I’ve an issue.

I have a bunch of plants that need to come in for the winter. I have gotten rid of every plant I own that is toxic to cats. We have two.

I’ve been growing a lemon tree for 4 years now. It’s finally in its final pot, and 3-4 feet tall. Meaning, it cannot go up on my winter shelf, and needs to sit on the floor.

One of our cats is, well, chompy. So I looked up if the lemon tree was toxic to cats. I really didn’t think it would be, but yay, it is.

We’ve two bathrooms, in a very small house. My son’s bathroom has a skylight, so for now, not knowing where to put this tree, I stuck it in his tub. I take it out and watch for the cats when he showers, and then put it back in.

My husband made comment about my plant shelf this morning, because I’m down to one functional plant light, anyway, I said this is nothing, and told him what I’ve been doing with the lemon tree the last few days.

He said, well that doesn’t sound sustainable. I said, well what else should I do?

He is so paranoid about our cats getting sick. He suggested I should get rid of the tree, that’s what he would do. I said, it feels like I cant have hobbies because of the cats, I’ve already gotten rid of so many of my plants for them.

He then got mad at me for blaming him, I really should hear myself sometimes. I said I wasn’t blaming him. And he left for work.

I see people with plants and cats. Like, what the hell should I do? I’ve been growing this lemon tree from seed, and I don’t want to get rid of it.

I already have a tropical plant, that has grown too large for the house, is toxic to the cats, and its sitting outside right now freezing to death. It makes me depressed.

:(

  • Swordinferno@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    One possible solution you’ve gotten close to is having an area in the house off-limits to cats. That could be a door that stays closed or a baby gate guarding a nook with a window.

    You could also try wrapping the pot in chicken wire.

    Hopefully one of these two solutions could work in the short term, to then give you time to work on a lasting solution: train the cat to not be chompy.

      • Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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        13 days ago

        Hahaha he is a tiger cat too

        His name is Edsel. I used to have propagated pathos plants in the window sill. But when he wants the crunchies from me, and it’s not crunchy time, he will purposely go eat my pathos propagations and then puke infront of me.

        He’s smart. He begs from my husband by jumping on his sports card collection, and for me, he eats any plant he can reach. Smart little bastard

    • Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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      13 days ago

      Yeah, this bathroom is the only place in my 5 room house the kitties don’t really go, and it has the skylight so I don’t need to plug in a light for it.

      I’m going to try the spray someone mentioned so I can keep it by the livingroom window