Spending time in the garden with your pets can be a great way to bond, as well as keeping your furry friend entertained and active! There are, however, a number of common garden plants that can do harm to animals if ingested, and there are also a number of ways to make your garden really attractive to pets. That’s why, at The Insurance Emporium, we’re sharing our top tips for creating a pet friendly garden!
What to avoid
It might be surprising just how many plants commonly found in UK gardens can pose a danger to dogs and cats. These are some of the most regular culprits: lilies, rhododendrons, yew, ivy, foxgloves, buttercups, chrysanthemums, potatoes, onions, and spring bulbs!
Pet friendly plants
Don’t despair! There are still many plants that are perfectly safe for pets, which can provide a great amount of interest to your garden. Here are some examples – fuchsias, camellias, asters, cornflowers, marigolds, nasturtiums, honeysuckle and sunflowers.
Herbal remedies
In order to make your choice of plants just that little bit more pet friendly, you could plant some herbs to provide an array of different scents and give them a more sensory garden experience. They can all also have different effects on dogs and cats! For example, lavender and chamomile could help calm pets, whilst rosemary can give them a little more energy. And we all know how much cats appreciate catnip!
On the surface
Consider the surfaces in your garden! You could provide a variety of different textures for your pet to explore, mixing together solid paths with woodchip and grasses. If you have space, you could incorporate different paths and routes through other plants – this could keep them from destroying the flower beds, while giving them different areas to explore!
Dog or cat?
It could be a good idea to consider your pet’s particular needs when designing your garden. If you’re a cat owner, why not try incorporating platforms and other things to climb, so they can have a high space to escape to? If you’d like to stop your dog from digging up all your new plants, you could create a designated digging spot, such as a sandbox.
Safety and Wellbeing
Making sure your garden is secured with fencing is key if you own a dog, to prevent them from escaping. For hot summer days, ensuring there’s a shady spot to escape to might be important as well. Do your best to keep your pets away from slugs and snails, as they can catch lungworm if they ingest an infected mollusc. If you need to use pest control to do this, there are plenty of natural, pet friendly alternatives to traditional pesticides! Find out more about lungworm here.
Keeping your pet safe from harm is always important, and hopefully we’ve given you one or two pointers of how to do so – whilst maintaining a beautiful garden! If you’re the proud owner of a dog or a cat, you might want to think about taking out pet insurance to help protect them. At The Insurance Emporium, we offer flexible Pet Insurance policies for both dogs and cats, with up to 30% discount* on policies! Head on down to The Insurance Emporium today to find out more!
* The 30% discount is made up of 20% Introductory Discount plus 10% Multi-pet Discount (if appropriate). The Introductory Discount is available for the first 12 premium payments on lunar and calendar monthly policies or one premium payment on annual policies.
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