But not to slugs, snails, voles and deer?

I call carp on this.

Denis

What I have found is that ingestion causes stomach upset and possible bloat in dogs. No mention of death. My dogs ignore the few hosta they have access to, the hostas are staying in my yard. A life time of hosta and dogs, none of them ever showed any interest.

Sherry

I have hostas and dogs and cats. My cats sometimes sleep under the large hostas. None of my animals have ever shown any interest in eating them. I also have a lot of lilies and have never lost a cat to ingesting lilies.

We've had several Rottweilers over the years who'd think nothing of munching away on hostas, never saw as much as an upset stomach from any of them....

Pieter

Cleo didn't eat them, but had them in her mouth when she was still a pup. Although I lost many that she gave the "death shake" to, she was fine. My younger ones are big on sticks, as they like to chew them - green stuff, not so much.

My dogs pretty much ignore them unless there is a squirrel in them. and they have total access. I have to put a big container on the corners, as Dan likes to "anoint" them. I think that is a common problem with male dogs and hosta. If the pot is big enough, he gets the pot and not the hosta.

bk

Here's why they list this stuff as "toxic", which likely means they will throw it up.

"If your pet ingested this plant, contact your local veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at 888-426-4435.*

* A $65 consultation fee may apply."

Looks like a trick to get donations. I've never had a dog eat any of my Hostas.

Steve

The ASPCA lists anything as "Toxic" if it causes mild GI upset. I do not think Hostas can cause serious problems. The deer feast on it.

I've had cats, dogs, and hostas peacefully coexisting for 20+ years. This topic came up here for the first time I remember just a few months ago. I've never heard of any issues before.

Couldn't possibly be from drinking in a ditch, dirty fish pond rotting bone or anything like that either lol They can eat a fish hook and it dissolves from the acid in their stomach and as Ken said CARP haha

So it seems that the mammals rabbits, deer and humans eat hostas, some love to eat them even, but for the mammals cats and dogs it is poisonous? They might be allergic to them since they are carnivores, their stomachs are not designed to digest raw greenery, that might make sense.

It is probably no different to how dogs eat grass and throw up.

Trying to find out a little more it seems that the largest concentrations of saponin seem to be in buried roots, crowns and 'downtubes' (whatever the heck those are) which may refer to stems. Also, it seems, Sieboldiana have higher concentrations. Rabbits and deer leave the stems in my yard and Pieter's Rottweilers don't seem to have an appetite for them either and nothing bothers my Sieboldianas. In any event saponin is said to have a bitter taste / smell that repels some animals (if not all). Maybe the natural distaste and the location of the greatest amount of this toxic chemical explains a lot.

My dog eats grass all the time and has shown zero interest in chomping on hosta. If she suddenly started chomping on my Sieboldiana (especially the stems and dug up the roots) or hybrids of Sieboldiana I would keep an eye on her for sure.

There doesn't seem to be any cases of actual poisoning and simply finding the 'toxin' has raised a precautionary alarm even though any risks seem very small. Hosta have a long-long history and it would seem any possible poisoning would be well known. So, don't go ripping out your hosta on Fido's account.

Thanks to all for your input. I'll stop worrying. Definitely NOT going to get rid of any hostas since my dog shows zero interest in eating them. He does eat grass occasionally and one other plant I've noticed he seems to really like - Japanese Forest Grass (Hakone Grass) which I'm going to transplant to the front yard where he can't get at it. It's never made him sick though. There have been occasions of unexplained vomiting that I'll chalk up to (secret)
nibbling of other potential "toxic" plants that are scattered throughout my garden. Or maybe he found a rancid dead mouse.

That is such a marvelous picture of your pup!

Agree-our dogs don't eat my hostas-trample, lie down on, wrestle across them, but eat them...nah.

As noted, some will find warnings an easy way to shirk responsibility, but I suggest this is only veterinarian-driven for their behalf and not reality.

Gardeners know better than to listen to armchair regulators without true knowledge, although we should respect all chemicals which we as humans are exposed to.

I prefer to live and learn with chemicals. Happen to be a chemical engineer by degree so maybe that happens over time??

Understanding the implied (and incorrect) toxicity question, you would not breathe our air or drink our water, but alas I am still alive and well.

I have not heard of any animals - cats or dogs - getting sick from hosta in the 50 years growing, selling and giving them away as gifts.

Certainly rabbits, deer, groundhogs, squirrels, dogs and cats eat hosta and flourish!

The sky still falling in Adrian, ken?

PS: I do have a sign in my garden saying "Please feed your dogs and cats before they enter my garden".

Bruce

I like to borrow and modify their ASPCA website tag line for better clarity on growing hosta for fun and enjoyment:

we fight for growing hosta; will you join our fight!

UPDATE: I have just received my first donation to start the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Hosta Gardeners From Dogs and Cats (ASPCHGFDC)!

Any volunteers for the first board?

Can I borrow some hostas in an attempt to poison all the cats that invade my yard ? :)

no, no, we want to prevent cruelty to hosta gardeners. Cats and Dogs are their beloved pets.

Oh, it's the invaders we are after; ok, I would go with ventricosa or lancifolia, as they are fast growers and can defend large areas from those pesky invaders!

CAUTON!

Hosta contain Saponin which has been found to be toxic by California law; werasdumasitgets #9,002,847,002. Hosta cannot be sold to anyone with a dog, cat or child under 8....not necessarily in that order. Do not eat, lick or handle without washing your hands thoroughly for 25 minutes before eating or petting a pet or handling a child.

Jon- Good one!

-Babka

Yes, rather typical of the governmental intervention in lives.

Great, I just licked some Saponin.

Don, you better get to a vet quick!

but only if it came from growing hosta, with dogs and cats around.

Otherwise it is a growth stimulant!

The Butterfly Ginger peeps may have something to do with the negative publicity too.

Yes they can be very toxic especially for some dogs. http://pets.thenest.com/hosta-plants-dangerous-dogs-ingested-4807.html

I have always trained all of my dogs not to eat garden plants, period. Non negotiable.

SO much easier than keeping track of any dangers specific to various plants.

I never an issue with hostas and Our dogs until our third puppy. We only had her two days, she was just under 8 weeks and she spent two days in the vet for biting a hosta plant. The sap is very poisonous and if ingested can cause diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration and gastrointestinal issues. Thankfully We took her as soon as we saw symptoms but due to her age and size it could have killed her. It’s no joke!

This past spring, my Basenji/Jack Russel mix ate the tips off all my sprouting hosta. As far as I know, he didn't get sick. He kept going back for more. In fact, I had to put them out of his reach until they matured a little bit. He's a rescue. Given his delight in eating vegetables (cauliflower is his favorite) and fruit (sweet apples are his favorite), I think the previous owner might have been a vegetarian.

Given hosta are edible for humans, I find it hard to believe they are "very poisonous" for dogs. As I posted four years ago, Cleo liked to give them the death shake, which involved "biting" the plants. She didn't have any symptoms. They can pretty much eat anything people can.

JMHO

I have had “yard” cats for 14 years. None eat hosta. They occasionally nibble on plants in the garden and chew on grasses intentionally to help them throw up hairballs. They love to lie under the hostas for shade in the summer. None have died as a result.

debra

.My wolfdog has enjoyed rubbing ber head in it occasionally and today she ripped the stems from the plant with her teeth. She has no symptoms of being poisoned by it but I'm worried

Jackson is now two and just fine. As I stated last year, he ate the all the tips out of all my sprouting hosta. He had no symptoms.

In most cases, dogs are smarter than to eat something toxic. The same dog that ate the hosta pips loves coffee. My late spouse told me that coffee was toxic to dogs and not to let him have anymore. I looked it up, and yes, coffee can be toxic to dogs. It would take 10 cups of coffee to make him sick, since he weighs about 20 pounds.

Relax, she would probably have to eat 10 pounds of it to make her the least bit sick. She didn't eat it, she just touched it with her teeth. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Cleo gave a bunch of hosta the "death shake". She's now eight years old and just fine. She never had any symptoms, although I would have liked to have given her some symptoms at the moment I found them.

A lot of people just love to pass on some tidbit of alarming information, but don't look into it before hitting that "submit" button.

bkay