DEAR PET TALK: I am taking my houseplants in from being outside all summer, and want to make sure I haven’t added any plants that will be dangerous to my two cats. I need guidance — help!
— GREEN THUMB FELINE FAN
DEAR GTFF: Great question, and very timely. Cats definitely like plants, although we see in our own feline flock of two that one cat (Vinnie, orange, crazy) would eat every spider plant down to a nub, whereas his brother Reggie (TheraPAWS therapy cat) has no interest. So there’s a different attitude among cats. However, playing it safe is the wise call.
According to Metropolitan Veterinary, based in Santa Ana, California, indoor plants toxic to cats include asparagus fern, aloe vera, snake plant, jade plant, azalea, cutleaf philodrendon, “any plant in the lily family,” and others which mostly grow out of doors, such as hydrangea and begonia.
Why do cats eat plants when they are such famous carnivores? This trait is bred into their bone going back thousands of years. A house cat of two centuries ago was fed fish, meat, scraps and probably consumed their fair share of birds. That’s a lot of bones — which can prove lethal during digestion. Somewhere along their evolutionary path, cats learned that eating greens would prompt vomiting, so those deadly bones, fur and feathers wouldn’t travel through their digestive system.
In my experience, and in conversations with cat owners, cats can be crazy about house plants, or have no interest whatsoever. In short, it depends on the cat. We keep a small bowl of wheatgrass on the floor, away from other plants (on shelves) to entice our two cats.
Yes, a housecat leads a very soft life compared to their barn cat predecessors, but that urge to eat greens — particularly when newly arrived — can be overwhelming. Not long ago, a lovely bouquet of alstroemeria arrived, and Vinnie jumped up on the counter and gave the leaves a sniff. He was rewarded by a squirt of water from the spray bottle which is always handy, and that was his last attempt.
Bear in mind that adult and senior cats are less likely to investigate plants in the home than kittens, who are, we must agree, little maniacs for the first two years of their lives. But let’s conclude with the plants Metropolitan Veterinary consider safe for housecats to live among: African violet, bamboo, Swedish ivy, Boston fern, Christmas cactus, wax plant, money tree, spider plant and gloxinia.
Sally Cragin is the director of Be PAWSitive: Therapy Pets and Community Education. Text questions to 978-320-1335.
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