Cats and plants seem to go together. When you see a cat playing outside, she’s often batting a daisy, peering out from behind a tangle of ivy, diving for a butterfly as it flutters near a rose, or even nibbling on a patch of grass. It seems that an ordinary backyard is a purrfect jungle for your cat to play in. And you would think that bringing plants inside would be just as safe and natural for an indoor cat. But beware. There are numbers of plants and flowers that are poisonous to cats.
Knowing this, when I decided to replace a plant in my office, I visited the Internet to get a list of safe plants for a household with cats. I then went to several nurseries for additional guidance and discovered one sad fact. Not one of the employees and nursery owners I spoke with knew anything about which plants are toxic to cats. Two of them offered to look the subject up for me and were stunned to learn how many plants are on the list.
Now, granted, not every cat is going to gnaw on every plant. But if a cat is inclined to chew
Portrait of a Cat
on greenery, you sure don’t want to bring in one that will make her sick or worse.
Here are links to lists of toxic plants: https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants
http://www.petcaretips.net/plants_poisonous_cats.html
If you have cats and you enjoy bringing plants and flowers into your home, there’s more to consider than just your cat’s behavior. Sure, she might dig in the dirt of your Indian rubber plant or philodendron, topple over your gorgeous bouquet of lilies with babies breath and narcissus, or bat at your beautiful daffodils, but she might also take a bite or two. And you should know, all of these plants and hundreds of others are toxic to cats.
