5 Holiday Plants That Can Make Your Dog Or Cat Sick

During the holidays, many people like to have various flower bouquets or potted plants in and around their homes to celebrate. Colorful buds and blooms add life to the annual season décor. Some offer a wonderful scent, while others have gorgeous flower blooms that tie all the holiday decorations together.

If you have pets, the experts at the ASPCA advise you to monitor their interaction with your festive display of plants and flowers. Many of these beautiful "greens" can make your animals very sick or, worse, even be fatal if ingested.

As fun as it may be to decorate and fill our homes with festive holiday decorations and plants of the season. There are a few precautionary measures you need to take to keep your pets safe and out of the vet. Being mindful about where you place these plants is vital. Try not to have them on the floor or where they are easily accessible.

For that matter, most of the plants listed below are poisonous to almost all animals and people! Due to lights and ornaments, Christmas time is challenging because there are many things a curious pet can play with, from drinking tree water to nibbling on pine needles and ornaments.

Signs your dog or cat needs immediate emergency vet attention include excessive drooling, excessive drinking, lethargy, bloody stool, dizziness, breathing heavily, swelling, excessive diarrhea, and vomiting.

HERE ARE 5 TOXIC HOLIDAY PLANTS 

1. Christmas Trees - Most live trees like the Fir, Pine, and Spruce trees are usually non- or mildly toxic. Depending on the size of your pet, how sick they can get is attributed to their size. Christmas tree needles contain oils that can irritate their stomach. Tree water is incredibly toxic because it contains bacteria, harmful chemicals, and fertilizers, as well as pine sap and oils.

Dogs - Poison symptoms include nausea, excessive drooling, or vomiting. Ornaments can be a significant choking hazard or cause a bowel obstruction.

Cats - Symptoms from eating pine needles can obstruct or even puncture the lining of the esophagus, stomach, and intestines, leading to severe illness. Other causes include vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, liver and kidney issues.

2. Mistleoe - All parts of this plant, including the leaves and berries, are toxic. The seriousness depends on how much they eat, age, other health issues, and weight. The toxic chemicals in this plant are lectins and phoratoxins.

Dogs - Symptoms include erratic behavior, difficulty breathing, weakness, diarrhea, drooling, vomiting, and abdominal swelling or pain.

Cats - Nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, staggering, weakness, excessive drooling, trouble breathing, collapse and seizures.

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3. Poinsettias - The good news is that it is unlikely that dogs and cats will consume enough to have severe symptoms because they taste bad. This plant contains a potent milky sap that will burn and irritate the mouth.

Dogs - Symptoms include oral pain, skin irritation, eye irritation, diarrhea, vomiting, and drooling.

Cats - If ingested, will cause vomiting, drooling, and diarrhea may be seen. If the milky sap is exposed to the skin, it can cause redness, swelling, itchiness, and possibly pink eye.

4. Holly - It contains chemicals, saponins, methylxanthines, and cyanogens. The entire plant is poisonous, including the leaves and especially the berries. This plant has spiny leaves and can cause severe gastrointestinal injury if ingested. The berries are poisonous to people and pets.

Dogs - Swallowing holly berries will cause drowsiness, vomiting, dehydration, excessive drooling, head shaking, loss of appetite, bleeding, and pawing at the mouth.

Cats - Nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, excessive drooling, and loss of appetite. The sharp leaves can cause smacking of the lips, cuts in the mouth, or red gums/tongue. Also
head shaking, drowsiness or dizziness, elevated pulse, and low blood pressure.

5. Lilies - This entire plant—the stem, leaves, flower bulbs, pollen, and vase water- is highly toxic to pets.

Dogs - Your dog is in for a rough night. Symptoms include lethargy, swelling of the tongue, loss of appetite, excessive water drinking, vomiting, and severe diarrhea. If a reasonable amount is ingested, the toxins from this plant can cause seizures, heart arrhythmias, and even death.

Cats - Eating just a tiny amount of a leaf or flower petal, even licking a few pollen grains off its fur while grooming, or drinking the water from the vase can cause your cat to develop fatal kidney failure in under three days.

It's not just Christmas plants that can be toxic for animals. There are a host of other plants and trees that can be very dangerous for pets. To help prevent accidental poisoning or emergency trips to the vet. BELOW IS A POISONOUS PLANT LIST FROM THE ASPCA: