Wednesday, April 24, 2013

And now a public service announcement...

My friends, we recently found out something important that we want to share with you (and please share this with your friends who have kitties)

This is me with my bamboo. A sweet friend of the Rumbleparents brought it by as a housewarming gift. Rumblemum googled 'bamboo' and saw that bamboo was safe for kitties, and so the plant was welcomed into the home. I LOVED the bamboo! Every place it was moved to, I would follow!

HaHA! You cannot hide up here, little bamboo plant!

They call me Booboo, and I loves me bamboo!
Hangin' with mah 'Boo
I posted the last photo on Facebook and one of my friends (Miss Karen... and we are forever grateful to her) mentioned that this was a type of bamboo called Dracaena Sanderiana, or 'lucky bamboo' and it's poisonous to cats in the same way that lilies are.

Seriously, in about two seconds flat that bamboo was downstairs in the dumpster, and there is a 'no plants except cat-grass allowed' policy in our house now.

I'm posting this to make you guys aware if you're not already... Rumblemum isn't a plant person (seriously. She can't really even grow cat grass. Yes, you heard that right... my mummy can kill GRASS.) so she thought all she needed to look up was 'bamboo' and that would cover it.

Please be aware that Dracaena Sanderiana (or 'lucky bamboo') is poisonous to kitties, and should be kept out of reach or not at all. If you see it in the house of a cat loving friend, warn them too. I suspect this is an easy one to miss for people that aren't looking at the specific name of the bamboo.

I miss my bamboo... Rumblemum needs to get me that cat grass, STAT.

52 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! I didn't know that! I'm glad your friend spoke up, and now you have too!

Angel Simba said...

Thank you for the PSA, Rumbles! We are very glad you didn't nom on that plant.

Hannah and Lucy said...

We didn't know that bamboo was poisonous and thank you for letting us know - not that we need to worry too much as Mum only has to look at a house plant and it's dead!
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx

Unknown said...

oh thank you for sharing this news. I didn't know. Fortunately no bamboo here.
Purrrrsssss and LOVE !

Connie - Tails from the Foster Kittens said...

Thank you for the PSA.. always good to spread the word when you learn something new..

Hilary said...

I didn't know that... Alex used to eat all plants and throw up so years ago we stopped keeping plants or flowers of any kind in the house

The Monkeys said...

Karen is our Mommy and we're VERY happy that she nosed around Facebook that night!

Mommy says there are lots of plants that are okay for cats, but because Delilah is a plant nibbler, they don't stay alive very long here!

The Furries of Whisppy said...

Oh my goodness. We had no idea! Those "lucky bamboos" are very common decorative items during the Chinese New Year!
Thank you for sharing this, Rumbles!

Marg said...

Thanks a bunch Rumbles for telling us about this. We have two bamboo plants here so out they go. Sure glad you told us. We really didn't know that. Hope you have a great day.

Cherry City Kitties said...

Thank you for that Rumbles, Mom loves her bamboo, but she keeps it up very high where she keeps pretty flower from the garden, on the shelf we can't jump too, not even Harry!

Katie Isabella said...

THANK YOU dearest Rumbles!!! XXXOOO

Brian's Home Blog said...

We did not know that either Rumbles! Thanks for telling everyone!

Old Kitty said...

Awwwww we are so sorry you've lost your bamboo!! We didn't know this one was bad for kitties either! Awww we hope you get a lush dose of grass asap!! Mum will just have to learn to grow them, like you say, STAT! LOL!!

Hugs too to sweet Diego! Take care
x

Fuzzy Tales said...

We're glad you didn't chew on that bamboo plant, either. Who would know? Our human also would have Googled "bamboo", not what type!

Anonymous said...

Our Lady loves plants, but she forgets to water 'em and plus we're kinda sorta destructive if we see 'em (we rip 'em ta shreds an dig in the dirt), so she got silk plants and flowers. We tried ta bite 'em but they were yuck, so we gave it up. Maybe your mom can find you a fake bamboo friend?

Furry Bottoms said...

Huh... I had NO idea!! I had heard bamboo were natural air purifiers, so I've always wanted a bunch around me. I don't have cats now, but its good to know for future reference. wow..

Random Felines said...

good catch by your friend. our mom is pretty plant hopeless as well and wouldn't have known the difference.... plus since we like to eat plants and she kills them, we just don't have them in the house :)

Angel Ginger Jasper said...

Oh wow we didn't know that. Glad someone spotted it and your mum got rid of it.. Thanks for passing it on. Hugs GJ x

Layla Morgan Wilde ( Cat Wisdom 101) said...

We love lucky bamboo, place them for feng shui have never had a problem but my cats aren't plant nibblers. Keeping on an inaccessible location works.

da tabbies o trout towne said...

dood...thanx for de add vise....N thanx ta karen....N ya think yur mom iz spazzed...R mom canna boil water...way glad ya dinna gnaw on this...kewl plant tho...

N tell yur mom there bee a catgrass out there now that growz rite in de bag....

cat grass plus if ewe can get it ther...
!!

Kjelle Bus aka Charlie Rascal said...

Thank´s for the warning about the Lucky Bamboo !
XOXO

♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥ said...

This is one very good PSA. We will have to check if it is OK for dogs too.

Happy Wednesday.

Woos - Phantom, Thunder, Ciara, and Lightning

Marilia said...

Thanks to your advice!

Timmy Tomcat said...

Super great public service work there dArtagnan! Tell Rumblemum that our Dad has the brown thumb too so she is not alone out there in the land of planticide.

Sparkle said...

The humans here had a lucky bamboo... which I kept trying to eat. And then, like they do with every plant, they (unintentionally) killed it, but it had already been relegated to the should-be-catio (where we should be allowed to go, but aren't) by then.

Jacqueline said...

We appreciate the information, darling Rumbles and our Mommy is just like yours=can't grow a thing!...We bet you and adorable Hammy have lots of new places to investigate to take your mind off your 'Boo!...We love you and are glad you are ok, handsome friend..kisses...Calle, Halle, Sukki

meowmeowmans said...

That's a great and important PSA, Rumbles! Who would have known? Thank you, pal!

Donna said...

I glad to know too. Thanks. :)

The Island Cats said...

The mom has a bamboo plant in the house...in the summer it goes outside. We wonder if it's that same kind. The mom is gonna check and see even though we don't bother it much.

Cat and DOG Chat With Caren said...

thank goodness someone let you know!! I never knew that about bamboo and I am glad to know.
I am like you though, pretty much NO PLANTS are permitted inside of our condo

The Island Cats said...

Rumbles, the mom just went to the ASPCA site to see what plants are toxic to cats and bamboo was not on it. There was a dracena plant listed, but the picture of it was not bamboo. The mom is gonna continue doing some searching on this.

Kitties Blue said...

Thank you so much for this post. Just looks like plain bamboo to our mom. She would not have known it's deadliness had she not seen this. Glad no cats were harmed prior to it going to the dumpster. Purrs and hugs from the kitties at The Cat On My Head, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Josette

The Island Cats said...

Rumbles, the mom searched some more and lucky bamboo IS poisonous to cats. The ASPCA does not have it on their list. They need to correct that! The mom is gonna move the one we have away so we can't get it.

Andrea and the Celestial Kitties said...

Yikes! Well, it's pretty clear then that you never chewed on it! But better safe than sorry.
We don't do plants.. Ok, *I* don't do plants. I can kill anything, sad but true. I got a lovely miniature rose for Valentines day and it sits, like a constant reminder of my guilt, as a shriveled up drooped sad little lump.

Maggie @ Shelter Cats said...

Not a lucky plant after all. Thanks for letting us know!

Texas, a Cat in... Austin said...

Oh wow! My human had no idea either!
My human is kind of like your Mommy regarding plants always she's more lazy about taking care of them than anything else. But I guess that's safer for us kitties!

Thanks for stopping by and for your well wishes for Milou. This is very much appreciated.
Purrs

Quill and Greyson said...

And out goes our lucky bamboo!! Thanks!

Clooney said...

Oh Booboo, thank goodness your 'Boo is outta there and now in the dumpster!

Just Ducky said...

Wow, that was a good catch. We have not live plants in the house and Derby even chews on the silk ones. Mum just grows stuff outside.

Unknown said...

Thanks yous for letting us know!
Kisses
Nellie

AnnStaub said...

Well, good thing you have pawsome friends to tell you about this stuff! I write for Examiner.com and recently published an article about toxic plants. There are SO many! I live on the same property as my family's business - a nursery where we have 5 greenhouses. Maybe I could give your mom some tips ;)

Unknown said...

Oh no! This is good to know, but bad news... We will have to get of our bamboo and replace with cat grass. Thank you for the information.

Purrs

trancer1092 said...

Thanks for the info, Rumbles. I don't know much about plants, so that was very helpful.

Ellen Whyte said...

Huh, imagine that! And bamboo is considered lucky!!!

SeaThreePeeO said...

That was lucky for you Rumbles. We shall remember that, thank you.

The Paw Relations

Unknown said...

I was so excited and thinking I better go get one. And then I read the rest of the post! OMC We remain plantless. (Scooter was caught trying to sample fake eucaliptus branches.)

Unknown said...

Oh dear dawg, that was a close call! Who would think one type of bamboo would be bad for kitties?! And I hear you on having a Ma who lacks a green thumb...my Ma can kill cacti!
*Cairn cuddles*
Oz

The Meezers or Billy said...

oh wow we did not know that - sammy eats all plants so we don't have any.

Gigi said...

Well! Thank goodness your Mommy got rid of that icky poison plant!

We have ONE plant, and the Human bought it at a nursery where they had the Big SPCA Book and she made sure it was okay. She's had it for about six years now and I have eaten leaves almost efurry day so we figure the nursery & SPCA were right about it, MOL!

Sushi said...

Thank you for warning us. Momma used to have a lucky bamboo on her bedside, but i didn't get to see it.

Cathy Keisha said...

Whoa! Thanks for sharing this. TW always looks at the pretty bamboo when she goes shopping but she's on a fixed income. All we have is some basil and catnip. Would you like some of my nip?

Dash Kitten said...

OMG!! RILLY???? Wow thanks for the head's up Rumbles