Keeping Your Cats Safe While Your Green Thumb Thrives

Make Sure Your Garden is Cat Safe

Many homeowners enjoy the benefits of a beautiful garden; whether it is for looks, to deter pests like mosquitos, or to grow their own fruits, veggies, and herbs.

Here in Orlando, Florida with the tropical climate a lot of vegetation is available to us!

Me, I rent a small apartment with a decent sized patio which I absolutely love keeping green. It wasn’t until my two beautiful cats started to venture onto the patio with me that I really thought about my plants being ‘cat safe’. After plenty of Google-ing, I confirmed that all my patio plants were safe and I could breathe easy when my fur babies were enjoying the sun.

As Spring starts to bloom there are a huge array of plants to bring home and enjoy, here are a few tips before adding to your garden:

• Read the plants information while at the Nursery. If you’re buying a mature plant, often times Nursery’s such as Orchards Supply and Hardware or HomeDepot will have some basic information on the plant; look for keywords like toxic or harmful.

• Do a Google check on your plants of choice. If you aren’t sure based on the information available to you, a quick internet search will show exactly what you need to know.

• Review any current plants or new plants on this comprehensive list of ‘Toxic and Non
Toxic Plant List for Cats’ – they also have a great list for dogs.

A few common plants to re-think for your cat friends safety:

• Elephants Ear
• Aloe
• Lillies
• Apple, Apricot, Plum, Peach, and Cherry
• Orange
• Bird of Paradise
• California Ivy, and many other members of the Ivy family
• Chives
• Daisy
• Lavender
• Mint
• Oregano
• Morning Glory
• Tulip

Happy gardening for you and your animal friends!

If you are looking to adopt, please make your way to The Way Home Rescue’s pet page to see who is looking for their forever home!

Written by: Christie Bayer, The Way Home Rescue Volunteer