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!
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