Welcome to the Jungle…
Recently, I’ve been seeing a resurgence in stories on the internet regarding toxic poisoning to animals through plants in the home. Predominantly, it seems to be the fatalities caused in cats by lilies.
From a behavioural point of view, a lot of cats are prone to nibbling plants. It’s been known for some time that cat grass can aid digestion, and catnip produces a “feel good” factor for cats when it’s ingested.
A few years ago, there was pressure for places like supermarkets to label their lilies with a warning. While some companies listened to the request and put a small snippet of information on that particular species, there’s very little on plant packaging that details the potential risk to companion animals on others.
With this in mind and following on from a fairly recent blog post,(https://www.ailurophile.co.uk/?p=728) I feel it may be necessary for suppliers to start using a “traffic light system” on the plants that are readily available to purchase for homes and gardens gauging toxicity levels to animals. This means that a red circle would represent that a plant is highly toxic and green would indicate a plant was harmless.
I created a rough template for the concept, which could be tailored by companies to fit on their product labels. During the next few weeks, I plan to contact the larger UK supermarkets to discuss how this plan could be put into place.
Safety information for companion animals:
I too wish there was good, clear labelling I wish every plant was sold with its Latin name – because in the case of ingestion and a potential emergency situation, the hospital or vet is likely to ned that name to begin the correct treatment. I think that cut flowers should also not be sold without proper information.
Id like to offer a link for emergency ingestions. These people are experts in their fields They identify but dont offer medical advice
They are life savers – and are an international group. Id advise joining -even if you never need them. You’ll learn to identify a lot of plants and fungi.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/144798092849300