Are Poinsettia Plants Poisonous to Pets?

Repost from Vicki Draper, www.HealingYourAnimal.com   

Every year when poinsettias are so beautiful and given as gifts, you may have heard poinsettias are poisonous to your cats and dogs.

I actually had my cat, Tasha, who loved to eat flowers off my plants get into my poinsettia one Christmas. It was 14 degrees outside and my car battery had died. I was beside myself, because I couldn’t rush her to the vet if I needed to. I was on the phone with poison hotline (that wasn’t familiar with poinsettias for cats) getting all of the signs to watch for and what to do to help her. I didn’t get much sleep that night monitoring her. She had only had a bite or two when I caught her, yet always hearing how toxic poinsettias were to cats and dogs, that could have made the difference in her living or not.

I am passing this information along, because if your cat or dog decides to chomp on some Poinsettia, you won’t have to go through the major worry that I did.

Tip: Poinsettias are only mildly poisonous to your Cats and Dogs

#1 Poisonous Plant: LILIES

–Reported from Pet Poison Hotline

Far more worrisome are holiday bouquets containing lilies, holly or mistletoe. Even bouquets brought into the house by holiday guests should be thoroughly inspected, as lilies are the #1 flower often used by florists. Just one or two bites from a lily can result in severe acute kidney failure in cats – even the pollen is thought to be poisonous!

Other yuletide plants such as holly berries, mistletoe, and rosemary can also be toxic to dogs and cats. When Christmas or English holly is ingested, it can result in severe gastrointestinal upset thanks to the spiny leaves and the potentially toxic substances (including saponins, methylxanthines, and cyanogens). If ingested, most dogs and cats lip smack, drool, and head shake excessively due to the mechanical injury from the spiny leaves.

As for mistletoe, most of us hang it high enough so it’s out of reach of our dogs and cats – nevertheless, it can also be toxic if ingested. Thankfully, American mistletoe is less toxic than the European varieties of it. Mild signs of gastrointestinal irritation are seen, although if ingested in large amounts, collapse, hypotension, ataxia (walking drunk), seizures and death have also been reported.

If you have any concerns, please reach out to:

Pet Poison Hotline open 24/7  800-213-6680