Is a Chinese money plant safe for cats and dogs?
Pilea peperomioides
Non-toxic to cats and dogs
Confirmed at genus level for Pilea. Of the several plants sold as money plant, this is one of the two that carry no listing against them.
Source: ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants, at genus level.
It is. Pilea peperomioides appears on the ASPCA's non-toxic list for both cats and dogs, which is more than can be said for some of the other plants sold under the money plant name. Jade, Crassula ovata, and golden pothos both carry it, and both sit on the ASPCA toxic list at moderate severity. The money tree, Pachira aquatica, carries it too and is non-toxic. If someone hands you a money plant, the flat coin shaped leaves on long upright stalks are how you know you have the pilea rather than one of the others.
Worth knowing anyway
Non-toxic describes poison and nothing else. A pilea eaten in quantity can still cause vomiting, and a cat that keeps being sick after a raid on one should be seen by a vet. Practically, the stalks snap cleanly and the plant drops its lower leaves as it grows taller, so there will be coins on the floor for a dog to find. None of that is a hazard, and there is nothing on the plant that irritates skin.
Living with one
This is the plant to put where the jade was: near the window, though back from the direct sun a Crassula wants, and without the moderate listing that came with it. Turn the pot once a week or the whole thing leans at the glass and never straightens. The catalogue schedules water around every seven days and holds it between 15C and 24C, cooler than the peperomias it gets shelved beside. It throws pups from the base, so one plant becomes several.
How to care for chinese money plant
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
- 40% to 60%
- Temperature
- 15C to 24C
- Soil pH
- 6 to 7
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.
In review with Apple · iPhone, iOS 26 · Five profiles free when it lands
Questions people actually ask
Which money plant is the toxic one?
Two of them. Jade, Crassula ovata, is sold as money plant and lucky jade and is on the ASPCA toxic list at moderate severity for cats and dogs. Golden pothos carries the same nickname in some shops and is also listed at moderate. The Chinese money plant, Pilea peperomioides, and the money tree, Pachira aquatica, are both on the non-toxic list.
Why is my pilea leaning over and losing bottom leaves?
It is growing towards the light and shedding as it goes. The catalogue puts it in bright, indirect light, and a plant lit from one side commits to that side within a fortnight. Quarter turns each week keep the stem upright. Losing the odd bottom leaf is normal as the trunk lengthens, but a run of them, on compost that never dries, points at the roots.
My dog ate a leaf off the floor, is that a problem?
No, not on toxicity. Pilea peperomioides is on the ASPCA non-toxic list for dogs as well as cats, so a leaf off the floor is nothing. Dropped leaves are part of owning one, since the plant sheds from the bottom as it grows. Volume is the only caveat: a dog that clears a whole pot may vomit from the amount, and if that goes on, speak to your vet.
Can two of us manage the same plants?
Yes. Households sync over iCloud, so a partner or a flatmate sees the same plants and the same warnings on their own iPhone. When you go away, a sitter can be handed a link rather than a list of instructions, which matters more than it sounds when the person watering your plants has never met them. The app runs on iPhone with iOS 26 or later.