How to Keep Your Pets Safe From Toxic Plants

Credit: Tienuskin/Shutterstock

While people don’t eat houseplants and rarely munch on shrubs or ground cover, your pets probably do. That's why you need to be really, really sure your pet won’t try to snack on your plants before installing a plant that might be toxic—and it turns out that a lot of plants are. 

Use apps to identify plants

Most people don’t know the name of every plant in their yard, but a plant ID app will help you close the loop. Snap a pic, and have the app identify it. Some of these apps will also tell you if plants are toxic to pets. If they don’t, you need to use a database to do a little digging. Rover has a new searchable database that will tell you if plants are toxic, and what symptoms to look for in a pet if ingested. Dogs and cats have different sensitivities, so what is toxic to dogs might be fine for cats and vice versa. 

Toxic vs. poisonous

Not all plants are toxic to pets; some are merely poisonous—and yes, there's a difference. Toxic plants can do harm in all kinds of ways—through surface contact or inhalation. Just being around them can be bad for your pet, even if they’re not likely to chew. Poisonous plants, on the other hand, have to be ingested to be dangerous, so they are mildly less problematic. That said, some plants are poisonous enough that they only need to be consumed once to have dire consequences, so you’d need to really trust that your pet is isolated from the plant or would never look at, for example, a hydrangea branch as a chew toy. Dan Teich, DVM, who runs District Veterinary Hospitals in Washington, DC, notes, "The good news is most plants will not cause permanent damage to your pet. Many are irritants, can cause excessive salivation, and upset stomach, but usually these signs will pass. This is common with philodendrons, poinsettias, pothos, and many common houseplants."

Avoid these common plants

Teich notes that the most common plant-related incidents they see involve a commonly gifted flower. "True lilies are the most dangerous of all plants for cats; even the pollen can be deadly. Lilies can lead to irreversible kidney failure in a cat within days. Calla lilies and peace lilies are not true lilies and may cause intestinal upset in your pet." He warns that if you suspect lily ingestion, you should seek immediate care for your cat.

Other plants present similar risks, according to Teich. Consuming large amounts of azalea leaves can lead to cardiac collapse, and even death. Ingesting sago palms—a popular outdoor and indoor plant—can be fatal, and any consumption by a pet should be treated as an emergency.

Foxglove, an easily spread outdoor flower, is also dangerous. Like lily of the valley and oleander, it can have a grave effect on your pet's heart.

If you are uncertain if a plant is dangerous to your pet, you may contact the ASPCA 24/7 Poison Control Hotline at 888-426-4435 or the Pet Poison Helpline at 855-764-7661.

Learn to recognize symptoms

The list of symptoms that pets can exhibit as a result of toxic exposure to plants is long and varied. There are extreme, easy-to-note symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, trouble breathing, seizures, and excessive drooling. There are also symptoms that are harder to appreciate, like lack of appetite, lethargy, muscle tremors or uncoordinated movement, unusual bruising or bleeding and yellowing skin or eyes. Cats tend to exhibit more neurological symptoms, while dogs might experience more gastrointestinal symptoms. Since many of these symptoms can look like everyday living to a pet owner (pets routinely eat grass and vomit without there being any toxicity), it’s important to pay attention when the symptoms begin and take action if they continue. Your pet throwing up once might not be cause for alarm—continued vomiting is, regardless of the underlying reason.  If you're not sure or want advice, call either of the above hotlines. You'll pay a fee (which some pet insurance plans may cover), but as Teich points out, "compared to the potential consequences, it might be worth the investment."

Take action

While the cost of emergency veterinary care is daunting, you should not try to induce vomiting in your pet unless under consultation with your veterinarian—doing so can lead to esophageal problems. If you can identify the plant in question, or take a photo and/or sample of it with you to the vet, that will be helpful. Whether it should require emergency veterinary care versus waiting for your veterinarian to open is dependent on what was ingested, but the faster the care, the better.

When a pet with potential plant toxicity presents at the vet, Teich says the course of action depends on how fast the pet owner was able to act. "We first try to identify the plant to assess which treatment plan is best. If within an hour or two of ingestion, making the pet vomit up any remaining plant material is the first course of action. For certain plants, an activated charcoal slurry is then fed to the dog or cat, which absorbs remaining toxins in the stomach and intestines. Depending upon the plant and clinical signs noted, hospitalization in fluids with other supportive care may be necessary."

While not all plants are toxic enough to cause death, many can cause long-term effects, and that will carry with it costs for treatment, as well as pain for the animal. Your vet might have a community care program to help with emergency costs, and almost all animal treatment centers can help you obtain emergency credit specifically for care of your pet.

Prepare, just in case

If you want to be prepared ahead of the game, always have your vet’s information, as well as the name, location and number of your closest 24-hour veterinary emergency care location printed out somewhere easy to access, and on your phone. Having pet insurance in place can help soften the financial blow of events like this. Whether or not you have insurance, you may need to pay out of pocket before getting reimbursed, so having money set aside, or a credit card for this purpose, might be smart. When you view it all through this lens, spending a little time and money now to ensure you have pet-safe plants, or appropriate barriers to keep your pets away from toxic plants, makes a lot of financial sense.