Is Foxglove toxic to cats?
Digitalis purpurea · Scrophulariaceae
Yes. Can kill a cat.
The plant behind the heart drug digitalis, which is exactly why it disturbs the heart's rhythm.
For a cat
Can kill
For a person
Can kill
What to watch for
- Cardiac arrhythmias
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Weakness
- Cardiac failure
- Death
Why, and which parts
All parts, fresh or dried.
Toxic principle: Cardiac glycosides
Foxglove is where the heart drug digitalis comes from, and the plant contains the same class of molecule that the pharmacy dispenses by the microgram. The difference between a medicine and a poison here is dose alone, and a plant does not measure doses. Both fresh and dried material carry it.
How to recognize it
A tall unbranched spike of drooping tubular flowers, pink to purple, each one spotted inside the throat, opening from the bottom of the spike upwards. In its first year it is only a rosette of soft grey green leaves at ground level, which is the form people fail to recognize.
Plants it gets confused with
Comfrey
In their first year both are low rosettes of large, soft, hairy leaves, and they grow in the same places.
Why it matters: This is the classic foxglove mistake, and it happens before the plant ever flowers. A foxglove with no spike still carries the same cardiac glycosides.
And for a person?
Dangerous to a person too
Dangerous to people too.
A plant's danger to a cat says nothing about its danger to you, and the reverse is just as true. This is a separate question with a separate answer.
This is information, not veterinary advice, and it cannot tell you what is wrong with your cat. Our rule is a simple one: if something is wrong with your cat, call your vet, and call an emergency clinic if it is out of hours. Nothing you read here is a reason to wait.
Worth keeping a paw on
Pin this profile
To recognize the plant the day you come across it, and warn the friends whose cat goes outside. One click and it sits in your board.
Pin it on PinterestOur sources
Other plants at the same level
Same verdict for a cat as Foxglove. The ones sharing its exact toxic principle come first.
