Protect Your Feline With House Plants That Are Safe For Cats

By Heather Sneed

Finding house plants safe for cats is not always the easiest thing to do. However, responsible pet owners search through the listings of poisonous and not poisonous plants put out by the ASPCA for appropriate plants. Then they decorate their homes with the plants that are safe for their precious cats.

Sometimes, you get a cat after you have already decorated your home. In this case, you bring your brand new kitty home and you do not give a second thought to your house plants. You go about your daily life never even thinking that those plants could be poisonous to your new edition.

Then one day, you come home from what is usually an otherwise normal day at work to find your cat a little ill. You have no idea what is wrong. This scenario goes on for a few days before you take your precious kitty to the vet and find your feline has been nibbling on a house plant. This is when you find out that the English ivy that you have had for years is actually poisonous to your kitty cat. Lucky for you, your cat did not ingest enough to be fatal but did ingest enough to get ill.

You quickly rush home and check the ASPCA's website and throw out all the potentially harmful house plants before something serious happens to your cat. After all, you are a responsible pet owner and you love your cat. You do not want anything to happen like this again. So, out goes all dangerous house plants and in comes safe house plants.

Since cats like to nibble on lush greens, many cat owners like to plant cat friendly gardens in their homes. You can accomplish this by planting lush greens. A simple seven by seven container will work just fine. In the container, plant some barley and wheat. Some pet stores and online stores sell "cat grass" seeds or something similar. It should grow a few inches tall and attract the cat for grazing. Since the cat will want to nibble, make sure the container is stable enough to prevent tipping over and spilling.

Other popular plants safe for cats include the Christmas cactus, African violet, and
the spider plant. They are all easy to grow and safe around children and pets. They add beauty and color to any living space. Therefore, you can brighten up your home without worrying about endangering the lives of your loved ones.

If you want to brighten up the outdoors, you might want to try a Boston fern. These grow nice and large. Therefore, they are not recommended to bring indoors. However, they do make for a lovely patio plant and are safe around cats.