Is a calathea medallion safe for cats and dogs?
Calathea roseopicta 'Medallion' · Prayer plant family
Non-toxic to cats and dogs
Confirmed at genus level, which covers the medallion and the orbifolia. Several other calatheas are absent from the ASPCA list rather than cleared by it.
Source: ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants, at genus level.
Safe, and confirmed rather than assumed. Calathea roseopicta 'Medallion' appears on the ASPCA's non-toxic list for both cats and dogs, so the round painted leaves you bought it for are no problem in a house with animals. It is the usual answer when someone wants the drama of an African mask plant, which the catalogue records as toxic at moderate severity for cats and dogs alike. Worth knowing that not every calathea sold in that section shares the medallion's confirmed status.
Worth knowing anyway
Nothing here poisons an animal, which is not the same as nothing happening. A cat that strips a whole leaf can still be sick from the sheer volume of plant matter, and vomiting that keeps going is a reason to ring your vet. The medallion itself has no irritant sap and nothing sharp on it. If anything the risk runs the other way, since a chewed leaf stays chewed and the damage does not heal.
Living with one
Height is irrelevant here, so put it where you want it, including the floor. The care is the part that defeats people. It wants medium light rather than a sunny sill, humidity of 60% to 80%, and the catalogue holds it at around every four days all year rather than easing off in winter. Kounts Care starts from that interval and adjusts it to your daylight and to what you actually log.
How to care for calathea medallion
The starting schedule and conditions Kounts Care sets up for this species. Watering adapts from there based on the daylight where you live.
- Water
- About every 4 days
- Light
- Medium light
- Humidity
- 60% to 80%
- Temperature
- 18C to 27C
- Soil pH
- 5.5 to 6.5
- Family
- Prayer plant family
Let the app remember this for you
Kounts Care holds your plants and your pets in one household, so it checks every new plant against the cats and dogs you actually own, names them in the warning, and runs the check again over your existing plants the day a new animal arrives. Toxicity warnings are free at every tier.
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Questions people actually ask
Are all calatheas safe for cats?
Not all of them have an answer. The medallion and the orbifolia are both recorded as non-toxic on the ASPCA list. The peacock plant, the pinstripe calathea, the rattlesnake plant and the zebra calathea are unlisted, which means the ASPCA list does not cover them at all, so no one can tell you they are safe. None of them appear on the toxic list either. Unlisted is an absence of information rather than a verdict.
Why is my calathea medallion so hard to keep alive?
Because a normal room is drier than it wants. The catalogue puts it at 60% to 80% humidity and 18C to 27C, in medium light rather than sun, on water roughly every four days that does not slow down over winter. A centrally heated living room in January meets almost none of that. A bathroom, a kitchen or a cluster of plants standing close together gets you nearer.
My cat chewed a leaf. Does it matter?
Not from a poisoning point of view. There is no toxin in this plant for a cat to react to, so a bitten leaf is a cosmetic problem and nothing more. The general limit still applies: a large amount of any plant can come back up, and vomiting that carries on past a single episode is worth a vet call rather than a search engine.
Does the app tell me when a plant is only unlisted?
It does, and it says so in those words. Kounts Care marks a species safe only where the ASPCA list confirms it for both cats and dogs, and anything the list does not cover is shown as unlisted instead. The medallion is in the first group. The toxicity check runs against every cat and dog on the household profile and is free on every tier.