How to keep plants out of my very determined cat
Hi! I've done a lot of research on how to cat-proof my indoor plants as best as possible. You see, this cat has a passion for indoor plants, unfortunately. Everyday I tell her that without her, the flat and windows would be full of plants. Yuccas, calatheas, money trees, pothos, spider plants, she loves them all. I woke up to 2 chewed up monstera stems this morning. She broke off maybe 5 stems of the poor pinkstripe calathea I'm trying to bring back to life. She destroyed my smallest pinkstripe calathea, took a bite from my peace lily within 5 minutes of bringing it inside.
You'll understand I now try to get all of my plants out of her reach, but as the fireplace mantel is now hosting a new fish tank, I have to find new spots for my plants.
I wish I could show you around my flat, but that's not possible. Please note we live in a 50m2 flat that's dating back from pre WWII, and all windows are tall but narrow. My partner built a console that's sandwiched between the sofa and one of the 3 windows, you can see it in pics 10 and 11. That console would be the best spot for my plants, but it's unfortunately too accessible to my demon cat. The mantel of the fireplace was a great spot too, as I could clip my grow lights onto it, but that place is getting requisitioned.
There are shelves (you can see a bit of them in pic 9) in the bedroom but unfortunately, the demon cat can find its way there and eat at my plants on them. The other day, I woke up in a jump to the sound of her munching on my spider plant.
I don't want to invest in other shelves or furniture that'll take up even more floorspace without being sure that she won't be able to get her dirty little paws and sharp teeth on the plants. She's very young and an excellent jumper and I'm sure she'd manage to get her 4 destructive lil paws on any shelves we'd put up, and she might knock all the plants down while trying to, as it happened in pic 4. I even tried using aluminium foil around the plant pots - that did nothing! She doesn't care.
I'm getting very frustrated because we already don't have that much light in our region and in our flat, and yet I can't make the most of the little light that we get as I can't put the plants in the best spots for the light but the best spots for safety.
So I'm getting frustrated and desperate. Not only does she eats and chews on my plants, but she also digs up the soil. I thought about using chicken wire around some of my plants? What about buying or making a citrus scented spray? Anything else? Voodoo, spells, rain dances, anything?
Any help would be appreciated. Please help me give a better life to my beautiful plants.