are like me and have cats that really like to chew greens, the best way I found is growing their own separate grass. The love eating grass.

At first I would bring them grass from the yard, but when the lawn is freshly mowed I have to find other solutions. So I just took a planter, poured in some soil and grass seeds.

Now, they have served fresh grass all day long and I find that this satiates their desire for chewing my plants.

Place the plant your pets like to eat out of their reach

It’s more difficult with cats because, well, lets face it, they can jump anywhere they want to. Think about where your cat doesn’t go or a place you taught it not to go, like a wall shelf for example, and place your plants there.

All of these plants listed below are considered non-toxic by the ASPCA.

List of pet safe indoor plants

Areca palm
Spider Plant
Ponytail palm
Banana Musa
Calathea
Maranta
Boston fern
Asparagus fern
Staghorn fern

cat friendly plants areca palm — Areca palm and most other palms kept as houseplants are non-toxic to pets

cat friendly plants spider plant — Areca palm and most other palms kept as houseplants are non-toxic to pets

cat friendly plants banana musa — Banana Musa

cat friendly plants calathea — Banana Musa

cat friendly plants boston fern — Boston fern and many other fern varieties are non-toxic to pets

cat friendly plants asparagus fern — Boston fern and many other fern varieties are non-toxic to pets

… and there are many many other plants. You can check out the whole list of toxic and non-toxic plants on the ASPCA official website – cat plant list and dog plant list.