# Are Succulents Safe for Cats?



## Onyx1250 (May 25, 2015)

My dear friend recently gifted me a pair of baby succulents in a lovely ceramic pot. I love the idea of having a couple little plants to have in my windowsill, but when I was telling my mother about my new plants, she reminded me that not all plants are animal-safe. That being said, does anyone know succulents are generally cat-safe? I tried looking online and can't find anything definitive as to whether they are safe or not. The ones I have are called a "split rock" and an "elephant bush" or something like that. They are very small and interesting to look at. I'd love to keep them... but only if they won't be poisonous if Onyx decides to nibble.


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## Tsukiyomi (Nov 18, 2014)

Both are poison according to the ASPCA.

Split Leaf Philodendron | ASPCA
Elephant Ears | ASPCA

I pretty much assume every plant is poisonous to some degree till I verify otherwise.


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## Onyx1250 (May 25, 2015)

Neither of those are the plants I have, though. I have portulacaria afra variegated (elephant bush) and pleiospilos nelii (split rock). They are succulents, not leafy plants.


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## Tsukiyomi (Nov 18, 2014)

I shoulda known my brain was fried sorry about that. I ended up misreading it:x


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## Onyx1250 (May 25, 2015)

That's okay!! I'm just having a terrible time finding information on whether these plants are safe or not. So far, so good. Onyx hasn't even nibbled them. But I'd still like to find out if they're going to kill him if he does. If so, I'll get rid of them, but I've seen a lot of other succulents are safe, so I was hoping these might be okay.


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

TBH it more depends on your kitty than anything else.

All the plants in our house are in a cat free zone because it's Muffin's mission in life to Eat All the Plants. After he killed a 3rd dracaena I gave up and moved them all to my guinea pig/plant room.

Here's a list I found with a quick google search - it does seem to go by latin name, so you might have to start by looking that up. Poisonous Succulent Plants - common sense guidelines for safe succulent growing


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