Re: [CH] sort of off topic- cats and plants
Steve Ross (snross@mtu.edu)
Tue, 27 Jan 1998 11:05:45 -0500
Unless your cat is severely pampered and spoiled a little hot sauce might
do it some good. The only adverse effect I have noticed when feeding
animals spicy food is a persistent licking of their mouth. A flood of
saliva perhaps. So, hot chile sauce will not hurt your cat in the least
and would probably be an effective method of keeping him out of the plant.
Not only that but the cat will provide a good 20 minutes of entertainment
while it licks it's mouth and sneezes.
My two cents
Steve
At 03:41 PM 1/26/98 -0600, you wrote:
>Hey CHers- I have a quasi-moral dilemma on which this list's members
>are uniquely qualified to advise.
>
>I have a rather large potted plant (a Dracaena (sp?) marginata) which
>one of my cats, whom I otherwise love dearly, loves to chew the lower
>leaves of. The plant doesn't like this, and is responding by drooping and
>losing leaves.
>
>Some time ago, somebody on this list was mentioning a method of keeping
>animals ( I believe it was jackrabbits, but I ditched the message so can't be
>sure) off plants by spraying them with a dilution of hot sauce and water.
>
>The dilemma I'm having is: Would this be too cruel a method to employ in
>controlling my cat's desire to munch on the plant? I wouldn't of course use
>anything absolutely incendiary- I don't want Chou-Chou to go the way of the
>mosquito in the Tabasco TV ad- but I've tried just about everything else and
>the little bugger still gets in there.
>
>Comments/suggestions/animal rights diatribes/alternatives?
>
>Jonathan
>***************
>Conservative, n. A statesman who is enamored of existing
>evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to
>replace them with others.
>- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
>