Help! Kitten constantly in house plants

[naughtykitten]

We have an 18 week old kitten, he's very soppy and well behaved other than he seems to love playing in the dirt in the house plants we have. It's not a toilet issue he's never made a mess outside his litter tray.
He seems to like digging and carrying around any lumps of dirt that are big enough to get in his mouth.
We've tried putting citrus peel and pepper on the soil and a training spray from pets at home which smells like citrus too but nothing seems to deter him unless we tell him no when we're in the same room.
Any advice? He won't be allowed outside for another couple of months.

You could try a water pistol but you might have to ditch the house plants until the kitten is older/going outside so they’re not as interesting. Also, lots of house plants are toxic to cats so if you haven’t already, please check that they’re ok.

By water pistol, obviously I mean like the tiny ones you get in a cracker... not a super soaker that would traumatise the cat and trash your house!

We've tried water from a little spray bottle which we just have to pick up and he'll run away from the plant without us actually having to spray water. Our issue is if we're out or overnight we come back and there's bits of soil everywhere! He does have plenty of other toys too

Crushed garlic will be your friend - cats hate the smell of it. It won't hurt the plants either.

Can you put the plants higher anywhere until he loses interest?
Or can you make a little cover around the top of the plant pot out of cardboard or something to stop him getting into it?

I’d be careful with garlic, it’s toxic to cats so if he happened to eat it it could be bad.

He sounds like such a cheeky boy

Move the plants. Is there a room he can't get in? And check none of them are toxic to cats either.

Don't worry we checked out the plants before we got him so all safe on that front. Damn I thought garlic was the answer then but after a google as PP said it's toxic to cats. There's no surface they'll fit on which he can't get to, one is rather large.
I might have to go back to my unsightly cling film over the soil technique until he can go outside and play in the mud to his hearts content!

I wouldn't use clingfilm, he might chew it. Can you move the plants out of reach or outdoors and put some earth into a new litter tray or washing up bowl on some old newspapers so he can have a good old dig. Pics please, especially walking around with the dirt

What about foil over the soil surface?

Or some decorative stones?

I was also going to suggest foil. My cats hate it and won’t go near it.

Can we please have a picture of your kitten to help us advise you?

Never tried this but maybe something like this would be worth trying:

www.petsathome.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/en/pets/vitakraft-cat-grass-%28online-only%29

There are - I think it is meant for child proofing - plastic mesh surfaces available you can put around the plant and on to the soil in the pot .
I have no idea what they are called but here

www.baby-walz.de/p/reer-blumentopfgitter-braun-32cm-p8635367/?variantId=P8635367_32358316&utm_medium=sea&utm_source=google.de&utm_campaign=DE_SAD_PTL1_Sicherheit-Desktop&utm_content=pla&gclid=CjwKCAjws6jVBRBZEiwAkIfZ2tlGcUs9ebi29vjoWnBecipLZ_87H3aqkKXTEAyx8x_7WukV7MLzKBoC33QQAvD_BwE

Yes, pics needed

Can you try some sort of netting or mesh around the plant? That way you can still water them easily.

PP had a good idea with the decorative stones too. You could use them to weight down netting so he can’t pick it out.

That's odd about garlic, I've never heard of it being toxic to cats (just googled - well I never) - anyway they can't stand the smell of the stuff so I can't imagine they would voluntarily eat chunks of it.

Ah, well maybe you could try rubbing a cut clove of garlic round the rim of the pot. Maybe the smell would put him off?

@kino you’d be suprised how stupid some cats can be
One of waits around when I’m cooking, and should I drop a piece of onion or garlic, they’re desperate to get to it, despite the 4 bowls of food right there.

I gave up any hope of indoor plants when I got cats. Mine ate the leaves, dug up the pots. One even dug out a small plant and dragged it round the house!

I just bought a new fern plant in the hope the cat had grown out of it. Nope. Came home to a chewed plant and vom on the carpet

Here he is! Not scared of foul he has done balled up that he carries around in his mouth!
I think I'll try rubbing a garlic clove round the edges and order some of the mesh things! Thanks everyone!

Sorry I can't seem to add photos, he's black and white, fluffy and called Ralph

If you can't move the plants, could you keep the kitten in a smaller area of the house while you're out? For example if plants are downstairs, only allow him upstairs when unsupervised.

Please be careful if using deterrents i.e. garlic, it is toxic to cats. My cat adores the smell of it so would be a very bad idea in our household!

My kitten did that with a particularly large pot plant (see first photo). I ended up protecting it with a bin bag tied down with tape (see 2nd photo), as pebbles and tinfoil were no use at all (I'm still finding pebbles around the house that she'd taken away to play with). The worst digging was when I was out all day and she was bored and possibly even lonely - so all I can suggest is lots of distraction.

I put old pillowcases over my plants to stop the cats getting into them