Comments on: Poison garden: what plant-loving pet owners need to know

By: Carol V

Carol V — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:13:26 +0000

Hey, you have given me a great excuse now for why I have the least “gardened” yard in my neighborhood…I can say it is for the safety of my pups (and not laziness and no green thumb which is the real truth)!!
Thanx…

By: kb

kb — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:47:41 +0000

It’s worth clicking on the link to her column - more detail there including yard chemicals.

By: EmilyS

EmilyS — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:01:35 +0000

What about herbicides: Roundup etc. How do they rank in terms of threat to pets that might munch on vegetation treated with them?

By: Kim Thornton

Kim Thornton — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:10:14 +0000

Dorene, I think it’s only moldy walnuts that are dangerous. And Susan, I had seen a review of Wicked Plants and meant to include a link to it, so I’m glad you mentioned it. Sounds fascinating. I’m going to look for it.

By: Dorene

Dorene — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:49:52 +0000

Ooooooooooooo! LOVED the Amy Stewart book and blog. If it keeps raining, I’m going to have to get that book.

What’s the deal with walnuts and dogs? I, of course, have a walnut tree so I can use ground walnuts instead of part of the oil and flour in baked goods. Never in million years did I realize this would make my baked goods toxic for Pepper!

By: Susan Fox

Susan Fox — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:56:22 +0000

Ok, a lateral on the topic at hand, if I may:

My friend Amy Stewart has a new book out called “Wicked Plants”, which is now an Indie List Bestseller. I haven’t had a chance to get a copy yet, but I was at pre-publication talk during which she read excerpts and she’s in her usual good form.

“A tree that sheds poison daggers; a glistening red seed that stops the heart; a shrub that causes paralysis; a vine that strangles; and a leaf that triggered a war. Stewart takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature’s most appalling creations in an A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend…”

She also has a poison plant garden, carefully fenced off, at her home.

http://www.amystewart.com/wickedplants.html

You also might find this little accessory she’s taking along on her book tour interesting. So far so good with airport security.

http://blog.amystewart.com/200.....n-box.html

I suppose the relevance of this to the blog is that we could speculate which plant we’d like to use on the trolls that drop by.

By: The OTHER Pat

The OTHER Pat — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:49:49 +0000

Comment by Imissmypets — June 10, 2009 @ 2:17 pm

pet food sponsors of this site

Um - not in this reality.

By: Gina Spadafori

Gina Spadafori — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:06:05 +0000

You got a lot of unresolved issues there, dear. I suggest some therapy.

And by the way: You can change names, but not IP addresses. Just sayin’

By: Imissmypets

Imissmypets — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:17:01 +0000

I worried more about poisons in pet food, when I still had living pets, than anything in my garden. Nothing I ever grew killed or harmed a single pet, the “Premium Pet Food” I shelled out good money to buy, THAT killed several. Some of it was bought at a veterinarians office, who instructed me to force feed it to my suffering pets.
Vet got their blood money and I got dead pets.
More melamine was just the ticket too, their kidneys died very fast.
I could have fed them hemlock and they would have suffered less.

Perhaps a helpful article on the hazards of home cooking for pets would be of more use to the pet food sponsors of this site?
Just to jack up the fear level for pet owners.

There are plenty of “dreadful ends” for pets these days and a lot of them are for sale in any pet supplies store near you! No need at all to plant toxins or poison, it comes in a bag or can now, for your convenience.
Along with shiny collars for the new “replacement” pet. And “books by experts”, can’t forget that. Maybe a new “dog friendly ” car purchase too.

Don’t neglect the yearly, expensive, blood tests for that “new” pet either.
Along with a trip to the doggie park for your pet to contract a resistant infection or parasites, that is a MUST do for the responsible pet owner.

A list of safe plants, that was not an option for an article, huh?
Thought not.

By: perkysmom

perkysmom — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:04:40 +0000

I always suspected my dear little kitty, Ethel Mae, died of kidney failure because she nibbled on an Easter lily or some of its pollen, which I placed in the middle of my dining room table, completely ignorant of its toxicity until it was too late. Cat owners - please do not buy Easter lilies - even a little bit can bring on a dreadful end to one of your cats.