In order to get a picture of the difference between soluble fertilizers and organic fertilizers, imagine cell membranes as the fabric chain link fences are made of. Soluble fertilizers moving through cell walls might be considered something like you pushing ping pong balls through the holes in the fence, while organic molecules are more like trying to push basketballs through. The basketballs would have to be broken down into smaller pieces before they would fit. If there is no one standing by to break the basketballs down (if there are reduced populations of soil biota to break down the large organic molecules) no basketball parts get through. MG houseplant fertilizer is probably not a good choice. I believe the % of NPK is 8-7-6, or very close to that. Plants actually use about 6x more N than P and about 1.5x more N than K. If you choose a soluble fertilizer, you would be better served with something in a 3:1:2 ratio. 24-8-16, 12-4-8, and 9-3-6 are all very popular 3:1:2 ratio soluble fertilizers. Dyna-Gro makes 9-3-6 Foliage-Pro soluble. It's not easy to find, but it's the best I've seen because it also includes Ca and Mg (usually lacking in commonly found soluble blends like MG, Peters, Schultz .....), and it contains all the essential elements in the ratio plants need for normal growth and in a very favorable ratio to each other, also an important consideration. Al

I won't keep poinsettias because of the cats though my BFF got me a gorgeous hand painted one (a place here does some really cool things with them) when we had our old kitchen so I put it on a pretty inaccessible counter next to the stove. In our new kitchen, I'm finding paw prints on the range in the morning, or after returning home, and some things knocked off counters--so apparently there are no safe places for one now! As for a tree--we haven't had one since losing our much loved previous cats, who never, ever touched the tree (ok, two years in a row, when we stayed in PA a few nights to spend Christmas with DH's family, we came home to find one small, lightweight brass ornament that had been hanging on or near a bottom branch just sitting on the floor between the tree and the door to our condo, but that was it). They'd sleep under or next to the tree, tried to drink the water in the stand if it wasn't covered by the cloth we used as a tree skirt, but never bothered the tree or the ornaments. The two we have now--I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them! One especially. She jumps up and either bats at or rips off the flower buds on my hibiscuses which we recently brought in for the winter. Can you imagine what she'd do with a Christmas tree and all those tempting ornaments? *sigh* someday I'll see my ornaments again, LOL!

Cindy putting the tile on the wall makes sense...my dog is always pushing doors open with her face...wonder how tile on the door would look :-) I don't plan on having doggie doors...can't because I live in Florida and my breed of choice is the english bulldog. My dogs have all been sun bunnies and then can hardly breathe...I have to keep them inside almost all summer. I know we will always have dogs and always have our breed, it just makes sense to design with them in mind. For instance, we have decided on a one story, because the dogs are not great with steps, especially when they get older. The bedrooms will be carpeted so they have an easier time jumping onto the bed. I think we will go with some sort of textured tile throughout the rest of the house. We will never have a nice picture perfect house with nice white floors and pretty furniture thats always spotless. Our dogs drool and slobber...its inevitable that there will be spots on the floor and hair on the carpet and couches. But I would not have it any other way.

@subtropix Its not stupidity of the animal; things just happen sometimes. I, very ironically, have personal and numerous experiences with this. I am a certified veterinary tech and have practiced for years. I am currently attending college to get my DVM. You would be surprised what animals eat. I just took care of a cat last Tuesday for eating lilies, a notoriously poisonous plant (the whole species, actually) for cats. Last year, my dog ate a good portion of an onion, which causes basophilic stippling (poison of the white blood cells). A dog came in two months ago who not only ate a whole bag of grapes, which causes renal failure, but half of his neighbor's azalea bush, which is a majorly toxic plant, all within half an hour. Yesterday, a dog came in with three Littlest Petshop figurines in his intestines. The moral of all of this is that crap happens. Sometimes, animals eat things. Why? Heck if anyone knows. But they do. If your animals did not have any inclination to eat plants (or plastic animals), that is absolutely wonderful; but, people should not just assume their animal would not try it, because there are always going to be exceptions. I do not wish to tempt fate, especially when my gliders have shown a strong inclination to venture on trees and scratch and bite at them, as they would have done in the wild in order to take care of their nails and teeth. Ficus, particularly noted the benjamina, has sap/juice that can cause minor to major (relatively; my animals are very small) skin rashes, irritation, and if wounded by it, can cause large, painful blisters for them. Can you understand why I would not risk it in good conscious? Thank you though for the opinion on the camellias. I've decided not to grow them as inside plants. @Dave Subspecies of species can change dependent on where they are geographically and the features that affect their day to day lives (predation, food supply, competition, etc.). This is true for all animals and plants. So it isn't far-fetched to believe that a different subspecies can hold different traits, such as poison in order for protection. For example, the urtica diocia is known commonly as the stinging nettle, has 6 subspecies, where only 5 of them actually sting you (with hypodermic hairs that inject histamines and other chemicals). The 1 leftover can not harm you. Another example would be butterflies; some are poisonous due to the predators that live in that specific area. And I was just making a comment on my zone. That is all. I do realize that inside growing isn't really affected by your zone. Like I stated above, ficus, particularly noted the benjamina, has sap/juice that can cause minor to major (relatively, my animals are very small) skin rashes, irritation, and if wounded by it, can cause large, painful blisters for gliders. And thank you for the suggestion of stating more of what I was looking for. I should've done that, and I will certainly remember that for next time. I've decided to go with some air purifying plants instead of a tree, due to construction in the building and what definitely smells like formaldehyde lingering everywhere. Thank you all for your suggestions and time.