You are in the presence of a massive animal lover, but when our cat starting peeing in my brand new house plant I about had it! We have a sweet feral cat that lives with us, she is super skittish and rarely seen. When I brought home a few new plants she quickly took to using them as a litter box. UGH!!! In her defense, she typically goes outdoors so the fresh dirt likely seemed like a similar option to her. 
I went to the knowledgeable crowd on my Facebook page, searched the internet and started my adventure of stopping this foul habit. Here is a full list of options for you to try out should you have the same cat peeing in your plants issue I had. I’ll tell you which ones worked for me and so ya know – the last two weren’t options for me. ????
20 Ideas on how to get your cat to stop peeing in your house plants
- Add essential oils to the pot – especially citrus, cat’s don’t love the strong smell.
- Add orange/citrus peels to the dirt. I tried this with no luck.
- Cover the pot with double stick tape so they can’t get in and they don’t like the feel of sticky tape on their paws. You can also ball up tape and layer over all the dirt.
- If you can catch them in the act, squirt them with a shot of water from a water bottle.
- Cover the plant dirt in chicken wire – once again they don’t like the feel and can’t dig.
- Add moth balls – this probably works, but I am not a fan of the smell (although it is better than cat tinkle lol).
- Cut window screen to fit the pot and lay it on the dirt.
- Cut a plastic mat with grip on it to fit the pot, place sticky side up.
- Add large rocks to the pot – big enough they can’t dig up. You can make this a stylish solution with the right rock choice!
- Add pine-cones to the plant. This one worked for me and I love the look of pine-cones so that was a win win!
- Add coffee grinds to the soil.
- Add wooden skewers poking up so the cat can’t climb around and dig. I tried this and it worked at first but then she just dug around them!
- Cat Repellent Spray – this is an affiliate link to the exact one I used and it worked really well!
- Add aluminum foil – some people say ball it up, some say lay it with points up and most say just lay it were it will make a loud noise when the cat walks on it because they hate that.
- Sprinkle Cayenne Pepper in the plant. I tried this one and it didn’t work for me.
- Place plastic forks in the dirt, pokey side up.
- Get a Ziploc bag, soak a paper towel in ammonia and place in the bag. Lay the bag slightly cracked on the plant, cats don’t care for the smell.
- Once you find a solution that works you should re-pot the plant replacing the dirt for a fresh start and less temptation for your kitty.
- Many people said get rid of the cat and get a dog. For me this one doesn’t work. I’m keeping our fur babies, plus we already have two dogs! ????
- Others said loose the plants. I can’t – I love the look and feel they give our home and while I love our pets I just can’t let them win!!!
- Update: We got a new puppy, which is a completely different set of pee problems, BUT – in the midst of potty training I found this spray to be THE BEST if you need to eliminate urine odors from rugs, carpet, etc. They make a cat version and a dog version. It works really well.
Many of these cat training tips will work for other areas of your house too, like keeping a cat of the counter or deterring them from other spaces you’d rather them not be. If you have additional solutions I’d love to add them to the list so please tell me in the comments below! I’d also like to hear which solution or solutions worked for you, sometimes you have to throw more than one effort at the problem.
Enjoy your cat and your house plants! Be a dear and share this before you go please? thanks a ton!
Yah. All of the pets do that. Thanks for the tip.
Hope they help!
Hello.I used a clear plastic plant saucer, turned upside down with a cut towards the middle for the plant. It worked! Yeah!
That’s an awesome idea!
Just came up with a good idea to prevent my cat from peeing in my potted tree… covering the soil with fire glass (the sharp kind, not the smooth pebble kind). And it comes in all kinds of colors. Will wash it and pick out the small pieces when I get it, but I think it will work great, as she won’t be able to stand on it.
Wanted to follow up on this… I think this might have been a good idea, if I hadn’t put ALL TEN POUNDS of the glass on top of the soil. The weight of it compacted the soil and caused issues with moisture and air… I might have killed my plant this way:( if I had just used a thin layer it may have done the trick without suffocating my poor plant:(
I have an indoor garden that my cat thinks is a giant litter box. I have soil and stones in the garden but that does not deter her. I need an idea. Thank you. Phyllis Vilardi
I put vinegar and water or peppermint oil and water in a spray bottle, spray plants after each watering. so far it’s working great.
I feel the peppermint oil could be very toxic if you use this you should only use a very small amount
fallow up on peppermint oil and water to stop cats peeing in house plants. only use a very very very small amount, peppermint oil can be very toxic. I feel the best way is to use vinegar and water.
Cats also hate black pepper. I got some bulk black peppercorns and sprinkled them over the surface of the dirt. Works great!
This is a great idea, thanks!
Please always consult your vet before using essential oils around your cat. Their liver lacks the necessary enzymes to metabolize and eliminate most essential oils. Exposing your cat to essential oils that are not safe for them can lead to drooling, vomiting, tremors, ataxia, respiratory distress or failure, low heart rate, low body temperature, seizures, neurological damage, liver damage or failure and even death.
There are only a few that are safe for cats, but even then only for a healthy cat. Essential oils should never be used around cats who have allergies, asthma, kidney disease, etc. Please just consult your vet first, a simple phone call or email will suffice and could keep your cat safe.
DO NOT USE CAYENNE PEPPER!
My friend is a vet tech and I have heard horror stories from her about people coming into the vet for this very cause. Cats lick their paws and wipe their face when bathing themselves. Cats have actually scratched and clawed their eyes out from getting cayenne pepper in their eyes because people put it in their house plants hoping it would deter them from digging.
TAKE THAT OFF THE LIST, PLEASE.
thank you for this info!!!
My older cat, age 14, suddenly started peeing in the large pots. This was an indication of a urinary tract infection. Got that solved but the other 2 kitties decided that was an awesome idea 🙁 Initially I covered only the large pots with tin foil and that works but not aesthetically pleasing.
I alway use diluted rubbing alcohol with a bit of dish soap to get rid of all plant pests (gnats, aphids, spider mites) as I dislike pesticides. As it turns out, once my plant pest were under control and I stopped using the rubbing alcohol, that is when the cats started to pee in the plants! So now I started to spray a little bit every day. So far so good.
OH! another thing is to start putting “Dr. Elsey’s Ultra Cat Attractant” (there are one or two other brands that are the same thing) in all the litter boxes. My vet told me about this over 30 years ago and it does work. I is simply dried herbs that look similar to catnip but, for some reason, it makes cats want to pee on it.
I cannot find it in big chain pet stores but it is available on Amazon.
Lately, my cat has been Peeing in the wrong spot. I am so frustrated with my cat and I don’t understand why she is acting like this. A friend told me about a remedy he tried that worked. Follow 6 steps, in general, we need to identify the cause, then reduce the cat’s stress, if it is serious, you can go to the vet, and 1 thing to note. Always keep the cat’s bathroom area well-ventilated.
it is frustrating – have you made sure she doesn’t have a UTI or something? You might want to check that! good luck!
Thanks for the article, it is very helpful for a cat owner like me. I have found many ways to help my cat go to the toilet in the wrong place. I hope you find more useful information like this in the future.
It is a great article and all the comments very helpful. In my case, my cat do not only urinate but also likes to chew the leaves. I used to have a beautiful pony tail plant that she totally chew it.
If you guys have an idea to stop this behavior, please let me know.
Thank you
ugh! that’s a hard one, maybe the spray would work for that as well?