How to Keep Cats away from Houseplants

Hello Judy,
Can you help identify this houseplant? I noticed my kitten trying to get to it the other day and moved it. Maybe I need to completely get rid of it? Your help would certainly be appreciated!

– Lorn

Hi Lorn,

Your plant is called a Dracaena Lemon Lime. You can read all my care tips on how to grow a dracaena lemon lime in the Popular Houseplant section of the website.

https://www.houseplant411.com/houseplant/dracaena-lemon-how-to-grow-care

These plants are considered by the ASPCA to be poisonous to cats and dogs. If you want, you can read more about common houseplants that are poisonous in my book Don’t Feed Me To Your Cat! A Guide to Poisonous Houseplants.

Here are a few ways to keep your cat away from your houseplants.

Scatter moth balls on top of the soil.

Cats do not like citrus fruit so place lemon peels or orange peels on top of the soil. Place a piece of yellow sticky insect card next to the fruit to catch any plant pests the citrus might attract.

Spray the leaves with diluted Sriracha hot sauce.

Place tin foil over the dirt, cats hate walking on tin foil.

Buy a catnip plant which the cat will love and then hopefully ignore your plants.