Howdy to all of my furry friend parents! I don’t know about your fur babies, but my kitty takes “curiosity killed the cat” to a WHOLE other level. I’ll put it this way, I had to take her to the vet the other week because she got wax up her nose from sniffing a cooling candle (Don’t worry, she was fine just a little wheezy). Needless to say, plants are dangerous around her! As a plant & animal parent it’s important to know what plants are ok to be around your pet and which plants you need to make sure are out of reach. I wanted to share some resources & things to consider when introducing plants to your space when you have a pet! Consider this your pet-friendly house plants guide!
Plants Toxic To Pets
To begin, it is important to know what plants are toxic to you pet! The ASPCA’s website has a wonderfully comprehensive list of common plants & flowers that are toxic to pets. Additionally, they have vets on staff that you can call if you have a question about a plant your pet may have consumed. Be aware though that the phone call does cost $75 dollars. But hey, that can be cheaper than an emergency vet visit! Trust me. I have insurance on my cat for a reason.
Another good avenue, if you are shopping from a local nursery, is to ask what plants they recommend for your home ecosystem that will be safe for your pet! Speaking of which, check out my post on how to choose a good house plant!
While this may not be a comprehensive list, below I have listed out some common house plants & flowers that are toxic to your pet. I’ve also included a list of pet-friendly house plants that are A-Ok for your fury friend!
Ways to keep pets out of house plants
Now that you know what pet-friendly plants to be looking for, how about we address what to do if your pet decides to still mess with the plant. I can mostly speak from the perspective of owning a cat, so a few of my suggestions may not work when it comes to training a puppy. However, hopefully, it’ll still give you ideas! Before diving in, I want to mention that cayenne pepper is never an option. It can cause real damage to your pets!
Deterrent for pets
- Citrus Peels: This approach is particularly helpful for cats, since they do not like the smell of citrus. Essentially, you will just take some citrus peels and place them around the soil of the plant that your pet is messing with.
- Essential Oils: Much like citrus peels, you can get some citrus or peppermint-scented essential oil and lightly spritz the soil of your plant. This will deter your pet from wanting to dig in the soil.
- Pebbles: Is your pet digging in the soil of your plant a lot? Well, if your plant isn’t in bright, direct sunlight then try adding some pebbles along the surface of the soil. This will stop your pet from digging!
- Separate Toxic Plants: This one should be a no-brainer, but if you do have a plant that is toxic to your pet, don’t have it where they can get to it. I personally, keep most of my plants in my bedroom. My cat is not allowed into the room unless I’m in there with her to supervise her. In the rest of my apartment, I do have toxic plants out. However, they are up in locations that she has zero access to unless she magically grows wings.
- Create an Unpleasant Atmosphere: Here is the thing that works the best on my cat: I pretend to cry. She’s cool with making me mad but draws the line at making me sad. Therefore, I create an unpleasant atmosphere by pretending to cry when she goes to mess with one of my plants.
- Positive & Negative Reinforcement: Along the same lines as creating an unpleasant atmosphere, if your pet starts to mess with your plant create a negative reinforcement such as clapping loudly, crying, or spritzing water (don’t spritz water at your cat though! Most cats will be startled enough by the noise of the spray. You don’t have to actually spritz at them!) Once they have stopped, then redirect them to a positive avenue for their energy, i.e. play with a toy or if they have cat grass put them on that.
Summary
Hopefully, you feel more comfortable about having your pet around plants after this pet-friendly house plants guide. Just remember, to always check to make sure that a plant is safe to have around your animal! Even if you have a pet that is normally unbothered by plants, you never want the one time that you are on vacation to be the time they decided to take a nibble off of a toxic plant! If you have any other tips that you feel would be useful to share, please tell me in the comments! I hope you and your fur baby have a plantastic day!
