Nom Nom logo

Learn : Lifestyle

Cat-Friendly Houseplants

Cat with Plant

They say curiosity killed the cat, but with the right houseplants, it shouldn’t harm yours. While plants can add natural beauty and joy to your space, there’s nothing less joyful than finding your cat tasting a toxic houseplant. Here are some feline-friendly houseplants that will help you spruce up your space without endangering your pet.

Houseplants Safe for Cats

Prayer plant

This fun plant gets its name from the fact that its leaves stay flat during the day and perk up during the night, giving it a “praying” effect. These plants do well in indirect sunlight, with some amount of humidity, and they won’t cause any distress to your cat if ingested.

Areca palm

The ASPCA recommends the Areca palm for houses with cats, dogs and even horses. It’s a wispy, room-brightening plant that’s fairly easy to grow indoors with ample access to sunlight and water.

Impatients

Bursting with color and easily transported, impatiens are the perfect way to provide some contrast to a room that could use it. Most even taste bitter to cats, which may provide the extra incentive to leave them without bitemarks.

Bamboo palm

Also known as the parlor palm, bamboo palms are hardy, low-maintenance, and totally safe for your cat.

The obvious choice

Did we mention cat grass? It feels like a bit of a no-brainer, but cat grass isn’t just a safe indoor plant for your cat, it’s potentially a beneficial one as well. Stocked with vitamins A and D, cat grass has been known to help aid with digestion, making it a near-perfect complement to our fresh food diet.

Some of our more fashionable readers may be turned off by the plastic, prefab grow kits that cat grass often arrives in, but rest assured there are ways to work cat grass into your home aesthetic. Trying growing the seeds inside of an old coffee cup or small planter for a succulent-sized accent piece.

How to Prevent Your Cat from Eating Houseplants

Toxic Houseplants for Cats

Just because your cat can eat your houseplants without getting sick doesn’t mean you want her to. While hanging plants in baskets or putting them on countertops can be a good solution, cats are notorious for managing to climb to surprising heights, so it might not be enough to keep your cat from trying one of your plants.

Instead, it can be a good idea to make houseplants less appealing to your cat with a topical spray. One easy solution is spraying diluted lemon juice or vinegar on your plants. You can also purchase spray specifically designed to deter cats from eating plants, without harming the plants’ health.

Above all, make sure you avoid potentially toxic greenery. Plants like azelas, sago palm, snake plant and devil’s ivy all contain harmful chemicals within them that could induce vomiting, diarrhea or more serious complications when consumed by your cat.

Related articles