Cat Chat Feline Forum

Over the years I've posted tales of my Big Grey cat, Gandhi and his escapades. He has been issued with a number of Cat ASBO's but to no avail, like living with a teenage tearaway. Anyway, as most of you know, he has Thyroid problems and Megacolon, mostly on an even keel, but sometimes chucks up. However, most of last night, the hooligan was throwing up all over the house, furniture, floors, duvet, had loose bowels, at one stage passed a real scoop bender, could have won a Turner Prize, yowling loudly with a very swollen hard tum. Now, did anybody out there know this because even as a keen gardener, I certainly didn't.. DIANTHUS [PINKS, CARNATIONS] ARE TOXIC TO CATS! I know!! Who would have guessed?? In the cold light of day, I spotted carnation stalks pulled out the vase, small hard leaves in the pools of vomit, thankfully turns out it's not fatal but is toxic and symptoms extremely unpleasant. Vet says they usually vomit it out themselves but it takes about 12 hours before recovery, although did mention if he had swallowed flowers, he would have had to be 'flushed'. Here comes the science bit: apparently there is something in the stalks which passes through to something in the leaves and is sucked up to react with something in the blooms Plants can even irritate the cat's skin if it brushes up against them. Symptoms include: profuse vomiting, loose bowels, drooling, incredible thirst, loss of appetite, tender tum. Oh wait..is that not me after a night out with the girls?

Issi

Ooops, poor chap, hope he's feeling better now.

I've always known that it's impossible to try and grow pinks where there are cats, because the little horrors chew the foliage, but I've never seen or heard of a reaction like that before.

Errrm excuse my asking but why did you call him Gandhi? He doesn't exactly sound like a peaceful influence ...

Seems like the slugs that ate all the Pinks last time I planted any were actually doing me a good turn!

There are times I think if someone could come up with a list of plants that weren't toxic it would really help, and would probably end up a fairly short list. Fortunately most cats don't seem to eat something that is poisonous or the part that is problematic isn't in easy reach like bulbs. Then of course there is the problem of names, just because it sounds similar doesn't mean they are related (Water Lilies aren't Lilies).

We all just keep doing our best and try and not look too sheepish when some one is going on about how toxic a plant is and we realise that we have several in the garden that we always thought looked so pretty.

It's just occurred to me - obviously at this time of year those carnations will have been commercially raised ... might it have been an insecticide/fungicide that the plants have been treated with, that caused the upset? I believe commercial growers can use stronger sorts than the kind sold in your average garden centre, and many will be systemic and permeate the whole plant.

Whatever it was, glad he's feeling better

OK, sites official gardener here! I could run off a list of known toxic, non toxic and possible toxic plants - but lets face it, you can Google that!

I have loved lilies longer than I have loved cats and, with a bit of careful placement and some snipping with scissors manage to enjoy both. I think cats know what they should avoid, at least outside! I have a number of plants in my garden that are toxic to humans if ingested, probably cats too. But those plants are not near paths or cat sunbathing spots.

My worry is with houseplants. I have read that cyclamen are toxic to cats but Willow has, in the past, happily decapitated several pots worth. She never actually ate them, just bit through the stems. She has also managed to reduce a very old aspidistra to lace doilies, just by piercing the leaf edges. She has never come to any harm - (the plants are now all out of reach!)

I think the stuff in carnations that you are referring to is a saponin (soapwort contains saponin). Imagine eating a bar of soap! Unpleasant, but not harmful unless consumed in large amounts. Not very helpful when you are mopping up after the event!

Lilith has a point, commercially raised plants are usually doused in all sorts of muck, but it is generally no worse than you can buy in Asda. My heart sinks when I see the hazardous cxxp that is available to the unsuspecting public. It should be BANNED!!

I hope Gandhi is on the mend soon and that he has learned his lesson - don't mess with the flowers, they bite back!

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/arti ... cides.aspx

This is a US site and heavily biased re the promotion of organic cut flowers, so I have reservations - I HATE the hard sell.

But I do feel that there's a grain or two of truth ... nobody's going to buy mildewed carnations, so they treat them automatically with fungicides before there's a risk, same with insecticides ... you know I'd never thought about this before, but now there's no way I'd buy cut flowers for anyone with pets in the house

I hate to tell you Lilith but a lot of our food is treated the same way!

Interesting factoid - sucralose, trade name, Splenda, was originally developed as a pesticide and is more closely related to DDT than anything else! Aspartame, which is EVERYWHERE can cause an accumulation of formaldehyde in the brain. That's like being embalmed BEFORE you die. And they wonder why Alzheimer's is on the rise?


I know of Joe Mercola, I used to follow him. But lately he is just pushing his products, his vet site is the same. There is some good, unbiased info out there though. I like Sayer Ji and his greenmedinfo site.

I can imagine!

There are more restrictions when it comes to treating vegetables - but not many. Wish I could grow my own; used to have an allotment and rarely used chemicals - and never weedkiller. I was the weedkiller lol.

I like to cook from scratch, making stocks from bones and cheap cuts, using fresh veggies (however treated ) and basic ingredients; nothing processed. I do have tins but buy less and less convenience food - because it's so boring. It tastes terrible. I'm not a health fanatic, I just like food that tastes like real food, and from what you say, sounds like I might be doing the right thing ...

Lilith wrote:Ooops, poor chap, hope he's feeling better now.

I've always known that it's impossible to try and grow pinks where there are cats, because the little horrors chew the foliage, but I've never seen or heard of a reaction like that before.

Errrm excuse my asking but why did you call him Gandhi? He doesn't exactly sound like a peaceful influence ...

Hi Lilith. I always had home grown flowers in the house as I previously had a large allotment and garden. Never used pesticides/ slug pellets. Didn't need to as I had a thriving bird colony, including a woodpecker and a flock of ring necked parakeets that grew and grew like Topsy, living in the park, plus hedgehogs, two married ducks and a thriving frog colony in my large pond who would all feast on the slugs, leatherjacks, etc. I have to say though, my attitude to slugs,mice etc was this was their habitat, I just turned up to the allotment to grow things, not slaughter the wildlife. I used to pass other plots on the way to my own, at certain times of the year, so many slugs pellets chucked around, it was like a blue carpet, heavens knows how much of it passed into the food chain, the growers bodies. I can't abide Lilies, they belong on a coffin, so that was never an issue, and none of the cats ever chewed the picked flowers, indeed, my sweet Cody would just wrap herself around the vase on a hot day to cool down. But..my hooligan has developed this weird habit of chewing everything in his old age, last time it was a fancy ribbon hanging from gifted bottle of wine. Yes..he threw that up too. As for his name, well, he reminded me of a large Buddha when he first arrived, the way he used to sit back on his bum on the sofa, big round tum, head back, like an old man in a seaside deckchair. My grandchildren wanted to call him Gandalf. My husband was having none of that, he hates those fantasy films, so we compromised, settled on Gandhi. Despite his antics, he really does have a very affectionate, laid back personality ..honest..