Pet plant poison paranoia

April 30, 2007 8:29 PM

Dogs, a cat and potentially unsafe plants - how paranoid (or not) should I be?

My wife and I bought a house last fall. I've decided to plant a number of edible plants now that it's nice and we have the space. When I told her I got rhubarb, she asked if it's safe for dogs. Well, the leaves aren't. I didn't think much of it - our dogs don't chomp on anything other than grass, sometimes. And a friend of mine has grown it for years without her dog ever touching it.

Still, should I be more cautious? A plant safety list mentions tomatoes and rhubarb as dangerous.

I am putting the tomatoes in a raised bed, which is a mild barrier. Rhubarb will go in the ground, since it's so massive.

I could certainly set up a largely pet-free area in the yard, but I'd rather avoid the added cost.

posted by O9scar to pets & animals (11 comments total)

Tomatoes? Really? I don't think that, generally, tomato and rhubarb leaves taste very good. Most poisonous things don't. All my life my parents have had outdoor cats and dogs, along with large garden full of tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, blueberries, grapes, and blackberries.

Only time I ever caught a pet eating stuff from the garden was one year when the dog ate all our grapes (it was the 2nd or 3rd year for the vines, so there weren't very many). Other than that, they've never been interested.

I wouldn't give it a second thought.
posted by sbutler at 8:51 PM on April 30, 2007

Tomatoes are in the nightshade family, and in many species, the leaves and stems are indeed poisonous. This is (at least partially) why people considered the tomato fruit itself to be poisonous.

The bottom line really is this: You really have no idea what your pets will choose to chomp on. A dog could go on living happily for a long time and then suddenly decide rhubarb is indeed tasty.

Since you don't really need to take this risk, why bother? Chicken wire is cheap.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:03 PM on April 30, 2007

Animals eat all kinds of stuff that doesn't taste good. Their own poop, vomit, etc.

Err on the side of caution and listen to cool papa bell.
posted by twiggy at 9:38 PM on April 30, 2007

Oxalate is the chemical present in rhubarb leaves that makes them dangerous to eat. Oxalate is present in a lot of plants that are probably already growing in your yard (if your growing any spinach, that's got a noticable quantity of oxalates in it too).

This can create a problem for cattle ranchers when their cows graze upon oxalate rich plants, however, I would not worry about it for a dog.
posted by 517 at 9:57 PM on April 30, 2007

I could certainly set up a largely pet-free area in the yard, but I'd rather avoid the added cost.

Which is cheaper? Potential vet bills or a roll up fence that you can take down at the end of the season and reuse year after year?
posted by jerseygirl at 3:23 AM on May 1, 2007

All it takes to section off a few areas is chicken wire (I use the kind labeled "rabbit fencing") and some fence stakes (the metal "T-stakes" can be reused for the rest of your life; wooden stakes are even cheaper to start); total cost maybe $30 after you realize you needed something else at the hardware store. That will keep out most dogs (unless you have a really dedicated jumper or digger); keeping out cats is a much harder and maybe even impossible task, but cats are a lot smarter about not eating too many things they shouldn't. (Your biggest issue in the garden may be cats shitting in the beds, and then your dogs digging for "gold" and eating the cat poop. It's not harmful to the dogs (at least in moderation) but it will make anyone watching feel really disgusted.)
posted by Forktine at 4:08 AM on May 1, 2007

I would not bank too heavily on a cat not eating harmful stuff. My wife has a cat that nibbled on a out-of-the-way houseplant that happened to be especially toxic, and it almost killed him. Then again, he's not a very smart cat.
posted by adamrice at 7:07 AM on May 1, 2007

I've had tomatoes (and lots of other stuff that I'm seeing now may be poisonous) for pretty much all my life and all the way back to my grandparents moving to the suburbs in the 50s, there have always been dogs and cats roaming around in the yard with the plants. I know lots of other people who do the same and have never even heard of such a problem.

I think there are a ton more dangerous things out there for pets both in and out of the house.

Making a big deal of this is like worrying that you'll be struck by lightening so you never go outside. I mean, the dog might decide to start swallowing knives too, so make sure you throw all those out.
posted by teishu at 7:08 AM on May 1, 2007

I've been around gardens and animals all my life, and have never even heard of an animal getting sick from eating a plant outside. We grew rhubarb and tomatoes for years, and even our silly collies that would dig up fertilizer spikes from around fruit trees and chew up a can of flea powder didn't bother with the plants. An indoor cat with a houseplant? Sure. Dogs and cats need the occasional greenery, and if it's not provided they may take a chance on something totally unsuitable. If there's grass growing in your garden, you dog and cat may chew on that, but tomatoes and rhubarb are pretty unappealing to carnivores.
posted by oneirodynia at 11:22 AM on May 1, 2007

My two cats roam my garden freely, which has everything from foxglove/digitalis (all parts highly toxic), to various heirloom tomato plants (slightly toxic leaves), to thorny rose bushes (not toxic, just painful), to poppies (potentially sedative), to rogue passionflower vines (natural MAOI's), and so on...

But the only flora I've ever caught them eating is plain grass strands and the one pot of catnip I grow for them. They somehow seem to know to stay away from the other stuff, at least so far -- which is pretty impressive, considering they spent their early lives cooped up in a Manhattan studio apartment.
posted by Asparagirl at 2:10 PM on May 1, 2007

Oh, and I have Rumex sanguineus -- "bloody dock" -- growing in my garden too; it, like your rhubarb, is very high in oxalic acid. I've never seen the cats touch it, either.
posted by Asparagirl at 2:12 PM on May 1, 2007