daemon@decwrl.UUCP (The devil himself) (10/30/85)
> I recently adopted a stray kitten, who is very sweet and all that > although a little deficient in the brains department. She can't seem > to figure out the difference between her litter box and a potted plant. > Well, I'm glad she understands DIRT, at least. Right now all my plants > have been covered (over the exposed dirt) with aluminum foil, which > indeed foils her, but I don't want to keep things this way forever... > when I remove the foil, she immediately thinks, wow! another cat box! > Anybody else have this problem? Solutions? Well, I had a similar problem with a kitten we kept from my female cat's litter. I was tired of picking the stuff out and having to vacuum the dirt that my male kitten managed to strew all over the place in the process. I finally got even with him...(not really)! I went to the local fabric store and picked up some remnants of material and made some covers for the pots. I put elastic at the top to keep it tight around the base of the plant and used velcro up one side so I could later remove them to water, replant, etc. Just measure the pot and use a little more material than the circumference and the height. I also used some fatter elastic at the bottom so he couldn't slide the material up (he was a clever one!). Another suggestion is to put small pebbles over the dirt, like the kind used in aquariums. I never tried that one. Either way, out of sight...out of mind. Good Luck. Nicki Lipp DEC Engineering Colorado Springs