As pet owners, you know how important your furry friends are to you. When they are sick, you are sick. When they nap, you want to nap, too. Your pet is such an important part of your life, that many of your life decisions involve your pet’s safety and comfort, including your decision to become a plant parent. There are plenty of houseplants that are pet-safe, but there are also houseplants that can really hurt your pet and can even be harmful to small children. It’s really important to be aware of these types of things as both current and future pet owners. You certainly want to provide the safest, most comfortable environment for your pet.
If you don’t intend on owning any pets for one reason or another, then this isn’t a concern to you. After all, while living room foliage like pothos plants have high toxicity to cats and dogs, they are safe for humans because vines aren’t generally considered to be a tasty snack.
For Pet Parents
Of course, this is not a list of every single indoor plant which is pet safe, just a few trendy plants that will look good in your home without harming your pet. A money plant is a popular choice of the indoor plant which requires medium to bright indirect light and does not need to be watered often. Christmas cactuses are another type of houseplant which is pet safe and requires little work. This plant is low maintenance, likes medium light, and does not need to be watered often. As a bonus, this plant flowers during the holiday season! One more option which is both a popular houseplant and perfect for indoors is a Parlour Palm, which prefers humidity and bright indirect light but can also tolerate drier, low light conditions, making it another low-maintenance plant.
For Pet-Free Households
Having a pet does set some limits on the types of trendy plants you can have in your home. Varieties of the pothos plant, (or to use its common name: devil’s ivy,) are extremely harmful to cats and dogs, but for a pet-free home so you can take your pick or have them all. The joy of having pothos in your home is that they can survive without much light and don’t need to be watered often; about once a week. While all pothos has green leaves, there’s a variety of looks produced by the different types. The most commonly seen and most popular pothos is the golden pothos, which is a beautiful tropical vine whose leaves are a lovely blend of green and gold marble. Another pothos with a similar look to the golden pothos but a different variety is the marble queen pothos. The marble queen pothos is a hardy vine whose waxy leaves are a gorgeous variation of dark green and silvery-white as opposed to gold. The jade pothos is a variety of the marble queen. But instead of the marbled colors, the jade pothos has dark green leaves with cream, white, and gray streaks. This is not to be confused with the heartleaf philodendron, which is of a different variety altogether. The golden pothos, as well as the other varieties, look beautiful hanging in baskets and growing as long vines on a trellis. Some pests that might infect your pothos include mealybugs and scale, but these can be taken care of by wiping the leaves down with a cotton swab dipped in 70% alcohol, or by applying insecticidal soap.
Please note: this article lists a few of the most common house plants that are safe and unsafe for your furry friend. For a comprehensive list of safe and harmful plants and studies on house plant safety, please refer to the ASPCA site. This is ideal for passionate plant owners with a larger variety of unusual plants in their home.
Natural And Pet-Safe
If your pet suffers from joint pain, epileptic seizures, and other forms of chronic pain, then CBD oil and other CBD products might be a viable option for your pet. Derived from a hemp plant, this medicine is quickly becoming the gold standard for veterinary medicine. ABSC Organics has released its ABSC Pure Organic CBD Oil, the only product for pets to undergo multiple clinical trials at the Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, a veterinary institution at the forefront of veterinary research in the US, as well as other veterinary research institutions. This CBD oil is derived from a specific strain of hemp plant with a distinct set of active ingredients. ABSC Pure Organic CBD Oil was developed alongside some leading experts on the medical use of hemp-hybrid oil extract in veterinarian science in the US. Clinical trials showed that CBD delivered orally is considered safe and highly tolerated by pets, with a significant reduction of pain levels in arthritic dogs, and an 89% reduction in seizure frequency.
If your pet is suffering from epilepsy, arthritis, inflammation, then ABSC CBD Oil and other ABSC organics products might be a viable natural option to treat illness in your pet.