A Windowsill Without Dangerous Neighbors: Auditing Your Houseplants
What to swap for monstera, dracaena, and jade plant if you have a cat, and which popular plants are actually safe.
A couple of square meters of windowsill often gathers the most typical toxic plants: dieffenbachia, peace lily, aloe, kalanchoe. In most cases they cause poisoning that is not fatal but very unpleasant. An audit takes half an hour and settles the question for good.
Which plants to move out first
| Plant | What happens | What to replace it with |
|---|---|---|
| --- | --- | --- |
| Potted lilies | Acute kidney failure | Phalaenopsis orchid |
| Sago palm | Severe liver damage | Parlor palm, areca palm |
| Kalanchoe | Vomiting, less often heart rhythm problems | Christmas cactus |
| Cyclamen | Vomiting, diarrhea, less often heart rhythm problems | African violet |
| Monstera, philodendron | Burning mouth, drooling, vomiting | Prayer plant, calathea |
| Dracaena | Vomiting, dilated pupils | Kentia palm, ponytail palm |
| Jade plant | Vomiting, lethargy | Haworthia, echeveria |
| Aloe | Vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy | Haworthia |
| Pothos | Burning mouth, vomiting | Spider plant, hoya |
Lilies and sago palms must be removed from the home immediately. The other plants can be given to friends without cats, kept in a room with the door closed, or placed in a hanging planter the cat definitely cannot jump to.
Dangerous look-alike names
Common names can mislead you. "Money tree" is used both for the toxic jade plant and the nontoxic Pachira. The Boston fern is safe, but the asparagus fern, which is also called a fern, is not. Haworthia looks like aloe, but only Haworthia is nontoxic. When buying a plant, ask for its Latin name and look it up.
What to do about leaves and soil
Even a nontoxic plant may have been treated with pesticides at the store. Repot a new plant in fresh soil, rinse the leaves, and keep it separate for a few days. Dilute fertilizers in a closed container, and wash out saucers with fertilizer solution right away. Cats often drink water from plant saucers.
If your cat digs in the soil, cover the surface with large pebbles or decorative mesh. Strong-smelling deterrent sprays and citrus peels are not the best choice: the essential oils themselves irritate cats and can harm them when licked off the fur.
