Toxic plants for cats are easy to bring home by mistake, and plants safe for cats are easy to miss. Type a houseplant’s common or scientific name and this checker shows whether the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control list puts it with the plants toxic or non-toxic to cats, with the name the ASPCA uses and a link to check. It covers the plants we have checked by hand; anything else sends you to the ASPCA instead of a guess.
The checker needs JavaScript. Without it, search the ASPCA’s plant list for cats by the scientific name on your plant’s tag.
How the checker sorts toxic plants for cats
The ASPCA sorts plants into two lists, toxic to cats and non-toxic to cats, and gives each one its scientific name. We read that list for the houseplants people ask about most and wrote down every other name the ASPCA files them under, so golden pothos, devil’s ivy and Epipremnum aureum all find the same answer. Some plants have no entry at all, the ZZ plant and the fiddle-leaf fig among them, and the checker says so plainly.
Safety. A shelf is not out of reach for a cat that climbs, and fallen leaves and petals end up on the floor. Keep plants from the toxic list out of rooms the cat can enter, and keep true lilies out of a home with cats altogether, as the FDA advises.
Names are the trap. On the ASPCA list “Fiddle-Leaf” is a philodendron, not the fig; plain “ribbon plant” is a dracaena, while the spider plant goes by the same name; and Aloe vera is toxic while cushion aloe is not. Read the scientific name on the pot’s tag before you trust a common one. “Toxic” on the list can mean anything from a mild stomach upset to a life-threatening reaction, and the list does not grade it.
Vet note. True lilies and daylilies can cause fatal kidney failure in cats, the FDA warns, and every part counts: leaves, flowers, pollen and even the vase water. If your cat may have touched one, call a vet or a pet poison line right away; the FDA lists ASPCA Animal Poison Control at 888-426-4435 and Pet Poison Helpline at 855-764-7661. For any other plant on the toxic list, call if your cat chewed it.
Houseplant and cat questions
What plants shouldn’t be around cats?
Lilies first: true lilies and daylilies can kill a cat through kidney failure. The ASPCA also lists many common houseplants as toxic to cats, among them pothos, snake plant, monstera, philodendrons, peace lily, Aloe vera, jade plant, dieffenbachia, sago palm, English ivy, mint and lavender. Check any new plant by its scientific name first.
Is pothos toxic to cats?
The ASPCA lists pothos as toxic to cats under several names: golden pothos, devil’s ivy, ivy arum and taro vine, all Epipremnum aureum. Satin pothos and marble queen, two Scindapsus plants sold alongside it, are on the toxic list too. Keep trailing vines well out of reach.
Are orchids poisonous to cats?
The moth orchid, Phalaenopsis, the one most stores sell, is on the ASPCA’s non-toxic list for cats. Orchids are a huge family, though, and the list does not cover them all under one name, so check the scientific name on the tag of any other orchid before it comes home.
Is aloe vera toxic to cats?
Aloe vera, also called Barbados aloe or medicine plant, is on the ASPCA’s toxic list for cats. A different species, cushion aloe (Aloe retusa), sits on the non-toxic list, which is a good example of why the scientific name matters more than the common one when you are checking a plant.
Are lilies poisonous to cats?
True lilies and daylilies are among the most dangerous plants for cats: the FDA says they can cause fatal kidney failure in less than 3 days, and treatment delayed by 18 hours or more usually leaves permanent damage. Peace and calla lilies are not true lilies of that kind, but the ASPCA still lists them as toxic.
Sources
- ASPCA Animal Poison Control, Toxic and non-toxic plant list for cats, with its pages on catnip, mint and lemongrass. Read Oct 16, 2026.
- US Food and Drug Administration, Lovely lilies and curious cats: a dangerous combination. Read Oct 16, 2026.
- Hart and Hart, Characteristics of plant eating in domestic cats, Animals 2021. Read Oct 16, 2026.
Related: all our tools, cat furniture and safety in small homes and the cat age calculator.