Kittens & House Plants

[Mogo]

Hello! I'm bringing home my first kitten Sunday (yay!). I've been doing a lot of research and I've come here for more specific advice about house plants.

I have the following:

Aloe Vera
Corn Plant
Golden Pothos
Lophophora Williamsii
Misc. Cactus

Now, I've seen each of these on different DANGEROUS HOUSE PLANTS FOR CATS lists, but no list that contains all of them.

I'm wondering if any of these pose more of a threat than others, if it's overstated, or if I should remove each of these house plants from my home (this would not be great, but the kitten takes priority

I'm thinking maybe since its a kitten I can train it to stay away, but also that a curious kitten might be more attracted to strange things. Not sure.

What do you all think? Any experience or tips with house plants and cats?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Azazel]

I would either keep them completely out of reach from them or remove them if you can’t do that. It’s very had to train kittens to not want to play with or chew on plants. And if they don’t do it while you’re home they will do it while you’re gone. Unfortunately having cats means that you can’t have many house plants. There are some that are non-toxic though. My favorites are orchids.

 

[fionasmom]

Do not plan on being able to train a new cat or kitten to avoid house plants. Some even have a penchant for chewing on them and trying to make sure that everything is safe will become difficult. I have cat grass and one African violet in the house and it is where no cat can get to it....and yes, one did find it once and "express interest".

 

[Mogo]

Thank you both! Looks like the plants gotta go.

 

[tabbytom]

I have the following:

Aloe Vera
Corn Plant
Golden Pothos
Lophophora Williamsii
Misc. Cactus

All the above you mentioned are toxic to cats.

The first 3 mentioned are found here :- cats-plant-list

The 2nd last one looks like some kind of succulents found here :- plant-poisoning-hallucinogenic-toxins and cactus are succulents too.

Best is when in doubt, remove them. Precaution is better than cure. Don't take the risk.

 

[kittenmittens84]

Time for some hanging planters! They’re good for keeping plants out of reach, same with putting the pots on top of freestanding tall bookshelves (make sure there’s nothing around that the cat could jump on to get up to it) or on high up wall shelves.

It is weird what cats decide to mess with vs leave alone. I have a pothos on our porch (because of the cat) and he’s obsessed with trying to get to it through the screen door but one weekend when it was 100 degrees I had to bring my dwarf lemon tree inside, and the cat completely ignored it.

 

[klunick]

I get some Gerbera Daisy plants about once a month from the local grocery store to brighten up our kitchen. Boone and Gracie leave them alone for the most part after moving it from the kitchen table to the kitchen window by the sink. I have seen little teeth marks on a few leaves but never any bits and pieces of leaves or throw up so I'm hoping they just nibbled on it for a second and then stop. I need something to put into this little decorative wagon I have and Gerbera Daisy are the easiest to get ahold of at most of the time.

 

[inntroz2010w]

Mogo, well we don't have such problems like choosing the right flowers or plants for our cat, but we have another type of issue. Or being more accurate we had this issue, because she was eating and biting plants all around the house, destroying it. But after I could find this article about cat eating houseplant issues, with practical advises what to do - it really helped our family with this problem.