Are cat palms safe for cats and dogs?
Chamaedorea cataractarum · Palm
Non-toxic to cats and dogs
Confirmed at genus level for Chamaedorea, the same genus as the parlor palm. The name has nothing to do with cats, though the answer happens to suit them.
Source: ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants, at genus level.
The name is a coincidence, and the answer is still yes. Chamaedorea cataractarum appears on the ASPCA's non-toxic list for cats and dogs, and it also turns up labelled cataract palm or cascade palm, which is where the name comes from. It shares a genus with the parlor palm, though it grows as a low clump of many stems rather than a single upright tuft. The palm that does need to stay out of a pet home, the sago, is not a Chamaedorea and is listed as severe for cats and dogs.
Worth knowing anyway
Non-toxic and low to the ground is a combination worth thinking about, because this is the palm a cat can reach without climbing anything. Chewing it does no harm on the ASPCA's terms, but a stomach load of any leaf can come back up, and vomiting that persists is a call to the vet. The stems are thin and snap under a landing cat, which is a loss to the clump rather than a risk to the cat.
Living with one
A cat palm suits a bright bathroom or a spot near a window in a humid room, since the catalogue asks for 50 to 70 per cent humidity and bright indirect light. Watering lands around every seven days and eases back over winter. As a floor plant it fills the low, spreading space that an arrowhead plant or a philodendron usually gets given, and both of those are on the toxic list at moderate severity.
How to care for cat palm
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 7 days, less in winter
- Light
- Bright, indirect
- Humidity
- 50% to 70%
- Temperature
- 18C to 27C
- Soil pH
- 5.5 to 6.5
- Family
- Palm
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
Does the cat palm get its name from being safe for cats?
No, and it would be a poor way to choose a plant if it did. The species is Chamaedorea cataractarum, and the same root gives the older shop names cataract palm and cascade palm. The safety answer happens to be yes, because the species is on the ASPCA's non-toxic list, but plenty of plants with reassuring names are not. Lucky bamboo is a dracaena and is on the toxic list at mild severity.
Will a cat palm be happy in a bathroom?
It is one of the few palms that genuinely prefers it. The catalogue sets it at 50 to 70 per cent humidity, higher than the areca or the kentia want, and a bathroom with a window supplies that without any effort on your part. The window matters, because the light requirement is bright indirect. A cat palm in a windowless shower room is a slow decline rather than a home.
Is there any palm my cat should not be near?
One, and it is the reason these pages exist. The sago palm is a cycad, Cycas revoluta, and the ASPCA lists it as toxic with severe effects for cats and dogs. It is sold as a bonsai-sized plant on tables, which is exactly where a cat goes. The other palms in this group, from the parlor palm to the pygmy date palm, are on the non-toxic list.
Does the app check plants against my cats and my dog?
It checks each plant against every animal on the household profile, because the listings differ by species. A cat palm returns no warning for either. Where a plant is toxic to one and unknown for the other, the app says so rather than rounding it up or down, and where the ASPCA list does not cover a plant at all, it is marked unlisted instead of safe.