Is pothos toxic to cats and dogs?
Epipremnum aureum · Aroid family
Toxic to cats and dogs
Chewing releases insoluble calcium oxalate crystals: mouth irritation, drooling and vomiting. Offer water and call your vet if symptoms persist.
Source: ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants.
Yes. Pothos, sold as devil's ivy, golden pothos, marble queen or neon pothos, is listed by the ASPCA as toxic to cats and dogs. It carries the same calcium oxalate crystals as its aroid relatives, so the reaction is painful mouth irritation rather than organ damage. The particular problem with pothos is not severity, it is opportunity: it is the plant people hang, and a trailing vine at cat height is an invitation.
What to look for
- Immediate pawing at the mouth and heavy drooling
- Swollen lips or tongue
- Vomiting, or turning away from food
- Chewed or torn vine ends, often the first thing you notice
If your pet has chewed it
Offer water to rinse the mouth and call your vet if the drooling or swelling does not settle within an hour or two, and immediately if swallowing or breathing looks laboured. Cut back any trailing sections that hang within reach while you are at it, because a plant that has been chewed once usually gets chewed again.
Can you keep it anyway?
Hanging a pothos higher rarely solves it, because the whole point of the plant is that it grows down. The version that works is a plant on a shelf with the vines trained upward or trimmed short, in a room your animals do not lounge in. Every pothos cultivar carries the same listing, so switching from golden to neon changes nothing.
How to care for pothos
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
- Medium light
- Humidity
- 40% to 60%
- Temperature
- 15C to 29C
- Soil pH
- 6 to 6.8
- Family
- Aroid 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.
In review with Apple · iPhone, iOS 26 · Five profiles free when it lands
Questions people actually ask
Is pothos more dangerous than monstera?
No, they sit in the same tier with the same mechanism, both aroids with insoluble calcium oxalate crystals. Pothos causes more incidents mainly because of where people put it: long vines within easy reach of a bored cat.
Are all pothos varieties toxic?
Yes. Golden, marble queen, neon, jade and satin pothos are all listed. Satin pothos is a Scindapsus rather than a true Epipremnum, and it carries the same warning.
What can I hang instead, in a home with cats?
Spider plants are the obvious swap, since they trail, they propagate endlessly and the ASPCA lists them as non-toxic. Hoyas, string of turtles and Boston ferns are also on the non-toxic list. String of pearls and string of hearts, despite the similar look, are not the same: check each before you buy.
How does the app help?
Kounts Care checks each new plant against the specific cats and dogs in your household, names the animals in the warning, and repeats the check across your existing plants when you add a new pet. Toxicity warnings are never behind the paywall.