Kitten was born last December and I've had it for a few months now. I also have a Chihuahua who is as passive at it gets, both males but the dog lets the young kitten run things.

Kitten stopped being an indoor pet when he took a big dump on my bed.. the kitty litter was just two metres away in the ensuite.

So him and chiahuahua live on the enclosed balcony - they have their bowls there, a pet couch they sleep on together, and a kennel too that they both use, especially when im cleaning up in fear im gonna wash them next.

The issue is that i have three plant pots that i am germinating sprouts and the cat keeps digging them up and making a mess, so yeah three weeks down the drain, again.

I tried plastic mesh and foil around the pots but that doesn't deter him. really running out of ideas as he does use the kitty litter and no sure why he wants to dig up my new sprouts.

Normal behaviour for a cat. I have a similar problem in my garden with sections where I am sowing flowers.
It's their natural instinct and behaviour to dig in soil as they wanna poo there.
You can often come a long way by putting sticks in a pot. I use satay sticks. They don't cost much. I use them in the garden too, although outdoors I use whatever small branch I can as well.

Around my indoor plants I have all kinds of everything on the soil as the cat kept digging in it. I use shells, quartz, and whatnot.
Once they're older they usually stop doing that, but maybe not when the cat that cannot go outside.

Just get creative. Try satay sticks.
IF that doesn't work, put something like a strip of chicken wire around the pot. And maybe it's handier to put something like chicken wire ON the pot directly after sowing. The plants will grow through that, but a cat cannot get to the soil any longer.

Yet another option is to hang the pot up or if it's too large for that, put it on legs. Anything so the cat cannot get to it anymore.

Sam .. have you thought about putting a litter tray filled with soil next to the kitty litter . There are sprays and deterrents such as pepper you can use .. but personally I wouldn’t do that to a young kitten . They grow quickly .. before you know it .. the wee one will be too large to get in your pots lol.

Make sure there are other distractions too … kittens are very active and curious . If all you have on the deck is plant pots .. that is where the attention will gravitate to .

All good responses thus far. As silly as it is, I may have found a solution.

I had plastic cylinder on inside of pots wedged in the dirt. I undid them and canvassed the mesh around the pot instead. he hasn't knocked it down today. He usually does 3-4 drive-by by now.

I really hope this fixes it as i got new sprouts out already and the kitten better steer clear of it.

He attacks the left one which is closer to mesh door every day. And recently started attacking this middle one too.

lag, dupe post

okay great i think the plants are safe. the kitten is now bumping brushes, metal things and such off the tables and i think if they are there long enough the dog gets curious and starts chewing on the handles like with the brush :(

The other thing is the dog's dry food is on the floor, and the kitten's dry food is on a chair -- they know it's their respective food but for some reason they like each other's food. And the cat has been caught munching on the dog's food when his bowl was half full and such.

cats often, and may need to, eat grass.

grass eating eh. I can put him on a leash and take him to the grassy area in our complex.

haven't owned a cat since i was a kid so had to look up online why my cat rubs his head on my watch. that is, taking ownership of me.

You can use tineye to downsize images:

Yeah sorry about that, i assumed the forum was gonna reduce the dimension on the image like it does with profile photos.

Im quite good with photoshop so no need for an online image editor going forward. But TY for the suggestion.

woke up this morning with the poowahwah frantic at the mesh door, he only does this when something isnt right like when the kitten messed up the pot plants with dirt everywhere.

The kitten has disappeared. He chipped and registered with local council and i got strata to put out an email if they find him.

i have nfi where he went but hoping he okay and makes his way back through the neighbours, nothing all day though, hoping i find out by tom because its my youngest kids cat.

woke up this morning at 4am because the poowahwah was going frantic. He only does this when something important is happening like thunder/rain, when they accidently tipped the water bowl overnight or when he can hear his fellow mate i guess.

I got outside to see that the kitten is meowing i look over the balcony and think how the f did you get down two flights.

Had to wait for the person to finish work and get him this afternoon - it's been raining all day and they have an open balcony below. And Custard hates getting wet!

When i was looking down i could see a plate of food. So i thanked her for feeding him. She said Custard started meowing yesterday.

I was playing with him earlier and rubbing him all over the belly, paws, joints etc and he seemed fine. No low-tone single meow, aka ouch.

Gonna still take him to Vet even though me and youngest figured out how he got there.

What I don't get is that you leave your kitten out alone on the balcony when you go to bed at night??
And from what you are telling your balcony isn't cat safe either.
If you really want to be sure a cat is okay on the balcony you have to do something about it.
Here's some tips of what you can do:

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Balcony-Safe-for-Cats#:~:text=Enclose%20your%20balcony%20with%20plastic%20mesh%20or%20wire.&text=Check%20carefully%20to%20be%20sure,You%20know%20your%20cat.

Nevertheless, I wouldn't leave my kitten alone in an area like that at night.
I live in a house with a huge garden, both cats go outdoors, but... at night they're inside.
They're fine with that, it's how I've raised them, so when it gets dark they usually come back by themselves without me having to call for them.

Keep your kitten/cat indoors too when you aren't around to keep an eye on its safety.

You could get a harness and take the cat outdoors regularly. I did that when my calico was a kitten because she was so fiery. Outdoors in harness she could at least get rid of her energy, smell & see different things etc. while still safe.
I extended the cord on the harness' lead, which was a mere 1,5 meters.
I added 5 meters to it so she could even run a fair stretch. She learnt real fast just how far she could run. When she knew she had reached the full extent she automatically stopped.
Since I walked along with her, she could run for some 7-8 meters total I think.
I did not let her climb trees of course as then the lead can get tangled in branches, too dangerous.
But it was a lot of fun :) And that way kitty can eat grass too if need be.
You can also buy special cat grass for that to put indoors/on the balcony.