How to Protect Your Pets From Toxic Plants
Although humans don’t eat houseplants and rarely eat shrubs or ground cover, your pets probably do. That’s why you need to be very, very sure that your pet won’t try to snack on your plants before you plant a plant that might be toxic—and it turns out that many plants are.
Use Plant Identification Apps
Most people don’t know the name of every plant in their yard, but a plant identification app can help you close the circle. Take a photo and ask the app to identify it. Some of these apps will also tell you whether plants are toxic to pets. If not, you’ll need to use the database to do a little digging. Rover has a new searchable database that will tell you whether plants are toxic and what symptoms to look for in a pet if they ingest them. Dogs and cats have different sensitivities, so what is toxic to dogs may be suitable for cats, and vice versa.
Toxic vs Poisonous
Not all plants are toxic to pets; some are simply poisonous – and yes, there is a difference. Toxic plants can cause harm in a variety of ways—through surface contact or inhalation. Simply being around them can harm your pet, even if he is unlikely to chew. On the other hand, poisonous plants must be eaten to be dangerous, so they cause fewer problems. However, some plants are so poisonous that they only need to be eaten once to have dire consequences, so you need to really trust that your pet is isolated from the plant or will never look at, for example, a hydrangea branch as a chew toy. Dan Teich, DVM , director of veterinary hospitals in Washington, D.C., notes, “The good news is that most plants will not cause permanent harm to your pet. Many are irritants and can cause excessive salivation and stomach upset, but these symptoms will usually go away in philodendrons, poinsettias, pothos and many common houseplants.”
Avoid These Common Plants
Teich notes that the most common plant-related incidents they see involve a typically gifted flower. “True lilies are the most dangerous of all plants for cats; even pollen can be deadly. Lilies can cause irreversible kidney failure in a cat within a few days. Calla lilies and peace lilies are not true lilies and may cause intestinal upset in your pet. ” He warns that if you suspect you have ingested lilies, you should seek help from your cat immediately.
Other businesses pose similar risks, Teich said. Eating large amounts of azalea leaves can lead to cardiac collapse and even death. Ingestion of sago palm, a popular outdoor and indoor plant, can be fatal and any consumption by pets should be treated as an emergency.
Foxglove, an easy-to-spread outdoor flower, is also dangerous. Like lily of the valley and oleander, it can have serious effects on your pet’s heart.
If you are unsure whether a plant is harmful to your pet, you can call the ASPCA’s 24-hour Poison Hotline at 888-426-4435 or the Pet Poison Hotline at 855-764-7661.
Learn to recognize symptoms
The list of symptoms that pets can exhibit as a result of plant toxicity is long and varied. There are extreme, easily noticeable symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, difficulty breathing, seizures and excessive drooling. There are also symptoms that are more difficult to assess, such as lack of appetite, lethargy, muscle tremors or uncoordinated movements, unusual bruising or bleeding, and yellowing of the skin or eyes. Cats tend to have more neurological symptoms, while dogs may have more gastrointestinal symptoms. Because many of these symptoms may look like everyday life to a pet owner (pets regularly eat grass and vomit without causing any toxicity), it is important to pay attention to the onset of symptoms and take action if they continue. Your pet’s vomiting once may not be a cause for concern, but continued vomiting, regardless of the underlying cause, is. If you are unsure or want advice, call any of the hotlines above. You’ll pay a fee (which some pet insurance plans may cover), but as Teich notes, “compared to the potential consequences, it may be worth the investment.”
Act
Although the cost of emergency veterinary care is enormous, you should not try to induce vomiting in your pet without consulting your veterinarian – this can lead to problems with the esophagus. If you can identify the plant in question or take a photo and/or sample of it with you to the vet, it will be helpful. Whether emergency veterinary attention is required or waiting until a veterinarian opens depends on what was ingested, but the sooner help is provided, the better.
When a pet comes to the veterinarian with potential plant toxicity, the course of action depends on how quickly the pet owner was able to act, Teich said. “We first try to identify the plant to evaluate which treatment plan is best. If within an hour or two of ingestion, the first step should be to induce your pet to vomit any remaining plant material. For some plants, a suspension of activated carbon is used. then fed to a dog or cat, which absorbs the remaining toxins in the stomach and intestines. Depending on the plant and clinical signs noted, hospitalization with fluids and other supportive care may be required.”
While not all plants are toxic enough to cause death, many can cause long-term effects, resulting in treatment costs as well as pain for the animal. Your veterinarian may have a public assistance program that can help cover emergency care costs, and almost all animal treatment centers can help you obtain an emergency loan specifically for your pet’s care.
Get ready, just in case
If you want to prepare ahead of time, always have your veterinarian’s information printed out on your phone, as well as the name, location, and number of the nearest 24-hour emergency veterinarian in an easily accessible location and on your phone. Having pet insurance can help soften the financial blow from such events. Whether you have insurance or not, you may have to pay out of pocket before getting reimbursed, so it would be wise to set aside money or use a credit card for this purpose. When you look at it all through this lens, spending a little time and money now to make sure you have pet-safe plants or appropriate barriers to protect your pets from toxic plants makes a lot of financial sense.