Today as part of our Proposalversary celebrations, Wayne surprised me by having half a dozen red roses delivered to the house. (a.k.a. My place of business.)
The flowers are for me, but try telling that to the cats.
Shredded Petals Make Such a Pretty Mess
Pre-Tabby, Mr. Meow was bad enough on his own about getting into flowers. Roses are most definitely his favorite. I don’t know that he actually eats the petals. Mainly he loves to pluck the petals to pieces. (Leaving a trail of shreds in his wake.)
Now whether Tabby would’ve developed this trait on her own or whether she learned it from watching her brother, I don’t know. (She is a Shredinator so chances are she probably would have adopted the practice by herself.)
All I know is that I don’t get flowers very often, rarely get them delivered, and these flowers are too pretty and precious to let them wreck.
Mission Impossible
So what do I do? Start the process of trying to put the flowers someplace out of their reach.
Do you know how hard that is? Try impossible.
Short from storing the flowers in a closet or pantry, every other surface is cat-accessible. Obviously I don’t want to store the roses behind closed doors. I want to enjoy them, which by default means seeing them.
That leaves this rose-receiver with a dilemma. One that I sort of have a plan for.
The Game
I don’t know what other people do with cats determined to eat roses, but we end up playing the “Move the Roses” game.
For now they’re on the kitchen island. (They started out on the kitchen table.) Who knows where they’ll get moved to next. Maybe back to the table, maybe on the counter space behind the sink, maybe to the mantel in the living room. (I can’t tell you for fear I’ll help the cats better anticipate my next move. I wouldn’t put having learned how to read past them!)
Are Roses Dangerous to Cats?
Even though neither cat has ever gotten sick from their destructive rose petal ripping binges, I wondered how safe it was for them to put petals in their mouths at all. So I referred to the ASPCA’s Guide to a Pet-Friendly Valentine’s Day.
Roses aren’t so bad, but baby’s breath? Bad!
Thankfully baby’s breath has not ever interested either of them. But now that I know it could be poisonous to them, I will be extra vigilant in making sure they don’t mess with it.
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