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jajm4

Cats in the containers!

jajm4
12 years ago

I have strawberries growing in a "kiddie pool" (with soil, not water, obviously. They've been looking great.

This morning when I went to see if they needed water, I noticed that one of the plants was wilted and dead-looking, while the others were fine. That one also had wet soil while the others needed watering.

Hmmmn....

Later this afternoon, I saw a cat climb into the pool and pee.

Okay. Mystery solved.

I tried tossing some window screen over the surface to let cats know they aren't welcome, but then I saw a cat come by and push the screen out of her way so she could still pee in the strawberries.

Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!

I figure I now need to protect my containers with more securely built fencing of cheesecloth? chicken wire? or some other barrier, so cats won't decide my garden looks like a great place to pee.

I scooped out the soil around the obviously-peed on areas, but I'm wondering if I need to trash ALL the soil and plants in the pool?

How dangerous would it be?

I don't have any way of knowing for sure that there haven't been any other incidents of litter box behavior.

I would hate to have to throw out all my plants and the soil mix and start over. I have lots of containers out there, and I can't be sure none of the other ones were visited by cats, either.

Has anyone else had this problem?

What would you do?

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