Plants That Are Toxic To Dogs

By Ed Frawley  |  Last modified: April 22, 2022

URL Copied!

Many of us have houseplants as well as trees and shrubs in our yards. Some of these seemingly harmless plants can make our pets sick or even kill them if they eat the wrong parts. Below is a list of some possibly toxic plants and trees.

Outdoor Trees and Plants

• Almond: Diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
• Apple: Leaves and stems can lead to shock, mouth inflammation, and a rapid increase in breathing.
• Apricot: Stem, bark, and seed pits can cause diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
• Azalea: all parts, mostly leaves can cause stomach irritation, abdominal pain, abnormal heart rate, and rhythm, convulsions, coma, and even death.
• Balsam Pear: Diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
• Castor Bean: All parts of this plant can be toxic, especially the seeds if they are chewed. They can cause nausea, abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea, tenesmus, dehydration, shortness of breath, excessive thirst, weakness, muscle twitching, convulsions, and even coma.
• Cherry: Rapid breathing, shock, mouth inflammation, and heart rate increase.
• Creeping Charlie: All parts of this plant can cause drooling but is not usually fatal.
• English Ivy: Stomach upset, hyperactivity, labored breathing, drooling, fever, thirst increase, pupil dilation, staggering, coma, and even death.
• Ficus (Cuban Laurel): Stomach upset.
• Ficus Lyrata (Fiddle-leaf): Stomach upset, irritated skin.
• Hemlock: All parts of this plant, roots, and root stalks can cause dilated pupils, frothing at the mouth, spasms, restlessness, convulsions, and death (within 15 minutes to 2 hours).
• Hyacinth: The bulbs, leaves, and flowers can cause colic, vomiting, and diarrhea, but is usually not fatal.
• Hydrangea: The leaves and buds of this shrub can cause irritation and inflammation of the digestive tract, diarrhea, and bloody stool.
• Japanese Plum: Diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
• Jasmine: convulsions and death.
• Jimson Weed: All parts of this plant can cause rapid pulse, rapid breathing, dilated pupils, nervousness, twitching, frequent urination, diarrhea, depression, weight loss, weak pulse, convulsions, coma, and death.
• Johnson Grass: The leaves and stems of young plants can cause breathing problems, severe anxiety, convulsions, coma, and death. There is an intravenous antidote to this toxin.
• Lantana: The leaves and berries can cause sluggishness, weakness, and bloody diarrhea. In severe cases, death can occur in 2 to 4 days.
• Nightshade: All parts of this plant can cause hallucinations, severe intestinal disturbances, diarrhea, drowsiness, numbness, dilated pupils, trembling, labored breathing, nasal discharge, rapid heartbeat, weak pulse, incoordination, paralysis, or severe shaking of the rear legs, bloat, and can be fatal.
• Oak: Varied effects.
• Peach: Diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
• Philodendron (Devil's Ivy): Upset stomach, convulsions, asphyxiation, death.
• Pigweed: The leaves, stems, and roots of this plant can cause troubled breathing, trembling, weakness, coma, and death.
• Pokeweed: All parts of this plant can cause colic, diarrhea, blood in stool, anemia, and possible death.
• Rhubarb: Leaves of this plant can cause staggering, trembling, breathing difficulties, weakness, diarrhea, increased drinking and urinating, and even death.
• Tomato Plants and Green Tomatoes
• Virginia Creeper: Varied effects.
• Wild Cherry: Diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
• Yew (American, English, and Western): Breathing problems, trembling, weakness, heart problems, stomach upset, and very sudden death.

Houseplants

• Aloe Vera: Diarrhea
• Asparagus Fern: Vomiting, respiratory problems, kidney failure, tremors, abdominal pain.
• Caladium: Mouth irritation, stomach upset, asphyxiation, tremors, seizures, death.
• Colocasia (Elephant's Ear): Mouth irritation, stomach upset, asphyxiation, tremors, seizures, death.
• Diffenbachia (Dumb Cane): Mouth irritation, stomach upset, asphyxiation, tremors, seizures, death.
• Mum (Pot and Spider): Skin irritation.
• Mistletoe: Varied effects.
• Philodendron (Saddle Leaf, Split Leaf): Mouth irritation, stomach upset.
• Poinsetta: Mouth irritation, stomach upset.
• Umbrella Plant: Vomiting, respiratory problems, kidney failure, tremors, abdominal pain.

Shop Training Supplies

Enroll in Training Courses

About Author

Ed Frawley

Ed Frawley is the founder and owner of Leerburg.com and has been producing professional dog training videos since 1982. Over the years, he has collaborated with some of the most respected dog trainers in the country. His body of work includes 194 full-length training DVDs and 95 comprehensive online courses. In addition to these, he has produced and published over 4,000 short training videos available free of charge on Leerburg.com and across the company's social media platforms.

Ed and his wife, Cindy—also a professional dog trainer—bred working-line German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois for more than 35 years. Although they retired from breeding in 2009, they had produced over 300 litters by that time.

Ed also served as a K9 handler for the local sheriff's department for 10 years, working in partnership with the West Central Drug Task Force. During his time in law enforcement, he handled multiple narcotics and patrol dogs and conducted more than 1,000 K9 searches. If you want to learn more about Ed, read about his history here.

Share this article on social media:

URL Copied!

Have a dog training question?
Ask Cindy.