Green Feline: Safe Houseplants, Cat Grass, and How to Stop Your Cat From Chewing Your Plants

Have you ever arrived home to find soil all over the floor or your cat destroying one of your houseplants? 

Seeing your cat chewing on plants can feel confusing, frustrating, and worrying. 

Luckily, it’s usually instinctive rather than just destructive for its own sake. However, some popular houseplants are toxic to cats, so if you have a feline friend, then it’s worth knowing which ones to avoid. 

This guide covers why cats chew grass and plants, which ones are safe and which aren’t, and how to redirect your cat’s behaviour without giving up your indoor garden.

The Green Instinct: Why Do Domestic Cats Chew on Houseplants?

It might look like mischief, but plant chewing in cats is rooted in instinct. Understanding why they do it makes it much easier to manage.

Digestive Aid

In the wild, cats occasionally eat grass and plant matter to help move food through their digestive system. The fibrous material can stimulate the gut and help with the passage of indigestible material, including fur.

Hairball Clearance

Cats groom themselves constantly, swallowing loose fur in the process. Eating grass or plant material can help trigger vomiting, which is one way their bodies clear hairballs that have built up in the stomach. It’s not very pleasant to see, but it serves a purpose.

Boredom and Stimulation

Indoor cats can turn to plants because they’re interesting to them. Chewing plants provides sensory stimulation with lots of texture, taste, and smell, especially if your cat isn’t getting enough environmental enrichment or playtime.

Nutritional Curiosity

Some plants contain trace compounds that cats may be instinctively attracted to. Catnip is the most well-known example, but other plants can attract their attention for similar reasons.

Anxiety or Stress

Repetitive chewing can sometimes be a self-soothing behaviour in stressed or under-stimulated cats. If this behaviour is excessive or compulsive, it’s worth considering whether you need to address something in their environment.

Understanding the trigger behind your cat’s interest in plants will help you respond appropriately. You might need to provide an alternative, increase their stimulation, or remove something harmful before it becomes a problem.

Cat-Safe Houseplants vs Toxic Varieties: The Ultimate Pet-Friendly Botany Guide

Not all plants pose the same level of risk to your cat. Some are completely harmless, some cause mild irritation, and others can be very dangerous, even in small quantities. 

Here’s a clear breakdown of common houseplants:

Safe Houseplants for Cats

Toxic Houseplants – Keep Away from Cats

Lilies and Sago Palms deserve particular attention. All parts of the lily – including pollen and even water from a vase of cut lilies – can cause rapid kidney failure. Sago Palms are equally dangerous and can lead to liver failure.

If you have cats, do not have lilies or Sago Palms in your home.

Unsure whether a plant is safe? The PDSA and International Cat Care maintain up-to-date guidance on toxic plants for cats, which you can check before you bring something new into your home.

The Benefits of Fresh Greens: Introducing Cat Grass and Catnip into the Home

Rather than just removing plants your cat is drawn to, giving them something appropriate to interact with is a more effective long-term strategy. 

Cat grass and catnip are the two most useful options.

Cat Grass

The term “cat grass” refers to several fast-growing grass varieties. These are most commonly oat, wheat, or barley grass, which can be grown specifically for your cat to nibble on. They are widely available as seed kits or pre-grown pots and are easy to maintain on a windowsill. 

The benefits of cat grass are well established. It supports digestion, helps with hairballs, and satisfies the instinctive urge your cat has to chew on plant material in a completely safe way. Many cats will actively seek it out over other plants once it’s available, making it one of the simplest and most practical tools for redirecting plant-chewing behaviour. 

Webbox Cat Grass offers a straightforward way to introduce this into your cat’s environment. This complete easy-grow kit is a 100% natural, safe alternative to houseplants that helps eliminate hairballs.

Catnip

Catnip (Nepeta cataria) contains a compound called nepetalactone, which triggers a well-known euphoric response in many cats – rolling, rubbing, vocalising, and general excitability, which usually lasts about 10 to 15 minutes. Not all cats respond to it; sensitivity to catnip is genetic, and 50-70% of cats carry the trait. But for those who do, it provides plenty of enrichment and stimulation. 

You can offer catnip in many different ways – dried, as a spray, or incorporated into toys and treats. Webbox Lick e Lix with Catnip combines the appeal of catnip with a lickable treat format that many cats find engaging. 

Both cat grass and catnip are totally safe for your cat. Introducing them gives your cat a safe green space to interact with while reducing the appeal of your other houseplants.

How to Redirect and Stop Your Cat from Destroying Your Indoor Plants

Removing toxic plants and providing safe options, such as cat grass or catnip, are the two most important steps. 

Beyond that, a consistent approach to redirection makes the biggest difference. 

Step 1: Audit and remove any toxic plants.

Before you do anything else, go through your home and check every plant against a reliable list of plant toxicity. Any plant that poses a risk to your cat should be removed or relocated to an inaccessible area. Cats are agile climbers, so moving them to a higher point isn’t enough. If you can’t bear to part with your monsteras or other plants that are toxic to cats, keep them in a room your cat will never access. 

Step 2: Make off-limits plants unappealing. If you have plants that are cat-safe, but you want to keep your cat away from them for other reasons, deterrents can help. Cats strongly dislike citrus, so you could try sprinkling some orange or lemon peel around the base of the plant pot. Diluted citrus spray applied to the leaves can also discourage interest. Double-sided sticky tape placed around pot rims works well for cats that like to dig in soil. Avoid sprays containing essential oils, as many are harmful to cats even at low concentrations. 

Step 3: Create an appealing alternative: Place cat grass or catnip somewhere accessible, visible, and easy for your cat to reach – ideally in a spot they already like to spend time in, such as a sunny windowsill. Your goal is to make the safe option more attractive than the off-limits one. 

Step 4: Reinforce the right behaviour. When your cat chooses cat grass over a houseplant, reward them with a treat. Positive reinforcement is much more effective than correction. Offering a treat like Pocketfuls when your cat walks away from a plant or engages with their grass helps build the association over time. 

If you want to stop your cat from eating your houseplants, it is important to be consistent. A few weeks of gentle redirection should produce lasting results, especially once your cat becomes familiar with the cat grass or catnip.