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I have a wandering jew plant, which is among my favorite indoor plants. Tradescantia zebrina, fluminensis, and pallida are some of its alternate names.
I need to know whether of my indoor plants are potentially dangerous or toxic because I love plants and cats.
The plant’s stems contain sap that will irritate your cat’s digestive system. It’s vital to remember that normally there isn’t a harmful reaction to swallowing the leaves. However, there’s also no reason to take a chance when a certain portion of the plant is poisonous.
Cats are not allowed around Tradescantia.
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Cats live a precarious life around plants. Whether or if they had nine lives, curiosity frequently ended their deaths. Pets that are stuck inside and bored might range from casual nibblers to fanatical destroyers of all vegetation.
Cats that go outside may only eat a blade of grass and regurgitate it nearly immediately (no one is certain why they do this), or they may consume a lot more plants and bushes while they play in the garden or patrol their area in the woods and fields. Unless circumstantial evidence establishes a link between the plant material cat’s illness, it is probably a safe assumption that many of the poisonings as a result have never been identified as such.
Quite a few indoor and outdoor plants, typically all parts of the plant, but occasionally primarily the berries, stem, or root, are hazardous or deadly if bitten or consumed.
For obvious reasons, indoor plants are to blame for the majority of poisonings. What could be more enjoyable for indoor cats left alone to occupy their time than to lounge in a sunny window, sniffing and sampling the various greeneries, lulling a little muddy water here and there among the saucers, better yet toying with dangling vines, and best of all, upsetting an occasional pot and rolling in a little mother earth?
Fortunately, three of the most often damaged houseplants by cats—the inch plant, sometimes known as the Wandering Jew (Tradescantia. Zebrina), spiderplant, and Swedish ivy (Plectranthus)—are all innocuous. However, eating some of them could get you sick or even die. The leaves of Philodendron, Dieffenbachia, and Caladium all have calcium oxalate crystals that resemble needles. These result in vomiting, diarrhea, mouth and throat swelling, and discomfort. The voice is gone (thus the name “dumb cane”), and swelling around the windpipe may cause asphyxia.
If eaten, two popular Christmas plants, the poinsettia and the Jerusalem cherry, could not bring good news. While the Jerusalem cherry, like its relatives the crownofthorns and the outdoor snowonthemountain, contains a milky juice that is extremely irritating to the mouth and digestive tract, the poinsettia, like its relatives the crownofthorns and the outdoor snowonthemountain, causes vomiting, diarrhea, and coma. Oleander is extremely dangerous; even a small amount of it can result in vomiting, paralysis, and respiratory failure. This plant has poisoned cats in California and possibly abroad.
Dry winter bouquets frequently contain poisonous plants like laurel, rhododendron, hydrangea, bittersweet, euonymus, and holly, which may be even more alluring to cats than green foliage. Such arrangements of sheep laurel have been known to poison cats, causing salivation, convulsions, and paralysis.
Since mistletoe is also extremely toxic and can cause severe digestive upset and circulatory collapse, it is fortunately normally kept out of a cat’s reach. Care must be taken to prevent pets and kids from ingesting the particularly deadly berries that are likely to fall to the ground as the plant dries.
“Cats that nibble on the needles or drink the water from the Christmas holder can become poisoned by Christmas trees and experience severe stomach problems as a result.
Other poisonous plants that can be found indoors or outdoors are English ivies, lantana, and azalea. Daffodil, narcissus, hyacinth, and amaryllis chewing may irritate the stomach but seldom result in death.
Despite the fact that farm animals are much more likely to become poisoned by outdoor vegetation than are pets, cats frequently gnaw on plants, grasses, and shrubs while exploring gardens, meadows, or wooded areas. The more frequent ones include delphinium, larkspur, monkshood, foxglove, and lilyofthevalley among the many poisonous plants that cats can potentially try in a flower garden. Boxwood, privet, yew, daphne, and andromeda are some of the poisonous shrubs that are regularly planted around houses.
Toxic berries or seeds would pose a particular concern due to the cat’s tendency for playing with and occasionally eating small things. The castor bean, the precatory bean, the seeds and pods of lupine, wisteria, and laburnum are a few examples.
Grasses like fox tail and squirrel tail can cause a lot of harm of a different kind even if they are not poisonous. These have small, sharply pointed awns that can cause catastrophic or fatal consequences if they enter the nose or mouth and work their way deep into bodily tissues where they may be invisible and unreachable.
If a cat owner notices their pet chewing on or ingesting plant matter but is unsure whether it is toxic, they can get emergency information from the closest poison information center (see in your phone book). If a pet’s owner knows for sure that the animal has ingested poison, they should seek medical attention right once, rather than waiting to see if symptoms appear. Any experienced consultant or veterinarian will want to see a sample of the plant to be sure it is what it is.
The most common symptoms of poisoning are digestive problems, like drooling, vomiting, and diarrhea, or nervous system changes, including depression, stumbling, shaking, convulsions, blindness, or paralysis. Some poisons affect both the neurological and digestive systems. The way you breathe could also be off. Many poisonous plants include compounds that, under specific circumstances, are changed to produce cyanide, which causes sudden death by inactivating hemoglobin. Immediately seek a veterinarian’s assistance if poisoning is suspected. An owner who tries to administer emergency care on his own could end up doing more harm than good.
An owner has little control over what their cat does when let outside on its own. All hazardous plants should be prohibited indoors, at least, unless they can be hung or stored in a place where a cat cannot potentially access them. Consult your local arboretum, botanical garden, agricultural experiment station, university botany department, or the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. if you’re unsure whether a plant is dangerous. Books by John M. Kingsbury, professor of botany at Cornell University and lecturer on poisonous plants at the New York State Veterinary College, include “Deadly Harvest, A Guide to Common Poisonous Plants” and “Poiso nous Plants of the U.S. and Canada,” both of which are widely available in large public libraries.
In addition to adopting safety measures to prevent plant poisoning, a pet owner can offer safe alternatives. Cat-specific grass planters are advertised in magazines for cat lovers and are available for purchase in pet stores. Alternatively, cat owners can sow their own flats of domestic grass seed. Oats are particularly well-liked and can be replanted frequently to provide a consistent supply of tender spears.
Although there is no proof that cats need green roughage, both cats and dogs enjoy nibbling on tender new grass just as much as people do. Sometimes it also appears that they vomit by chewing grass in response to some stomach annoyance, like the presence of a furball.
Fresh or dried catnip has always maintained an odd allure for cats; pet stores sell pots of it for growing indoors or outdoors. It includes a volatile oil that is thought to be an inherited feature that is robust in some cats but absent in others, while not being known to have any nutritional or medicinal benefits. Those who are fortunate enough to be susceptible react differently after inhaling or eating the plant; some quickly go into a blissful stupor, while others roll or rip around crazily in an ecstatic state “high.
Are dogs and cats poisonous to tradescantia?
When I first started collecting plants, every garden center had this tiny purple trailing plant that went by a gazillion different names. I bought one because it was attractive and had the scientific name Tradescantia.
I went to the ASPCA toxicity website and discovered a wealth of diverse material there. Is Tradescantia harmful to animals? Is it secure? Nobody truly is aware. The plant was not regarded as safe when it was listed under the politically incorrect term “wandering jew” (which has since been formally changed to “wandering dude,” which is significantly better). Once more, I looked for “Tradescantia flumeninsis,” and this time it was secure. I eventually gave up, handed the plant to someone, and forgot about them until I recently discovered the following:
Beautiful, isn’t she? A “Tradescantia nanouk” is yet ANOTHER Tradescantia variant. And yet another where we think about toxicity. It’s annoying, isn’t it? Well, I made the decision to write a blog post about it because I, like you, needed to know what was happening.
What Exactly are Tradescantia?
First off, Tradescantia is a kind of spiderwort, a term that is familiar to most people. Spiderwort is a typical outdoor perennial trailing plant with a dull appearance. Tradescantia are all members of the Commelinaceae family. The purple and green variegated Tradescantia zebrina, often known as an inch plant, is the most prevalent plant I encounter. Yes, it’s a new name. There are dozens of different variations and color combinations of the Tradeascatia zebrina alone. Really, there are too many names. This needs to be handled by someone.
What makes names so numerous? I don’t know the answer; the question was more rhetorical.
Is Tradescantia Toxic to Cats and Dogs?
It’s a resounding yes after several Google searches, vetted talks, and triple-checking sources. Technically speaking, Tradescantia is slightly poisonous to cats and dogs of all breeds.
If you’re familiar with my site, you know that I always err on the side of caution and identify a plant as toxic if it belongs to the same family as another plant that is both toxic and nontoxic. Why risk it, you could ask? Right. This situation follows the same rule. If I am aware that Tradescantia zebrina is poisonous but flumeninsis is not, I will simply state that it is poisonous.
What sort of toxin are we referring to? a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. If ingested, as Harlequinn has done before, there is a possibility of developing dermatitis, a skin condition. Every animal is unique, but if a bored cat eats a lot of this plant, you should expect some mild pain in some form.
These plants trail, making it simple to keep them out of paw reach. To prevent pillaging, swatting, and chewing, ingenious solutions include hanging pots and employing carts or shelves. Cats have plenty of free time.
Types of Tradescantia
Here is a list of the Trescantia varieties that can be most frequently found in big-box retailers and garden centers. This is an excellent introduction list but by no means an exhaustive list.
Are cats harmed by Tradescantia bubblegum?
Tradescantia Bubblegum/Lilac is well recognized for its distinctive colorations that resemble those of an aurora borealis as well as its hanging vines, which are frequently displayed to their fullest when the plant is grown in a hanging pot. Due to its hardiness and ease of growth in most indoor environments, this plant is perfect for growing indoors. You may enjoy your Tradescantia for many years if you give it enough of filtered light and give it frequent pruning.
You should wash your hands after handling Tradescantia leaves or use gloves if you don’t mind getting scratched up by the sap, which can be annoying. Keep pets away from it because it is thought to be somewhat harmful if consumed.
Tradescantia nanouk is it poisonous?
Even a novice plant parent can easily take care of their Tradescantia Nanouk. Follow our instructions on how to take care of your Tradescantia Nanouk, from the need for sunlight to typical issues and their fixes.
Sunlight
Giving your Tradescantia Nanouk bright, indirect sunlight or full sun is the first thing we recommend doing to take care of it because doing so promotes more bloom output.
The color of your Tradescantia Nanouk’s leaves may be fading because to inadequate sunlight, which is a common problem.
Solution: Set up your Tradescantia Nanouk in a steamy shower or close to a sunny window. Your Tradescantia Nanouk will grow leggy if it doesn’t receive enough light. Additionally, the leaves will be slightly smaller, with more green and less variegation.
Water
Watering your Tradescantia Nanouk when the top inch of soil is dry comes next on our list of things to do to take care of it. Usually, once every week is plenty. Additionally, it relies on the kind of lighting your plant is exposed to. The soil must be moist, however excessive moisture should be avoided as this might cause root rot.
Frequently Occurring Issue: Too much water may be the cause of your Tradescantia Nanouk’s drab and sickly appearance.
Giving the plant too much water is one of the most frequent errors made by novices or new plant parents. Only water your Tradescantia Nanouk once every week. Keep the soil damp but not drenched.
Use distilled water or a water filter system instead of tap water because some houseplants can be sensitive to salts in it. If this isn’t possible, overnight storage of the water in an open container is advised.
Humidity & Temperature
Put your Tradescantia Nanouk in a room with a little bit more humidity to add to our list of things to take care of it because it thrives in a humid climate. If you wish to enhance the humidity, we advise misting it frequently, putting it close to a humidifier, or using a pebble tray.
The ideal temperature range for Tradescantia Nanouk is between 75°F and 55°F during the day and at night.
Food
We also recommend feeding your Tradescantia Nanouk once or twice a month using fertilizer for houseplants that has been diluted to half the recommended concentration. Overfertilization should be avoided because it can cause dark leaf tips. Before adding fertilizer, make sure the soil is moist.
To prevent fertilizer burn or plant burn, it’s crucial to apply the fertilizer according to the recommended timing and amount.
Pests & Other Problems
The biggest issue with Tradescantia Nanouk is overwatering, which can result in fungus gnat problems as well as fungal infections and root rot. Always check to see if the ground is wet. If so, wait until the soil is totally dry before watering it once more.
We also advise cutting off any decaying or damaged stems and leaves. The opposite is also true; if you let your Tradescantia Nanouk become too dry, it can draw spider mites. Increasing humidity and keeping a proper watering schedule are recommended.
Give your Tradescantia Nanouk a thorough shower with fresh water if it has a spider mite infestation. After that, spritz it with a 50/50 isopropyl alcohol and water solution. To eradicate all spider mites and their eggs, repeat the misting multiple times.
The maintenance of your Tradescantia Nanouk is now complete. Consider adding a Tradescantia Nanouk to your collection if you’re seeking for a new plant. It’s a hardy, attractive plant that looks fantastic in your living room or home office.
Expand your knowledge of plants. For additional information on various houseplants and advice on how to keep your plants alive and healthy, visit our blog on plant care.