Poisonous Plants to Keep Your Pets Away From

Poisonous Plans to Keep Your Pets Away From-Chispa MagazineIf you have pets, you know just how wild they can be and you have seen the crazy choices they make. Especially younger pets, like puppies and kittens are quite unruly and would shove their nose, claws, and fangs anywhere out of sheer boredom or curiosity. This could, of course, lead to very unpleasant results if you are not careful, and especially if you are a gardener with many plants to your name around the house. In that case you need to be aware of every single little effect that your plant’s scent, leaves, juice, and even the garden maintenance you spare for it, will have on your pet. There are many plants which are dangerous to animals and the two should be kept separate as the animal won’t always keep its obstreperous nature in check for the sake of your plants.

Poinsettias
The more problematic plants you may have about the house will probably be from the Christmas decorations. These holiday flowers require little reliable gardening and are easy to grow, but their bracts’ color may also invite some unwanted trouble from the pets. While they are not as deadly as before since there had been a lot of hybridization throughout the years to decrease the poisonous effects, they are still harmful if ingested. The plant’s sap is an irritant and your dog or cat or rabbit may show signs of that by the shaking of its head. Ingestion of the plant may lead to vomiting, and other, more terrible, results, so if the pet does eat from the bracts, immediately wash the sap off and call your veterinarian.

Mistletoe
You may be wondering how a pet would ever reach the mistletoe, but then you have obviously not seen the cat’s ingenuity and obstinacy when it comes to reaching things. At any rate, the ingestion of the American mistletoe berries will lead to vomiting, diarrhea, and a fast heart rate. You must immediately react and call your veterinarian to apply medicine before the pet goes into shock.

Holly
Holly berries are much less poisonous than the other two, but in large amounts they will irritate the pet’s bowel, and cause vomiting. Electrolyte imbalance and dehydration are the main threats when absorbing too many of the berries and you will need a vet’s number at hand if this happens.

With these main threats taken care of, there are 12 more plants which you should be careful with—they have all been registered by the Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital as responsible for most of the pet poisonings cases that come to them. These plants are: lily (including lily of the valley), aloe vera, philodendrons, anemone plants, daffodils, asparagus fern, jade plants, cyclamen, cycads, amaryllis, and chrysanthemums. Planting them in your garden might present a risk to your pet, especially if it is especially keen on roaming the garden. And, if the pet likes to be around you while you are on weed control duty or doing some landscaping, always have an eye on it so that it doesn’t get into any trouble. Also, you would be wise to keep seeds away from the pet as most fruit seeds, nuts, and acorns have bad reaction to dog organisms. Don’t worry about the cats, though—they are too pretentious to eat seeds.

You can have both unruly and happy-go-lucky pets and a brilliant garden with all the flowers you want. But, you will have to be careful when mixing the time spent with the pet and the lawn care. Simply be attentive and keep the pet occupied away from the plants, and there will be no troubles at all. Nothing you can do about dogs digging holes at the plant’s base though.

Photo by Annie Spratt

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Mia Guerra

Mia Guerra

Executive Editor at Chispa Magazine
Executive Editor at Chispa Magazine, Mia Guerra is a writer at heart. Regardless the topic, she loves to investigate, encourage, and ruminate on topics that can make us better people. Aiming to live a Proverbs 31 life, Mia is ecstatic to be following her calling with Chispa. At home she is her husband's sidekick and together they are raising a God-fearing family in Atlanta.

Mia Guerra

Executive Editor at Chispa Magazine, Mia Guerra is a writer at heart. Regardless the topic, she loves to investigate, encourage, and ruminate on topics that can make us better people. Aiming to live a Proverbs 31 life, Mia is ecstatic to be following her calling with Chispa. At home she is her husband's sidekick and together they are raising a God-fearing family in Atlanta.