Will Your Christmas Present Kill Your Cat?
Charlie, the haughtiest member of my family, loves a lot of things. Staring at invisible dust particles. Taunting the dogs on the sidewalk. Finding new hiding places that make me THISSURE that he has finally escaped and taken to the streets to find his fortune. And, of course, exploring the herbivorous lifestyle. That's right, my cat is the reason that I can't have nice things. At least if those nice things are plants.
I don't keep plants in the house (other than the annual Christmas tree), so Charlie has to wait for trips to his foster grandparents' house to really play jungle cat, treating every fern, every outdoor plant wintering in the house, like an unlimited Ruby Tuesday's salad bar. I tried to google a few of them, but I'm really bad with plants and didn't know what to search for. Plus, I didn't even know Charlie had a taste for the green stuff until I caught him mid-bite, two days after his first arrival to the Big House. I figured if he'd been having his fill for 48 hours and was no worse for the wear, I had no reason to worry.
But then, one Christmas, I saw him side-eyeing a poinsettia, and I got a little worried. Somewhere in the back of my head, an article I had read in the indeterminate past was tickling my brain and saying this could be a problem. Could this beautiful red emblem of peace and hope and joy possibly be luring my kitty into a potentially-fatal overdose?
The answer, it turns out, is...kinda. A website called petpoisonhelpline.com says the poinsettia might make dear Charles a little queasy, a little woozy, but that's probably it. A veritable slew of other pet websites confirms it: Kitties and pups aren't going to feel great if they get their teeth on some of those tempting holiday tastes, but we all have our holiday indiscretions, right? That's what New Year's resolutions are for.
That said, if you can keep your furry friends out of your poinsettias, things will work out better for everybody. They'll avoid some discomfort and possibly worse. You'll avoid cleaning the carpets (on a related note, does anyone know why pet puke is harder to get out of the rug than...substances from the other end? Your guests will avoid going down a rabbit hole of curiosity wondering what kind of poinsettia disease would erode the sides of its leaves like that. So do yourself and all the species in your family a favor by celebrating the holiday with poinsettia-less decorations. Your pets and your floors will thank you.
