For most, receiving flowers is a sweet surprise; for pet-parents, it can be an expensive mishap. If you’re ordering a bouquet for someone or yourself, keep in mind that some flowers can be toxic to animals.
Different flowers can be toxic to different pets; we're going to stick to generic flowers that are non-toxic to both cats and dogs.
In any case, your pets should not consume flowers/plants.
Before we get into safe and non-safe flowers, let’s go over 3 essential ordering tips.
1. Always Mention Pets
Always, always, always mention that your bouquet/arrangement is for a pet owner. Even if you listed your preferred flowers or double-checked the bouquet recipe, designers need to know if it’s being delivered to a home with pets. Simply because we make substitutions based on our inventory. We do our best to meet your preferences, but if we don’t have it in stock, we will choose the most similar flower.
2. Order in Advance
Orders with flower restrictions should be placed in advance, especially if it’s a large bouquet/arrangement. Choosing non-toxic flowers while following style guidelines takes more time - rushed orders aren’t fun for anyone. This also ensures that the appropriate stock will be available.
3. Be Flexible
We get it, you put a lot of thought into your preferred design, but we all make sacrifices. Placing your order in advance helps significantly, but shipment delays and unusable stock are, unfortunately, common in our industry. Your flexibility is always appreciated.
Pet-Friendly Flower Varieties
Here are 10 flowers that are non-toxic to dogs/cats and safe to use for your next bouquet.
- Gerbera Daisies
- Sunflowers
- Snap Dragons
- Limonium
- Stock
- Wax Flower
- Lisianthus
- Orchids
- Roses
- Alstroemeria
Again, we always recommend keeping your floral arrangement away from your pet(s). The flowers might not be toxic, but there is still a chance of a bad reaction.
Toxic Flower Varieties
- Lilies
- Carnations
- Chrysanthemums
- Daffodils
- Dahlias
- Freesias
- Gladiolas
- Hyacinths
- Hydrangeas
- Iris
- Lily of the Valley
- Ranunculus
- Tulips
If you share your home with a cat or dog, absolutely stay clear of these flowers. Just ask our manager Kyla, who was gifted some lilies and paid the whopping price of $5,000 for a vet bill. Her cats made a full recovery thanks to the team at the Winnipeg Animal Emergency Hospital.
You might think that flowers can just be put out of reach, but as flowers age their petals drop and can be found by sneaky pets (like in Kyla's case.)
Poisoning Signs and What To Do
Accidents happen, if your pet ingested toxic flowers, they may be showing these signs:
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Excessive panting
- Rapid heartbeat
- Decreased urination
- Dry Mouth
- Lack of appetite/very thirsty
- Nosebleeds
- Fatigue
Symptoms can take up to a few hours to appear and there are different symptoms for different flowers. Cats and dogs may react differently/show different signs. On the occasion that your animal eats toxic flowers, a vet needs to be called immediately. You need to provide the type of flower(s) that were digested, approximately how much, when, and what symptoms they’re showing. A vet will provide the next set of instructions based on the information provided. Supposing that your fur baby might have ingested toxic flowers; keep an eye on them and monitor their behaviour closely.
Pet-Friendly Plants
Just in case you're buying plants, here are 10 worry-free plants for your pets.
- African Violets
- Baby Tears
- Boston Fern
- Bromeliads
- Money Tree
- Orchid
- Prayer Plant or Calathea
- Spider Plant
- SOME Succulents
- Venus Flytrap
Again, ideally they're not ingesting ANY plant material (that isn't cat grass), but these are non-toxic.
Pet-Friendly Bouquets and Flower Arrangements
Academy Florist is full of animal lovers and we want to make sure that all pets are safe around flowers! We have created a bouquet option on our website that can be found here. If ordering over the phone, please let us know that you require pet-safe varieties.
We’d love to see your custom pet-friendly bouquets and your furry friends, tag us in your story/post!! @academyflorist.