Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you can’t always protect your pets. I found out the hard way that not only live house plants can pose a danger to your pets, but artificial plants as well.

It was Christmas, and for years she had eliminated tinsel, live poinsettia plants, live Christmas cacti, live mistletoe, and every other potentially dangerous item from that season. I had done some research to keep my pets safe during the holiday seasons, but had never seen the dangers of artificial plants.

I write this in memory of my Maine Coon cat, Miranda. She was never one to nibble on artificial plants, so I never expected that to be the cause of her not feeling well. She was skipping meals, losing weight, not cleaning regularly, and supporting herself. My husband and I decided that she needed to see the vet. She was quite dehydrated, so she was kept in the clinic. At first they couldn’t find anything wrong with her, her blood tests came back good, but she still wasn’t eating. The vet stuck an endoscope down her throat to see if anything might have gotten lodged in her esophagus, but she found nothing.

She stayed at the clinic over Christmas and we were going to pick her up the next day. Before we went to pick her up, the vet called and asked if we had any artificial plants that he might have eaten. He had an artificial arrangement on the coffee table, but it didn’t appear to have been chewed. Miranda had coughed up a small stick that she had stuck sideways in her throat that morning. The doctor had not seen him during the endoscope procedure. He had come from the floor at the coffee table.

I was on the road to recovery! She took a few weeks to eat again; her throat was quite sore from the stick. She seemed to be returning to normal, but that was misleading.

Two months after bringing her home, my husband and I took her back to the vet. I found her lying on the ground, having trouble breathing and gasping every time she took a breath. She suffered from congestive heart failure. Her fluids made it hard for him to breathe. She was in a lot of pain and the vet didn’t think she would survive. We made the heartbreaking decision to ease her pain.

Speaking to the vet, he felt that the earlier incident with the stick lodged in his throat caused his heart to anguish. Over time, the fluid built up until she could no longer breathe freely.

It is so difficult to know what dangers are in your house. I can’t get my Miranda back, but I can help others not to make the same mistake. Go through all of your plants, artificial or real, and make sure your cats or dogs don’t get hurt if they think this is something to eat or play with. It will only take a few minutes of your time, but the reward will be a happy, healthy and safe pet!