I caught Ricky chewing on an Anthurium house plant. Apparently the Anthurium house plant is potentially toxic to cats (and even humans), which I was not aware of at the time. I wanted to use this event to create an educational blog post for cat lovers.
First and foremost:
– Ricky did not ingest parts of the plant (how do I know? I watched her)
– This happened several months ago
– Ricky has had no ill effects whatsoever at all since chewing on the leaves
I want to take this opportunity for us all to learn about potentially toxic house plants and cats, and to try and make it a habit to always double check that your houseplants are safe for cats.
About the Anthurium
Let’s first learn a little bit about the Anthurium: The Anthurium house plant is also referred to as Flamingo Lily, Tail Flower, Oilcloth Flower, Pigtail Plant or Painter’s Pallet.
Is the Anthurium poisonous to cats?
“While it is rare that Fluffy will face any fatal outcomes if consumed, it is best not to take too many chances.”
– source: https://plantly.io/plant-care/is-anthurium-toxic-to-cats/
“Although it’s rare for cats to face fatal consequences after ingesting anthuriums, it’s best to keep your house free of these plants.”
– source: https://www.hepper.com/is-anthurium-toxic-to-cats/
Having established this, it is of course always necessary to be careful with cats around plants.
Pictured above: Ricky chewing on our sansevieria, also called the snake plant. Yes, this plant is toxic to cats as well.
Again, Ricky is completely fine and has not exhibited any symptoms of poisoning (you can trust me: I monitor my cat’s well-being closely and will monitor their well-being even closer from now on). Naturally, I will do my best to keep her from chewing on plants from now on.
Give your cat an alternative
Dogs may eat grass while out for a walk, but indoor cats don’t have this option. If a hairball bothers them, they may therefore look for alternatives in the house and start chewing on your houseplants. To try and prevent this, you can purchase cat grass. Cat grass allows your cat a safe option to chew on. Do choose the soft type of cat grass. Cyprus grass, the sharp-edged type, may also cause problems.
I am going to purchase cat grass the next chance I get. I think Ricky would love it!
If your cat ingested something poisonous…
If your cat has eaten something that may be poisonous, don’t try to make your cat vomit. Take your cat to the vet and bring a sample of the plant and, if possible, a name tag of the plant.
About cats getting harmed…
If you’re really concerned about my cat’s well-being because she chewed on potentially harmful plants – don’t be. Rest assured that Ricky and Tommy are in the hands of animal lovers.
Can mistakes happen? Absolutely. Can something bad happen to my cats? Hopefully not! But in all reality, it can happen. Will the cats then receive the best possible care (at my discretion)? Absolutely.
I made this post for two reasons: 1) I want to educate myself as well as my readers about the possible dangers of house plants to our beloved cats and 2) If there are people who are angry about me letting my cat lick and chew on toxic house plants, I would like to ask them to direct their anger to people who actively harm cats. Even if you are able to understand that I didn’t mean any harm to my cat by ignorantly letting her chew on some of our house plants, I would like to use this article to expose a problem with active animal abuse.
If you are really concerned about animal well-being, I would advise you to shift your focus towards people that actively harm animals in a way you probably couldn’t imagine. I would like to direct your attention to this YouTube channel that highlights a horrible problem of animal abuse in Indonesia for example: https://www.youtube.com/@mycammedia WARNING: GRAPHIC FOOTAGE OF REAL SITUATIONS. NOT ALL VIDEOS HAVE A HAPPY ENDING.
Told to me by the channel owner:
Apparently in Indonesia, where the channel owner is traveling, it ranges from a couple of cities where street feeders literally keep throwing food at tiny kittens with chlamydia or scabies, without treating them – this concerns specifically the likes of 2 month old kittens who have already lost their eyes – they get a video taken with some food, and then just left where they are to the inevitable.
The latter is what we refer to as creating fake animal rescue videos. In such videos, it appears as if the persons involved want to help animals, but either do nothing or actively cause harm to the animals for dramatic effect. Think of breaking its legs, creating wounds or positioning the animal in impossible and painful positions, such as in between rocks or metal wires. These are only a few of the examples that are still viewable on YouTube today – and are making money through the YouTube monetization program as well as animal lovers who donate their money to these channels.
When the animal is “found”, it is typically given water and/or food, or random herbs, without checking for internal damage and without regard to the possibility of making existing injuries worse.
These videos are posted on YouTube (and as well other platforms: fake animal rescue videosn on Facebook are also a HUGE problem) for monetary gain via the social media site’s monetization system as well as for the intent of receiving donations from viewers who, understandably due to the high emotions caused by watching such videos and believing the people involved have genuine intentions with the animals, make donations to the uploader. In return you can expect a lot more animals to be harmed and a lot more fake animal rescue videos to be created, as it obviously pays off for these people.
Please be careful about whom you choose to support. Be critical before pressing a Like button. Educate others about the phenomenon of fake animal rescue videos. You may be doing more harm than good.
https://www.youtube.com/@mycammedia is a genuine channel documenting animal cruelty in Indonesia on his YouTube channel, both through videos as well as community updates. Please check it out and if you can support @mycammedia, please do so. If you can not donate, let’s continue spreading the word until it reaches people who can. Innocent lives depend on our help.
Thank you for reading my article. If you have a pet, please go give them a hug. They are very fortunate to be in your care.
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