Leafmend

Pet-Safe Plant Checker: Is This Houseplant Toxic to Cats or Dogs?

Last updated: 2026-10-10

Type a plant name to see whether the ASPCA lists it as toxic or non-toxic to cats and dogs. Every verdict below links to the ASPCA’s own entry for that plant, so you can check the source yourself. 88 houseplants are covered: 40 that the ASPCA lists as non-toxic to both cats and dogs, and 48 with at least one toxic verdict.

88 of 88 plants shown

What the verdicts mean — and what they do not

“Non-toxic” in the ASPCA database means the plant is not expected to cause poisoning. It does not mean a pet can eat it freely: chewing any plant can still cause vomiting, drooling or a blocked gut, and the potting mix, fertiliser granules or pesticide residue on a plant can be a bigger problem than the leaves. Treat a non-toxic verdict as “not a poisoning emergency”, not as “safe to eat”.

“Toxic” covers a wide range. Some plants on that list cause mouth irritation and drooling; others are far more serious. The ASPCA entry for each plant describes the clinical signs it lists — follow the link rather than guessing from the label here.

Two more limits worth knowing. Common names are slippery: several unrelated plants are sold as “wandering jew” or “prayer plant”, and a nursery label is not a species identification. And a plant that is missing from this list is not automatically safe — it may simply be absent from the ASPCA database or from our selection of common houseplants.

Popular plants the ASPCA does not list

Some of the most-asked-about houseplants are missing from the checker because we could not find an entry for them in the ASPCA database on 2026-10-10. We would rather tell you that than invent a verdict:

  • ZZ Plant
  • String of Pearls
  • Air Plant
  • Croton
  • Norfolk Island Pine
  • Bird’s Nest Fern
  • Maidenhair Fern
  • Button Fern
  • Orchid Cactus
  • Monstera adansonii

Absence from the database is not a clean bill of health, and it is not a warning either — it only means the ASPCA has no entry under that name. If you own one of these and want a judgement you can rely on, ask your vet, or search the full ASPCA plant list yourself under the plant’s scientific name, which is often filed differently from the name on the nursery label.

If your pet has eaten a plant

Call your own vet, an emergency vet, or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center — their hotline number and the consultation fee are listed on that page. Take a piece of the plant or a photo with you. Do not try to make a pet vomit unless a vet tells you to.

Where this data comes from

Every row was read from that plant’s own page in the ASPCA’s Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants database on 2026-10-10, and links back to it. We record only the plant name, the scientific name, and the toxic/non-toxic verdict for cats and dogs; the ASPCA’s descriptions of clinical signs stay on their site, where they belong. Nothing here is inferred, averaged, or filled in from other sources — if a plant’s page could not be read cleanly, it was left out rather than guessed at.

We are not vets, and this page is not veterinary advice. The ASPCA updates its database; we re-check ours periodically, and the date above is when these verdicts were last read.

Using or linking to this checker

You are welcome to link to this page from a blog post, a rescue or shelter resource list, a plant shop FAQ, or a class handout — no permission needed. The stable address is leafmend.com/pet-safe-plant-checker/. If you want the verdicts on paper for a shopping trip, we also keep a one-page printable pet-safe plant checklist. Spotted a plant we should add, or a verdict that no longer matches the ASPCA entry? Tell us through the how we research page.

Next steps once you know the verdict