If you have a cat or a dog at home, you must always opt for non-toxic plants like the Boston fern and the spider plant.Many houseplants can be dangerous to cats and dogs if your pets come in contact with these plants. Therefore, you should always choose non-toxic plants for your home.You might feel conflicted if you are a pet lover and love to maintain different species of green plants or flowers at the same time. You want to take care of each of the allergies of your pet and at the same time, you do not want to get away with your beautiful green plants or flowers even if those flowers may harm your pet minutely.Many of you are flower admirers, and African violets are one such kind of flower that you just cannot skip in your list of flowers. But, concerns come along if you have a pet at home. And the concerning question is ‘are African violets poisonous to cats?’ and this question would have always raised your concerns regarding the safety of your beloved pets.The good news is no! ASPCA stands for American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. As per the ASPCA, the African violets are non-toxic to the group of pets like dogs, even cats, and even horses who bite them thinking it’s grass and get it into their stomach. So it is important to know that their health is not at stake.After you are done reading about the plants you can have at home safely with cats and dogs, you might wonder are mums poisonous to cats and are peace lilies toxic to cats?Will a cat eat an African violet?The life of African violet (or also called saintpaulia) has a range somewhere between 40-50 years. They lighten up any room. Gardeners often remain very attracted towards African violets and they know to take care of them. Although the name says, African violets come in different colors as well like blue, pink, and white having different kinds of petal formations. African violets are very easy to grow. All they need to grow is a good amount of sunlight and proper watering, which results in blooming pretty flowers. Anyone would be attracted to these pretty flowers, and so are house cats, who fall prey to the beauty of these flowers. African violets do not possess any attractive fragrance that can captivate cats, but still due to their attractive appearance cats end up chewing their leaves, stems, or blooms.Since African violets are not putting your family of pets like dogs, cats, and horses at risk. However, sometimes cats might feel mild illness resulting from eating something unusual or cats might have ingested too much of the flower at once. So, at such times the flower can be a little bit harmful to the cats although the flower is non-toxic and in no way poisonous to them.Is it harmful if a cat eats an African violet leaf?African violet in no way is harmful to a cat, be it its stem or petals or leaves. It is non-toxic. But if you fertilize your African violet leaves, you should always keep in mind that it will certainly hurt your cat if they choose to dine on your houseplant.Why is my cat sniffing the African violet?African violets may appear to be pretty alluring but they lack fragrance. Animals have a habit of sniffing, and animals keep on smelling stuff every now and then.Cats, in particular, are attracted to odor and colors, so it can one of the reasons that your cat may be sniffing the African violet because your cat gets attracted to the bright and pretty colors of your houseplant and then your cat or pet tries to get the smell of your houseplant through sniffing so that your cat can eat the houseplant. Since the African violet is odorless, your cat does not find it unpleasant to eat the houseplant.Cats, dogs, horses or any other animal love to eat their favorite food, and they are able to recognize their favorite food item by sniffing, and if the animals do not find any unpleasant odor associated with the food they tend to eat it. So, in order to eat the houseplant, i.e. African violet, your cat will sniff the African violet.Is fertilizer for African violets toxic to cats?The African Violet Society says that plants or house plants that are sourced with systemic insecticides can have toxic substances, to some extent, in them. Suppose your cat takes in just a fraction of this fertilized houseplant, then your cat may not face any issues. But, if your cat consumes the houseplant, which has been exposed to fertilizers for a long period of time, then this can cause a problem in your cat as the toxicity of the houseplant will build up over a period of time.The common symptoms which you can evidently notice in your cat as a reaction from these toxic houseplants are that your cat can start salivating or getting incontinence and your cat can be found producing tears as her body starts to release water. In some cases, it can be dangerous because these fertilizers in the houseplant can cause the death of the animal due to dehydration.However, such situations are rare to happen because such fertilizers or chemicals are usually not used by home growers. But, it may occur where gardens are looked after by professionals and fertilizer is sprinkled over plants and flowers so that they bloom more and can be exported and used for business purposes. So, in such circumstances, cats, dogs or horses, or any other animals are more likely to eat the African violets, by getting attracted towards them. So one must always look out for their safety in the open.Keeping Cats Away From African VioletsYou can try various methods to keep cats away from African violets. One option would be to keep African violets on a high shelf. You can also try to keep distracting the cat so that you can keep away the houseplant from its reach. It is always best to keep your cat well-fed so that they are not hungry and tempted to eat the house plant! You can also try spraying bitter apples onto African violets because it would discourage them from eating the houseplant.Did You Know…Plants that are poisonous to cats need not be outside your home. These plants might be present within your house. You need to go through the list below to check the plants that are poisonous to cats:Plants like philodendron, pothos, dieffenbachia, peace lily, and poinsettia can cause your cat’s mouth or throat irritation. These plants can further cause drooling and vomiting. Though these plants are non-toxic in nature, still they can give mild symptoms to cats.Ingesting plants like ficus or snake plant by cats causes vomiting and diarrhea.If cats eat the dracaena plant then they can show symptoms like vomiting, drooling, and staggering.The common symptoms that cats generally get after ingesting Aloe plants are vomiting, diarrhea, and a lack of appetite.The symptoms of catnip are mostly mild, it would appear as though the cat is drunk and it can further cause vomiting or diarrhea.Plants such as ivy can harm your cats by giving them symptoms such as vomiting, drooling, diarrhea, fever, and weakness.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for are African violets poisonous to cats then why not take a look at is tea tree oil safe for cats, or Somali cat facts?
If you have a cat or a dog at home, you must always opt for non-toxic plants like the Boston fern and the spider plant.
