If you love plants and have a cat or are thinking of adding a cat to your family, it's important to be familiar with the plants that are toxic to cats. Some of these plants are common and non-toxic to us, making it surprising that they are harmful to cats. Unfortunately, cats don't automatically know to stay away from plants with toxins in them. They might chew and eat small portions and, depending on the plant, that can still be very dangerous. Below is a list of common plants or flowers that are toxic to cats with pictures.
Toxic Component: All parts — even the pollen or water from the vase
What Happens: Causes acute kidney failure within 24–72 hours. Lethal if untreated.
Toxic Component: Cycasin — a potent liver toxin
What Happens: Leads to vomiting, diarrhea, liver failure, seizures, and death.
Toxic Component: Cardiac glycosides
What Happens: Disrupts normal heart function; can cause drooling, vomiting, irregular heartbeat, and potentially fatal heart failure.
Toxic Component: grayanotoxins
What Happens: Causes vomiting, weakness, heart arrhythmias, and can lead to coma or death.
Toxic Component: colchicine and related alkaloids.
What Happens: Causes severe GI distress, multi-organ failure, and bone marrow suppression.
Toxic Component: ricin, one of the most poisonous naturally occurring substances.
What Happens: Causes abdominal pain, drooling, tremors, seizures, and death.
Toxic Component: insoluble calcium oxalates.
What Happens: Causes intense burning, drooling, vomiting, and swelling of the mouth and throat.
Toxic Component: calcium oxalates.
What Happens: Similar symptoms: oral irritation, drooling, vomiting, and difficulty swallowing.
Toxic Component: calcium oxalates.
What Happens: Causes mouth and tongue burning, drooling, vomiting, and respiratory distress in large exposures.
Toxic Component: triterpenoid saponins.
What Happens: Causes vomiting, abdominal pain, hypersalivation, and diarrhea.
Toxic Component: Bulbs contain tulipalin A & B.
What Happens: Causes GI upset, drooling, depression, and cardiac issues in large amounts.
Toxic Component: Similar toxins to tulips, concentrated in bulbs.
What Happens: Leads to intense vomiting, tremors, and increased heart rate.
Toxic Component: Disulfides and thiosulfates which is toxic to cats.
What Happens: Onions contain toxic components that damage red blood cells
Toxic Component: terpenoid saponins, especially in the tubers.
What Happens: Causes salivation, vomiting, diarrhea, and heart rhythm abnormalities; large ingestion can be fatal.
Toxic Component: bufadienolides, affecting heart function.
What Happens: Causes vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, and in serious cases, heart arrhythmias or seizures.
Toxic Component: The Loranthaceae family contains alkaline proteins, polypeptidic viscotoxins, and lectins.
What Happens: Causes necrosis of skin, vomiting, and diarrhea, fatigue, skin rashes. Chronic intake damages the liver and heart problems.
If your cat eats something toxic, time is critical. This guide walks you through exactly what to do step by step to keep your cat safe and give them the best chance at a full recovery.
Remove Access to Plant
Move the plant to a more secure place like the outdoors or gifting it to a friend.
Identify What Was Ingested
Gather as much info as possible:
- Name of the substance (plant, medication, food, etc.)
- How much was ingested
- When it was ingested
- Packaging or label, if available
But there are plants safe for cats, so you can have a cat ecosystem with non-toxic plants great for adding greenery to any room. While we have a long-tail list of non-toxic plants for cats to have around your house, here is our short list:
FAQs
The answer depends on the toxin, some can take minutes, others hours to show symptoms. If you suspect your cat of eating a toxic plant consult with a veterinary professional.
This Lilly is at the top of the list for toxicity. The entire plant, including the pollen, is toxic. In research, it is reported a lethal dose for a cat is only two leaves or petals of the plant.
Cats don't know how to avoid toxic plants. Unfortunately, there are many plants they did not evolve to be around in the home setting. As their caretakers, we need to ensure they are not around toxic plants.
Your cat’s curiosity doesn’t stop at the windowsill, which is why it’s so important to be mindful of the plants you bring into your space. Knowing which plants are toxic—and choosing cat-safe alternatives—helps keep your feline healthy while still letting your home flourish with greenery.
Looking for a stylish way to enjoy plants without putting your cat at risk? Check out our cat shelf planters designed with cats in mind—perfect for adding a pop of green with a pet-safe plant up and out of reach.
Plants are a wonderful way to add beauty and freshness to your home, but for cat parents - choosing the right plants is essential! Many greenery varieties can be harmful to curious felines. Enhance your home and add enrichment to your cat’s life with a worry free indoor garden using one or more of these 20 vet-approved cat-safe plants!
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Cats are complex creatures, and thrive in environments that best replicate wild behaviors. For our domesticated cats this means enhancing their quality of life by providing environments that stimulate their natural behavior. Behaviors such as foraging to eat, social contact, predatory outlets, climbing, and problem solving are all natural behaviors for cats. The goal of enrichment is to increase natural behavior diversity and to introduce these new experiences in a way that is not scary and does not cause stress.
What is Feline Enrichment?
Without enrichment, cats can develop behavioral issues like aggression, anxiety, attention-seeking, urinating or defecating outside of the litter box, eating disorders, or other disorders like over-grooming or scratching. The animals most at risk for these types of behaviors are captive animals in zoos and sanctuaries—and our own pets.
In the distant past cats went through an evolutionary shift that was accelerated by domestication by humans. Feline welfare has changed with improved housing, diet, and care. Unfortunately, cats have lost access to many natural behavior outlets. Before domestication, cats lived, hunted, climbed, and explored outside where they had a rich diversity of experiences. While domestic cats have a safe environment indoors with humans, they are happiest in an environment that stimulates outdoor instincts.
Instead of ushering cats outdoors, the compromise is to enrich their environment in a manner that allows them to practice their innate behaviors inside the safety of their home. There are endless ways to enrich your cat’s life.
Replicate a Cat's Feeding Behavior
Natural feeding behavior involves seeking out the food available to them. To help stimulate this instinct, you can use food puzzles, interactive toys, or hide small bowls of food among the cat’s living area, like their cat furniture or in their hiding spots. The idea is that your cat will spend a portion of their day activating their foraging instinct by hunting for their food. This is especially helpful if you’d like your cat to explore a particular area more.
Start out easy with any new enrichment plan. Try hiding food in places they will easily find it and then slowly change the hiding place to a more challenging location. Increase the challenge by incorporating boxes, bags, or plastic cups. Your imagination is the limit! You know your cat best, so remember to keep your cat’s skills and abilities in mind.
Predatory Outset
Domestic cats are still predators. They thrive on this instinct and need to practice hunting in a positive way or their practice may turn to more inappropriate things like your feet, your furniture, or other cats in your home.
Novelty is important when determining the right predatory play for your cat. Rotating the toys every few days will ensure that your toy stash remains new and interesting. If you notice that one of your cat’s favorite toys is being ignored, try putting it away and swapping it out for another toy.
Cats also love to watch a toy in motion, so don’t be discouraged if your cat doesn’t physically interact with the toy. Watching and stalking a moving toy is still a fun and stimulating experience for cats. Your cat will tell you what is an enriching experience for them through their interest, attention, and interactions.
Social Interaction With Your Cat
We get along well with cats because they are social creatures. They thrive with daily interaction with humans or other pets. Natural social actions can include mutual grooming, resting together, and playing together. Continue to build a relationship with your cat through play and physical affection.
Physical affection, like petting, is two-way communication. Take care to listen to your cat when petting them. Pet for 3 to 5 seconds then wait to see if your cat solicits more attention with a head nudge or maybe by pawing at you. Listening to your cat’s method of communication will increase your relationship without overstaying your “petting welcome.”
Providing Your Cat With Vertical Space
Our domestic cats’ wild relatives hunt and rest in trees as well as on the ground. Cats feel safe and secure when they are high up. In many zoos and sanctuaries, providing vertical space is a requirement in humane housing of smaller wild felines. Having vertical space helps with anxiety because your cat can fully let down their guard when sleeping which helps with stress recovery.
In addition to being a stress relieving element in your cat’s environment, adding vertical space can also reduce stress in multi-cat homes. Your cats will have more space to move, hide, and sleep, resulting in less competition with other cats.
The location of their vertical furniture matters as well. Place their furniture by windows to increase their visual stimulation and in quiet places to ensure they feel safe when sleeping. If feasible, try rotating the furniture's locations or adding new furniture to an existing setup to maintain novelty and generate interest.
Scratching and Deep Stretching
Providing appropriate scratching items (whether vertical or horizontal) is essential in maintaining your cat’s health as well as creating a positive outlet for a natural behavior. Scratching is a type of communication, so be sure to put their scratching item(s) near a window, sleeping area, or a door. This will give them an outlet in spaces they enjoy and feel most comfortable.
Cats enjoy scratching items made of sturdy material like wood, sisal rope, rough fabric, and cardboard layers. Training your cat to use an acceptable scratching item is easier than one might think. Put an incentive on the item like catnip, treats, or toys and then reward your cat with treats each time they scratch the preferred item.
Note: Do not manually move their paws over the surface you want them to scratch. This can create the opposite effect and cause your cat to become anxious of that item.
Other Environmental Enrichment
Adding new and interesting elements to your home will keep your cat curious and physically active. Other ways to enrich their environment are including cat-friendly plants like cat grass (an easy to sprout grass that’s safe for cats to eat), a cat drinking fountain, a bird feeder outside their favorite window, a Catio (an enclosed outdoor cat porch), or a cat stroller (if your cat is the adventurous type).
An enriching environment allows your cat to harness their natural behaviors and instincts which will increase their overall welfare and help to prevent mental and physical disorders. Very little is better than watching our cats enjoy the things we’ve given them to explore and play on. When our cats are happy, we are happy because they contribute to our quality of life too.
Research
AAFP and ISFM Feline Environmental Needs Guidelines
Artificial prey as behavioral enrichment devices for felines
Using Environmental and Feeding Enrichment to Facilitate Feline Weight Loss
Environmental Enrichment: Practical Strategies for Improving Feline Welfare
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