Image: Design Soda
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Happy Easter people, I hope you’ve all done you’re duty and consumed your weight in chocolate this weekend. If you are looking for some virtue to alleviate the confectionary sins, then I bring my fellow cat owners a piece on bringing the botanical trend into your home whilst taking care of your pet at the same time! I know, slightly tenuous, but you can thank me later. I confess, I had absolutely no idea before becoming a cat owner that common plants and flowers could be poisonous to pets. Until a very dear friend bought me a beautiful bunch of flowers containing Oriental Lily’s and our inquisitive cat brushed her face all over them and had to go to the vets for several days to have her liver flushed, it would have amazed me that plants can kill even by being touched or rubbed and not ingested. As a result I’m pretty careful these days with what greenery I bring into the house, constantly falling down internet black holes of “is (this) toxic to cats?”. The A.S.P.C.A have a pretty comprehensive list of dangerous plants and their side effects, so it’s easy to find what kills and what results in irritation, not everything thankfully has the same dramatic effect of lillies. But as with all things comprehensive it’s not the most handy thing to take with you plant shopping. So, today, I wanted to give you a short list of pretty plants that you can happily buy as a cat owner and a similarly short list of very popular plants at the moment that you perhaps shouldn’t.
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Bringing in greenery that is cat-safe is not made easy by all of the beautiful house plants that are so in vogue these days, I seem to always be finding exotic beauties that I want but upon research cant have, the rule seems to be ‘if it’s pretty it’s probably dangerous’ which is a bit of a downer to be honest. Pretty well all of the major plant trends of the last two years are highly poisonous to pets, the Monstera cheese plant – toxic, the Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree – toxic, Mother-in-Laws Tongue – toxic, Rubber plants (though not the baby or American variety) – yes you guessed it, toxic! See my visual above of all the popular plants not safe near a curious cat (or dog). Then there’s simple indoor flowering plants, hydrangeas are beautiful but toxic, the essential oil in eucalyptus is deadly to cats. So if, like me, you can’t resist it’s fragrant allure keep it up high and out of reach, on a mantelpiece for example. And finally there are many varieties of cacti that are best avoided, though to be honest cacti tend to wear their warning in spikes and I take my chances with those even though my cat is silly enough to try and sit on their spiky exteriors (I’ve seen her do it!).
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An Assemblage of Calatheas and an Asplenium proving that not everything pretty is toxic.
Image: Design Soda
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There are quite a few really lovely indoor plants that are (as far as I can ascertain) harmless to your moggy, one variety of particular note is the Calathea family which have many varied and interesting leaves. I have four kinds, two in the shot above including the Prayer Plant and the Majestica Exotica (with an Asplenium in the foreground, also safe for cats), the Triostar in the shot of the study below, and my third Calathea is the Medallion in the main image at the top of article. Another plant with interesting leaves, which you can see below in the bedroom, and are safe to grow, are all colours of Fittonia (nerve plant) which are terribly pretty, but also tend to do better covered for humidity in terrariums in the UK climate. Here, below, are my five favourite cat-safe house plants, I own all of them and recommend them to any lazy house plant keepers, though I will admit that Calathea in the top image likes a lot of water! There are also varieties of palm, the spider plant and a few succulent plants but for today I’m sticking with the ones I’ve tested for myself.
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The Triostar Calathea adding a note of botanical exoticism to the study.
Two kinds of Fittonia in a terrarium jar in the bedroom, they are best suited to terrariums in colder climates as they need humidity to flourish, but they are quite safe in the open as far as cats are concerned.
Images: Design Soda
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Top 5 Pretty Non- Toxic Houseplants for Cats:
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- Fittonia
Image: Brit + Co. - Asplenium
Image: Moku Green Blog. - Pepperomia
Image: Flora Dania. - Calathea
Image: Noemie Cedille blog - Boston Fern
Image: Bakker
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I leave you with a selection of my cat-safe urban jungle below, and as we are talking about cats, I feel it would be amiss not to share my favourite ever picture of the resident tuxedo cat in our house, Dinah, asleep (like a human, because she has grand delusions like that!). If you know of any other pretties I’ve missed out let me know in the comments below.
Our cat Dinah, making herself at home.
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My urban jungle of non-toxic house plants.
Image: Design Soda
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What an incredibly useful post! My husband is dying for a cat, and I’m itching to expand my plant collection so I feel at some point this is going to come in handy haha x
Haha, thanks Karen, yes sounds like it could come in handy! Our cat was a result of my husbands fixation with getting a cat, be warned she has definitely chosen me as her owner ? x
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This was very helpful, I’ve never owned a cat and my partner and I are currently looking for one to adopt. I wasn’t quite sure if my Calathea Orbifolia plant would be toxic to our newest family member and I’m relieved I won’t have to get rid of it now.
Thank you so much, it can be so hard trying to find out about plants and animals, calathea orbifolia is a gorgeous variety. Good luck with your new kitty 🙂
Be warned Joshua….you never own a cat…they always own you!
Enjoy sharing your home with both cat and plants!
Haha, my cat totally owns me! Xx
Thank you for some great, cat friendly suggestions! Do you have any tips for keeping the cat out of the plants? I miss having plants in my apartment, but I’m worried my cat will make a mess of them.
Ah, thank you, I’m glad you found it helpful. I wish I had tips for this, our cat is generally quite good with plants, weirdly it’s cactus’ that she seems to have it in for! Xx
If you put tin foil in and around the planter that deters them from getting on the ledge of the planter and digging in the pot. Cats really dont like the look or feel of the foil. Hope that helps 🙂
Perfect, thanks Jennifer ♥️
I know this comment is a bit late, but growing a couple pots of wheat grass just for your kitty might help. I ordered some seeds online and I keep two pots in convenient locations for my cat and he’ll go for those instead of of my other houseplants.
I also get away with having a couple toxic plants. My cat (stressing that I can only speak for my own cat) doesn’t seem to consider large, tough leaves to be edible so other than some curious sniffing when I first brought them home he’s ignored my monstera and snake plant. Anything with tender, grass-like leaves (my poor spider plants…) get chewed up pretty badly. Hanging baskets are your friends.
Hi there, thanks so much for these tips, I’d love a string of hearts but I think even in a hanging basket my kitty would try to grab it, she’s a silly thing! Wheat grass is a great idea, I will look into it ♥️ xxx
Ahh! This article is absolutely perfect! I myself am a mother of plants and a curiously sweet cat. It’s comforting knowing that there are others who understand the struggle to resist buying the gorgeous toxic plants.
Oh completely, I still sigh when I see a new plant and look up toxicity only to find I can’t have it ? xx
Found your post while searching to see if a fiddle leaf fig was toxic to cats. I was sad to see that they are, but I love my kitties more than a plant I may or may not be good at taking care of, so that’s okay!
I did want to let you know that ASPCA says some varsities of rubber plants are non-toxic, though! Baby Rubber Plant (https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants/baby-rubber-plant) and American Rubber Plant (https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants/american-rubber-plant) both come up as non-toxic! I wanted to share that so you can update your post and we can all enjoy these pretty plants AND our sweet kitties! 🙂
Oh fantastic, thanks so much for sharing, I have updated the piece to make note of these two non-toxic varieties 🙂 xx
Thanks for this! I’ve recently become obsessed with adding house plants to all the rooms of my home, but have two fuzzy little chew-monsters to take into account before I buy. Also, I love your picture of your tuxedo cat! I had one growing up, and he was the best, most wonderful friend a girl could ever want!
Ah, thank you so much, what a lovely comment. Tuxedo cats are the best ? xx
Thank you for this post. I came upon it during my search to see if a calathea medallion plant would be safe to have around my 2 curious cats. I want to get some more houseplants, but need to make sure they are non-toxic to my furry family members.
Fantastic, so pleased to hear you found the article useful ? it’s a balancing act with plants and furry friends! Xxx
I have a lazy ol’ common Orange Tabby. He started chewing on my two African Violets shorty after I brought him home as a kitten. He servived it until I could hang them up. I’ve since found out from a poster on my vet’s wall that they’re not toxic to him. This past summer, I got a Bay Laurel plant. Thats a bat leaf (spice) for everyone who wouldn’t have anticipated, and with a little encouragement, he’s leaving it alone. He bit it acouple of times, but didn’t seem to come to and harm. I tried but couldn’t get any better info on it.
Ah that’s interesting to know, thank you for adding to the list of ones to beware of, glad your tabby is ok xxx
Thanks for a lovely post. I found is lovely on it’s own beyond the information I was searching for. I used to have more than 30 plants crowded in my room when I was in high school. Somehow 18 years went by without me growing plants in my house (I guess kids have all kinds of effects). I’ve recently rediscovered the joy of growing. As opposed to my lack of house plants I’ve got three cats that I’ve had for the last 10 years (or as any cat owner know, that have had me). On a lark doing a little research I’m quite surprised to find how many of my favorite plants aren’t good and even downright dangerous for my babies. I’m hoping (and finding) that it’s not an absolute and maybe possibly they have some instincts. While I can’t stop them from chewing up my spider plants and coleus plants they never touch the jade plant that I hadn’t realized is quite toxic for them. Meanwhile I don’t want to take chances and so I found your article. I appreciated your article. It’s been so disappointing (and a little overwhelming) finding out how many plants I specifically wanted to get that are not a good mix.
Wow, 30 plants as a teenager is amazing! I know exactly what you mean, I so often find the plants I most like are a bad plan with cats xxx
I have a monstera (15ft tall before it broke during a move, salvaged the tip and restarted now 3ft ). I tried automatic air canisters near it , to deter my cats (13 of them at the time ). I now use a modular wire shelving, made as a cage 3ft high. I cage my plants, or put them in a no-pet room. My cats don’t seem interested in my rubber plant, or the Hawaiian pine tree (Christmas live tree).
Oh wow, that’s such a great idea ??