It might raise your curiosity level to wonder if your cats can enjoy a bouquet of roses or not! Well, according to the ASPCA, a regular rose is not toxic to your cat.
The most commonly found prickly-stemmed rose can quench your curiosity, are roses toxic to cats? Your cats might get attracted to their sweet smell.
The leaves and petals of the rose are not a problem for cats, but this beautiful flower blooms with thorns on it, as they say, each rose has its thorn! Which can be a problem for them.
Let’s see how!
Is Rose Toxic to Cats?
The short answer is no, cats can safely have a few petals of roses. In fact, rose is not toxic to cats. So it won’t harm them to have a bit. But you shouldn’t give too much as it’s not an essential part of their diet. Plus, too much of this can upset their stomach if they eat, so you can say that it’s not completely safe for your kitty.
Parts of this plant can be toxic to cats as they can pose poisoning in your cat.
If you are planning a romantic date night with your partner and want to fill your house with roses, or you are just planning to plant a rose plant in your backyard.
Nevertheless, it is important to know how your cats would react to the roses in detail, so let’s hop on and get started at what effects this romantic flower can have on your cat!
Can Cats Eat Rose Leaves?
Well, the chances of your cat eating rose leaves and stems are very less, or maybe you should say accidentally they can happen to consume it. But being a pet owner, we understand the level of curiosity you get! After all, good cat owners should know everything.
The answer is yes, they can eat rose leaves because they are not poisonous to cats. But that doesn’t give you a green flag to go and prepare a meal of rose leaves for your poor kitty, we know you won’t do that!
Too much or even consumption of more than 10 leaves can make your cat experience a little diarrhea or upset stomach. So be aware of the amount she consumes.
However, it is fine you find your furry friend in the garden near these beautiful roses, even if they have snapped a quick bite of it they will be okay!
The only thing you should be worried about is the thrones, they can hurt your pet.
What’s Good about Roses for Your Cats?
Since roses are not toxic to cats, so you might think that, is it possible for your cat to eat them safely? Do they have any benefit on our cat’s health?
If we go into details, they do not possess any good nutritional benefits for our cats. Apart from that, they don’t have buds developed to taste the sweetness, so again they cannot even feel what it would taste like!
So the only case where roses would be good for your cats is if you decide to play a surprise for them and use rose petals on the floor for your cat to walk on with its cute paws!
There are various other kinds of roses, moss rose (portulaca oleracea), rose of Sharon (hibiscus syriacus), Christmas roses(Helleborus Niger) which are to be kept away from your cats and kittens as they are toxic to cats. You should lookout for signs of poisoning if they consume it accidentally.
Possible Side Effects of Roses on Your Cats
Roses are not toxic for cats, but only if they are consumed in fewer amounts. If you find your cat munching one or two petals, she’s going to be fine.
Rest if they consume in large quantity there can be a number of side effects, let’s see them one by one!
- Though, roses won’t cause a lot of trouble if your cat eats a bite or two if they are consumed in a large quantity then your cat might get an upset stomach, vomiting or diarrhea, lethargy.
- The thrones of rose can hurt your cat’s mouth very badly if she accidentally gets rubbed against it, can leave a scratching on the other parts of body.
What you can do?
If you caught your cat roaming in the garden near rose plants, firstly check her mouth for possible signs of trauma from thorns.
If yes then you need to take your cat to the vet, he/she might give her pain medication, antibiotics, or even anti-vomiting medication, topical treatment.
Are Rose Thorns Harmful to Cats?
The short answer is yes, rose thorns are harmful to cats. In fact, thorns can be very dangerous for them. Thorns found on rose stems may injure cats during play or even if they decide to eat them, both of these are harmful to cats.
However, they’re less likely to steal it away from under your nose and eat, but they can get involved in a fight with the thorns and will end up hurting themselves.
So the bottom line is thorns are harmful to cats, in both ways, even if they digest them or land upon them! So there is no point in giving your cat a rose to eat.
For cats who accidentally digest rose thorns in small or large amounts, can experience a gastrointestinal upset or bowel obstruction.
The other way, in which your cat lands upon them and potentially causes trauma to the mouth and to the paws, in such case a little antibiotic ointment can be used.
How to Keep Your Cat Out of Your Backyard?
After collecting a lot of information on if your cat should have roses or not? We have come to the conclusion that it’s ok if she accidentally eats or steps on one, but we should not consider feeding roses to her purposely!
One of the most prominent places for cats to reside in our backyards, and we know every average human would plant or love to plan a rose plant in their garden! Now the question is how to keep your mischievous cats away from it?
Here, we have effective ways for you to keep your cat out of your backyard!
DIY Natural Cat Repellent
The best thing we would suggest you do is to make a natural cat repellent for your mischievous cat by using the bare minimum ingredients, lemon, or orange! As some plants and flowers are toxic for cats, so you can also use this cat repellent for them, cats hate the smell of it.
How to make it: don’t throw lemons or oranges after you eat them, keep the peel with you, and later on just spry it near the rose plant to prevent your cat from going near it. Cats don’t really like the smell of citrus fruits like oranges and lemons.
Fence It
Fencing is an option you can use if you have multiple cats, it would be the best thing to do! As it will not just keep your cat out of trouble, but will also save your precious, popular in home landscapes, rose plant from getting spoiled. You would be needing a chicken wire which has no space for your cats to enter.
Conclusion
Roses, a symbol of love, but is it for our cats? Are roses toxic to cats? The short answer is no. However, you need to take care of the thrones as they can scratch your cat’s skin or potentially causes trauma to the mouth.
To keep your cats away from destroying your beautifully done backyard of roses, you can use our DIY natural cat repellent spray or fence it with chicken wire. This will prevent them from entering the area where you had planted your roses.
References
- Are the green leaves on roses poisonous for cats? — SFGate
- Rose — ASPCA
- Valentine’s day tips from pet poison helpline — Pet Poison Helpline