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A: There is no scientific information documenting that ivies are toxic to pets. Ivies do have tiny hairs on the underside of the leaves that sometimes causes skin irritation to people but that is usually only minor.
However, several of us ivy growers have cats many cats and none of us have ever had any problems. The cat would have to eat a large amount of ivy to make it sick. In my experience (and I have two cats here at my ivy nursery) they bite the leaves or play with the runners but never really eat the leaves. My cat at home plays with the ivy around the house and often bites the stems and leaves and she is fine. Another person very much involved with AIS has many cats on her farm and tons of ivy growing everywhere and she has never experienced any troubles.
Unless your cat is abnormally attracted to ivy and eats several leaves, do not worry. Enjoy your beautiful ivy gift.
Editorial notes:
Ivy will sometimes be listed as poisonous or toxic, because it may cause irritation in a few sensitive individuals. If someone eats a lot, then it may cause a stomach ache, vomiting, diarrhea, and MAY only be severe in babies. But in the Cornell Poisonous Plant Informational database; ivy is not listed as a problem for all including humans, babies, cats, or livestock, iguanas, etc.
http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/index.html
This is a growing reference that includes plant images, pictures of affected animals and presentations concerning the botany, chemistry, toxicology, diagnosis and prevention of poisoning of animals by plants and other natural flora (fungi, etc.). Click on: Search Poisonous Plants database by name, species affected, primary poison, etc., and then enter Hedera under Scientific name, and under species affected, select all, or a specific animal (cats). No listings of problems with Hedera come up.
The problem with determining toxicity, is that once someone writes an article about a person getting a bad reaction, this reaction then appears to be copied in compendiums of poisonous plants.
A local vet reports that she has a small practice, and doesn't recall any cases of plant poisoning. She faxed a sheet of very toxic plants and their effects, Common Poisonous Plants; with bleeding heart, foxgloves, larkspur, daffodils, star-of Bethlehem, lily-of-the-valley, etc. and the List of Potentially Hazardous Plants, which, like other compendiums, have "ivy" on it. The disclaimer is, "potentially hazardous" but no actual citings or accounts are recorded. |