129 replies to this topic

[Jellybaby86]

Giggle.
Now going back to the origianl topic.
I love you list suzy. Thank you very much for posting it.
I did want to ask about violets though. I remember hearing them
mentioned in relation to hamsters and I *think* they fell in the
safe category however I have been unwilling to test this just in case.
I am almost sure. But do you have any light to shed on that?

Ooh and what about jasmine? I have jasmine tea and Tynchie once
made off with the blossom out of my dregs and ate it before
I could take it back. Nothing happened so I assume it was
safe but I have not let it happen again, just in case.

Edited by Jellybaby86, 21 April 2011 - 06:23 AM.

[Azayles]

Actually what about tea in general? I gave Millie a teabag once and she had fun shredding it and scattering it about her cage. She took the paper in her house and slept in it, so by the next day she had the most glorious smell of tea :P

[Jellybaby86]

ooh yes, Tynchie loves going after my teabags

[SuzyHomemaker]

Listen to yall talking about tea-

Violet was on my list of plants to further look into (I'll let you know what I find but it might take awhile to find as I'm coming into a busy month with my business), never thought of checking into Jasmine though.

[Azayles]

Us Brits love our too! And you're both from "oop north". Up north is tea capital!

[Jellybaby86]

Indeed. Tea is the great British delicacy. ^-^
Can not live without it. lol

Like I said, Tynch ate the one jasmine flower fine and lovely (it had been previosuly dried as part of the tea) but I didn't want to risk her eating more when I wasn;t sure.

[SuzyHomemaker]

I'm the weird mom who drinks cola or hot chocolate when we have playdates.
However I've learned to keep tea in the house for when my Brit friends come over...for the longest time they couldn't understand why I was offering them soda instead of coffee or tea
I eventually learned though ;)

Teabags? Really? That surprises me- I don't think I would trust to give my ham a tea bag- but then again I'm a bit of an alarmist when it comes to these sorts of things

I don't want to tell you how much proof I needed before I finally got brave enough to give my hamster some cooked pasta, lolz

Edited by SuzyHomemaker, 21 April 2011 - 07:05 AM.

[Azayles]

Yeah she went nuts for the tea bag! Then a few days later I found these

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/excel-nature-snacks-with-dandelion-4-pack-15720


And she loved em Also they smell a bit like tea :P

[Jellybaby86]

I usually take Tynchie with me all over the house and she stole a teabag (much like she stole the jasmine folwer). She never ate the tea though, just destroyed the bag, made a horrific mess, then went on her merry way

[Azayles]

I usually take Tynchie with me all over the house and she stole a teabag (much like she stole the jasmine folwer). She never ate the tea though, just destroyed the bag, made a horrific mess, then went on her merry way

Lol I could totally picture her doing that!

[SuzyHomemaker]

Thats some cute imagery there!

[dreamer3]

this list is awesome thank you so much for this really appreciate it. will put this list to good use!

[missPixy]

hi Suzy, will you post your source for the aloe vera being
toxic? I'm curious about this~~ aloe vera gel right from the
leaf is widely used in both guinea pigs and hamsters as a
soothing skin treatment.

I see that it is toxic to cats and dogs; perhaps a qualifier
should be added as is done here on vetinfo:

"While the gel inside the leaves is okay for dogs, the outer leaves contain saponins that cause diarrhea, nausea, tremors and vomiting."

the aloe vera gel can be very beneficial for skin issues in
hamsters, and we shouldn't confuse the plant with the gel.

Edited by missPixy, 22 April 2011 - 03:41 AM.

[SuzyHomemaker]

hi Suzy, will you post your source for the aloe vera being
toxic? I'm curious about this~~ aloe vera gel right from the
leaf is widely used in both guinea pigs and hamsters as a
soothing skin treatment.

There's alot of websites and articles out there claiming that aloe vera is toxic to pets in general (cats, dogs, rabbits, etc..), but when I looked into it all I could really find was that, if they ate too much of it, they would get diarrhea. I also read that aloe vera is quite bitter to chew on so there is a strong chance that even if it was safe, the hamster wouldn't appreciate it. I couldn't find any real scientific evidence, no studies done, nor could I find anyone claiming to have a hamster death related to Aloe. In fact to the contrary, I read a few forum and blog posts about cats and dogs who ingested aloe and seemed fine afterwards. At first I thought this might be a case similar to an owner who feeds their dog chocolate but then denies any danger involved, the more I read the more I wasn't so sure. I almost left it off my lists entirely until I could find something more conclusive.

However, the ASPCA listed aloe vera as a toxic plant so I figured it was better to be safe than sorry:
http://www.aspca.org/Pet-care/poison-control/Plants.aspx

Most other websites either did not site their source of information, or only sited the ASPCA website:
http://hubpages.com/hub/What-Are-Guinea-Pigs-Allergic-To
http://www.onlyforpetlovers.com/articles/entry/Toxic-Plants-for-your-Furry-Friend
http://houseplants-care.blogspot.com/2007/04/poisonous-houseplants.html
http://www.blankees.com/house/plants/poisonous.htm
One that was at least honest about not knowing:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_aloe_vera_poisonous_to_cats
And the few that claimed their pet (usually cat or dog) ate aloe and was not effected, or that they used lotion and it helped:
http://www.petlovers.com/vb/showthread.php?t=17604
http://www.rodentswithattitude.co.uk/breeds_skinny.html

So you can see that my sources on Aloe were very iffy (unlike my sources for most of the other plants which seemed to fall easily into one category or the other). But in the end I figured that the ASPCA would be the most trustworthy source and that it was better to be safe than be sorry.

If you have any links on the subject, I would be more than happy to have further evidence to either move it to the safe list or keep it on the not safe list.

[Jellybaby86]

hi Suzy, will you post your source for the aloe vera being
toxic? I'm curious about this~~ aloe vera gel right from the
leaf is widely used in both guinea pigs and hamsters as a
soothing skin treatment.

I see that it is toxic to cats and dogs; perhaps a qualifier
should be added as is done here on vetinfo:

"While the gel inside the leaves is okay for dogs, the outer leaves contain saponins that cause diarrhea, nausea, tremors and vomiting."

the aloe vera gel can be very beneficial for skin issues in
hamsters, and we shouldn't confuse the plant with the gel.

I suppose it makes sense. You can get topical creams for humans but I doubt they would do much good or taste nice if we ate them. Maybe it is to do with how quickly the active ingredients are absorbed though skin/intestines. I could be wrong but topical applications dont really make their way into the bloodstream as effectively do they? Where as if they are ingested they can do. Maybe that is where the problem is. Or something to do with local/systemic effects.