A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Cats and dracaena

Can anyone tell me if Dracaenas are poisonous to cats? My daughter has a who is a great explorer and misses nothing. She is keeping the two apart until she finds out if the plant will hurt the cat. Thanks

Well, here's my experience...

One of my parrots recently decided that my dracaena marginata needed a bit of trimming, and by the time I realized what was happening he had torn and chewed about a dozen leaves.

That was about a week ago. The parrot is fine. I wish I could say the same about my plant.

How about growing weeds in a pot inside the house just for the cat?

Watch out for these plants:

Plants Poisonous to Cats

How strange... I guess cats must have quite a different digestive system than birds because I read through that list and they have both dracaena and pothos as being poisonous to cats. The parrot that trimmed down my d.marginata did the same a few years back to a pothos that was a wee bit too close to his cage, and to this day he's fine, really he is...

I also watched a macaw totally demolish a 6' tall dracaena - I mean destroy it, leaves and stems right down to the soil - over a period of about a month, without any ill effect.

I'll have to direct my daughter to that list - she has a cat and I wouldn't want anything to happen to it !

Nancy, my cat got a hold of my dracaena one time, decided that she didn't like it, and hasn't been back. at most, she will bat at the leaves and shred them by playing. now, i have had about 4 different kinds of dracaenas, over the last 7 years, and i have had the cat 7 years. doesn't seem to matter which kind. she just leaves them alone.

Hi Nancy

May I suggest a real cat delicacy for your daughter's cat? They love wheat and oat grass! Here are a couple of links, one is a how-to, the other tells about types of grass. Perhaps this may keep the cat away from your daughter's other plants.

How-to

Catgrass

Hope this helps!

My cat goes right for my dracaena which is in a dish garden. I had to put it on top of the fridge to keep her away until i can put it in the breezeway when the weather gets nicer. The dracaena is the first plant she goes for if she can reach it. I have read that they are poisonous to cats and dogs. So for the sake of my cat as well as the plant I just keep it away from her. I wonder what makes her go for certain plants as opposed to others though. I have an Ivy plant in the bathroom (which isn't doing well) and she doesn't bother it at all.