House Plants: Trending, or Toxic? what your pet wants you to consider first:

We're just over halfway through the year, but 2019 has already made its comradery with Mother Earth incredibly apparent. Climate Change is a term that can be heard daily; the devastation accompanying this human created crisis and the effect it has on our planet has been made so much more visible this year that even the most certain non-believers can no longer deny its existence.

With the admittance of fault, people also understood the immediate need for temperature reversal, and began to take action in ways such as the "no waste" trend, downsizing to tiny homes, people are eating less meat and drinking less diary, and the number of people choosing sustainable, eco friendly living spaces is at an all time high. It even filtered down to home decor, as trend forecasters in 2018 promised new wants in neutral colors, indoor/outdoor themed spaces, and the retro - style indoor plants especially are a top hit in millennial homes, and with 7/10 of these millennials owning a cat or a dog - I'd say pets are a top hitter too. Unfortunately, the perfect potted plant for your entryway could be potentially deadly for your fur babes.

Many toxic plants are irritants: they cause localized inflammation of the skin, mouth, stomach, etc. The toxic principle in other plants may have a systemic effect and damage or alter the function of a pet's organs, like the kidney or heart.

What is toxic to your cat may not be toxic to your dog, and visa versa, though it is worth noting that cats are more likely to come into contact with a toxic plant if one is in the home with them, due to their affinity to involve their mouths when playing with a dangling branch for example.

This interactive guide from the Pet Poison Helpline allows you to pick a category like " PLANTS" that returns in alphabetical order the names and types of plants that are toxic to pets, pictures of each one and a brief description that explains the toxicity levels, what pets are affected, what about the plant makes it toxic, and signs and symptoms of contact to watch for. For a quick reference, the slideshow below shows several more popular "now" plants that are known to be toxic to your pets, but I strongly urge you to check out the Pet Poison Helpline guide, as these plants pictured don't even make up 1/8th of the entire list.

To see the names of the plants and a brief description of the toxicity, just hover over the picture itself for a moment.