Peace lilies have a bit of an unfair (probably) reputation for being toxic.
They may cause the imbiber a stomach ache or similar but they are HIGHLY unlikely to do any lasting damage.
Peace lilies are NOT the same as true lilies
This is where the confusion arises.
True lilies are INCREDIBLY dangerous for cats. As in, the tiniest amount of pollen can cause a cat to go into organ failure and die.
Do not fuck around with true lilies if you have cats. True lilies are these fellas:
You get them bouquets, they smell incredible and their one aim in life is to dye everything around them yellow.
But they will kill your cat.
This is a peace lily:
They won’t kill anyone unless someone ate, like, 30.
Peace lilies are as mad about this as anyone – if ever a plant chose violence it’s this one – BUT they won’t take out your cat. They don’t have the technology.
They are toxic/poisonous BUT…just a bit.
WE THINK.
(I thought I’d end that paragraph on a cliffhanger. I hope you enjoyed it).
Are peace lilies toxic?
So here’s the kicker:
We don’t actually know that peace lilies are toxic.
There was never really a reason to test them.
We only know that true lilies are very toxic to some furry friends because, er, it happened.
No one’s doing research into whether houseplants are toxic because there’s no money in it. It’s easier to just assume plants are toxic until proved otherwise.
Peace lilies, like a lot of aroids have calcium oxalate crystals in their leaves so that eating them is quite unpleasant – they make your mouth sting or itch, and they upset your stomach.
But for the vast majority of animals, that’s all that happens. There’s no other nefarious symptoms.
It’s bit like saying nettles are toxic – they’re not toxic because they have other ways of making animals not eat them.
How to keep pets/kids away from peace lilies
Here’s the fun part: you can’t!
There are various things you can try – putting foil on the soil, poking upright plastic forks in the soil, spraying with water etc etc etc.
Some pets/kids aren’t that bothered and wil go and wreak havoc elsewhere. Those determined critters won’t be put off by anything, so you’ll either have to learn to live with bite marks out of your peace lilies leaves (and hope that over time the biter will make the link between eating the leaves and immediately puking) or move it somewhere inaccessible.
In conclusion
You do not need to rehome your peace lily if you get a cat.
To avoid vomit on the carpet try to keep them apart though. I’d like to think some cats could learn that eating the plant made them feel sick, but it 100% depends on the individual cat. Orange cats, as we know, have never learned a thing ever, so I wouldn’t hold your breath.
Craving more info on peace lilies (and who isn’t)?
