Conference misery::feline_v1

    I read in another note to put Pine Cones on the top of the soil
    in the pots. I guess they don't like the smell. It's worth a try.

    Ha ha ha ha...I don't mean to laugh, but I have four kitties under
    9 months old and they are all terrors...and everyday I wonder
    when they will grow out of it.
                                                   
    I used the pine cones in my big Yucca tree...and that has stopped
    them from using that as a toilet.  To keep them from digging up
    other smaller plants...try using the CAT (Cat Adjustment Tool).
    This is a fancy name for a squirt bottle.  Be persistent and
    squirt the little devel anytime you see him going near your
    plant.  Hopefully your cat won't like water.  (I have one
    that loves water...so when I squirt..she lays down for her
    bath)
    
    As far as counters go...I gave up trying and have learned to
    clean the counters everytime I want to use them.  If your not
    home all day...I'm not sure how you can control this.
    
    Have fun with your little furface....and hopefully with time
    he will grow out of some of this kitty stuff.
    
    Sandy (Tamba, Poco, Barkley, Chloe, Anges, Dewey, and ????)
    

    Try getting those dishes of "grass" (I think it\'s actually wheat
    or somesuch) especially for cats (try a pet
    store).   My guys love them.  Also, a cheaper way that works fine is
    to buy a bag of seed from TreeHouse's catalog (address and phone
    number somewhere in this file) and replant instead of buying
    a whole new kit.
    

Thanks for all the suggestions.  Someone also mentioned that moth
balls or flakes would deter him from digging up the plant, though
I wonder whether that would hurt the plant itself.  Right now,
anything's worth a try.  Kerouac's latest trick is to jump on
the microwave cart, which is next to the refrigerator, then
on to the top of the refrigerator, THEN on top of the cupboards,
where he knocks my wife's knick-knacks either to the floor or
down on the cupboards themselves. To get down, he jumps from the
cupboards to the floor, bypassing the refrigerator and the cart
in a sort of express trip.  Ah, the vigors of youth; wish I had
half his energy.  Electra was never this wild.  Maybe he's trying
to live up to his namesake.

    Moth balls and moth flakes are posionous to cats.
    

Not to mention possible human reactions to mothballs/flakes placed in indoor
plants.  I tried something similar - hanging mothballs from an area of the couch 
that was being clawed to death.  Within a day, I was so sick I had to get rid of
the mothballs and air out the house.  The smell will still give me a headache 
within a couple of minutes.

I have a little bit of the same problem.  Not-quite-7 Joshua is the subject of
relentless abuse by his 1.5 yr old sister Hannah (Dimmie (for dim bulb) for 
short).  Hannah will walk up to Josh as he is sleeping, step on his stomach,
chew on an ear, face or foot, and be a basic pain in the tush.  She doesn't 
stop, either.  When she wants to play, Josh takes the abuse.  His only escape
is to climb on the top of the TV.  Hannah hasn't figured out how to get there
yet, even though she's seen Josh do it for over a year.  Josh, the trooper that
he is, takes as much as he can stand and then makes for the TV.

kathy

    It isn't the smell of the pine cones that repells the cats, but rather
    that the cats find standing on the "petals" of the cone uncomfortable.
    
    Deb

    Deb...I think your right.   They can't see the soil either.