Are violets poisonous to felines?

Hi everyone,
I have been slowly getting rid of all of the plants in my house that are poisonous to cats. Three weeks ago I had an incident with my cat getting very sick and the vet said she either ate a plant or some other foreign substance. We'll probably never know what made her sick but I freecycled my 15 year old christmas cactus and my philidendron. I don't think my violets are making her sick but because she just won't leave them alone I feel I better check further and see if they are poisonous or not.
Thanks for your help,
Sue

Sue,

This link had the most complete listing I could find, and AVs don't appear.

http://www.cathelp-online.com/emergency/poisonplants.php

I just googled and found several listings.

Some say yes, some say no. I have had both cat and dog munch on my violets with no ill effects from the plants. (Just me,grrrrr) My daughters cat on more than one occasion debudded several plants. (Grrr again) She left the plants intact, just grazed off all the blooms and buds.

I think a lot of the plants on those lists would have to be consumed in really large quantities for ill effects.. and even then, "temporary gastrointestinal distress" could be the only result. I'm not trying to downplay the hazard, as I'm sure there are some plants where even a nibble could be fatal, but by and large that's not the case. Palmbob wrote a good article on the hazards of holiday plants in December -- and now I'm not afraid to have poinsettias around.

Still, I was happy not to see spider plants on that list... Eliot does like to go after them from time to time!

glamour - both of my cats would be goners if violets, orchids or begonias were poisonous. They munch the leaves like they're at a salad bar. However..........when my male cat munched on the Christmas Cactus he was sick. I put that plant on a very high shelf.

Susan

We have 4 cats in our family and two of them LOVE to chew on my plants! One prefers AV's and the other one prefers any number of houseplants! The one who has chewed AV leaves on numerous occasions has not gotten sick ... the one who likes houseplants always throws up after eating foliage! I agree with Critter that for a pet to have very ill effects they would have to consume a large quantity to do harm. Years ago I worked for a man and woman who raised St. Bernard dogs - very large dogs. One of their adult dogs ate poinsettia plants during the holidays ... the dog was extremely sick and they rushed him to the vet but the dog was okay, just throwing up from eating the plant. The Vet told them if it had been a small breed dog that consumed an entire plant, maybe the consequences would have been different.

I have found that every cat we've had in our household over the years (and we've had many) absolutely LOVE the Spider Plant ... as well as any plant that dangles like that! Seems they think it's something we brought into the house just for their enjoyment ... to bat at and munch on!

Whenever I'm at the grocery store I look in the produce section in the potted herbs and buy catmint (catnip) for my kitters! They love it and I can only give them little bits at a time or they will devour the entire plant and get sick! I also buy grass seed and plant little potted kitty gardens just for them to munch on! I buy the grass seed at Pet Smart and it germinates and sprouts very quickly!

Thanks a bunch everyone. I guess I will keep all of my violets for the time being.


Sue

I have two cats who every once in awhile choose to munch on my AV's..... they're still alive (the cats)..... but not because I let them be! Just kidding..... I hate to see my eaten leaves, but happy to see the two of them are okay.

Sanna