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With autumn upon us and the holidays soon to follow, many households have begun seasonal decorating. A lot of that decorating involves various sorts of plants, and with that come many pet owners’ concerns over whether those plants are poisonous to their furry family members.
The ASPCA has a helpful list of commonly kept plants that will hurt your pet and one that actually gets a bad reputation. The site names poinsettia as one of the most misunderstood plants, revealing that about 70% of the population believe that it is poisonous to their pets when in fact it isn’t really.
At most ingestion of poinsettia will give your pet some gastrointestinal trouble, which could lead to the drooling and vomiting that persists the poisonous myth. While those two things aren’t pleasant for either you or your pet, no long-term damage is caused and certainly no emergency veterinary calls or visits are necessary. At least not unless the vomiting is severe, in which case your pet likely has another problem.
The whole story started from a rumor dating to the 1920s claiming that a two-year-old child of a United States army officer died from eating poinsettia leaves. In reality, pet website ThoughtsFurPaws indicates that a 50-pound child would have to ingest 600 poinsettia leaves to reach fatal toxicity. Though that number would be slightly less for most pets, it still requires more of the holiday plant than most keep in the house to kill your pet.
But what about those household plants that actually are poisonous to animals? The ASPCA has a list:
Lilies: the common Easter flower is highly toxic to cats, causing kidney failure with even a small ingestion.
Sago Palm: the seeds or nuts of this plant are the most toxic, but any part of it is bad for your pet.
Tulip/Narcissus bulbs: if your pet eats the bulbs of these plants it can cause “gastrointestinal irritation, drooling, loss of appetite, depression of the central nervous system, convulsions and cardiac abnormalities.”
Azalea/Rhododendron: substances within plants of the rhododendron family contain grayanotoxins, which are very bad for pets. Severe poisoning from this plant could even lead to coma or death.
Oleander: A plant that might just cause gastrointestinal tract irritation if only a tiny bit is consumed, but that can also cause death. Keep your pets away from this one.
Castor Bean: Mild poisoning from this plant causes vomiting or diarrhea, with more severe poisoning leading to dehydration, coma, and death.
Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to avoid having these plants in your home. If you choose to keep any of these plants, make sure they are entirely out of reach of your pet. Also, you can create further deterrents to prevent your pet from going near them.
You can provide your cats with small bowls of cat grass. If they already have one growing green thing on which to nibble, they might avoid other less tasty plants. You can try the same strategy outside; grow some cat grass or catnip in your garden, far away from any poisonous plants, and again that might help distract your cat from plants that will hurt it.
Because dogs will eat whatever they put their mind to, and often that includes anything they can reach, you will just have to work at teaching your dogs that plants are off-limits. Displaying those plants in impossible-to-access places will further keep your dog away from them.
For a full list of 17 common but poisonous household plants, check out the ASPCA’s website. Additional navigation around the site will lead you to a comprehensive list of plants and their toxicity levels to dogs, cats, and horses.
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