My cat ate all the leaves off my tomato plants. Will they grow back?
Cat nibbled all the leaves off these Roma tomatoes I just potted up. Didn’t pull any plants up, though. Will they keep growing?
by pineconeminecone
19 Comments
ShinyHoothoot
Should be fine, roots are more important
NerdizardGo
Probably best to start some new seeds. I don’t know how likely it is that these will recover, but they will definitely be stunted. New seeds will probably outpace these pretty quickly.
lorus99
And.
StereotypicalChicken
Keep an eye on your cat in case it starts showing signs of poison. Tomato plants can be toxic to cats in large amounts
Rapidfire1960
Doubtful. Any tomato plants that young usually shrivel and die if they lose their leaves. Plant some new seeds in the same cups. Best case scenario, you get multiple plants to transplant.
Sleeprr1966
Possibly if the leaf nodes are still intact. My cats did that to my pepper plants 😠😠😠 and about half came back.
I bought some cat grass from Amazon and now they attack than instead
InternationalYam3130
Its possible some come back but unlikely. The plants are too small, don’t have any reserve energy stored to come back from
Ornery-Creme-2442
If there is a node then yes. If it’s below the seedling leaves there will be no node. And they’ll die.
kookiemaster
Some might survive. My pointy eared giraffed did the same to kale and beets. I had to cat proof mybgrow rack. My condolences.
Tsiatk0
Even if they do, they’ll be pretty stunted and your harvest will probably be trash. I’d start new seeds.
Technical-Finding420
I would be more worried about the cat. Tomato plants can be toxic to both cats and dogs. Keep an eye on your baby!
I honestly cheat with tomato plants and buy them already blooming at the gardening store every spring. For the life of me, I can start everything but tomatoes!🫣
Flaks_24
Good question! Let us know what happens
DehydratedAntelope89
Grow some oatgrass for your cat
FeistyComputer1757
This happened to me a few years ago. My cat was fine (and he has a really sensitive stomach) and some of the tomatoes grew back
Davekinney0u812
I was always told tomatoes leaves are toxic to pets. Proved that wrong! Maybe keep a few of the less chewed ones but these are very young seedlings so maybe best to start over with a few. It’s getting a bit late in the game for planting tomato seed so I would get going.
Seamonsterx
My cat almost died nibbling on tomato leaves. He vomited profusely and got really large pupils, stopped eating any food and got really dehydrated. Had to spend a day at the vet.
lilCharizardScorch
They got my pepper plants too 😭😭
gnossos_p
We grew cat mint for our felines and with only one exception, they loved it.
aremagazin
Start new seeds or buy seedlings at this point. Your plants, even if they survive, will not be ideal. Do you have a plan for how to protect your new plants from your cat cause she’ll just eat the new stuff, too.
19 Comments
Should be fine, roots are more important
Probably best to start some new seeds. I don’t know how likely it is that these will recover, but they will definitely be stunted. New seeds will probably outpace these pretty quickly.
And.
Keep an eye on your cat in case it starts showing signs of poison. Tomato plants can be toxic to cats in large amounts
Doubtful. Any tomato plants that young usually shrivel and die if they lose their leaves. Plant some new seeds in the same cups. Best case scenario, you get multiple plants to transplant.
Possibly if the leaf nodes are still intact. My cats did that to my pepper plants 😠😠😠 and about half came back.
I bought some cat grass from Amazon and now they attack than instead
Its possible some come back but unlikely. The plants are too small, don’t have any reserve energy stored to come back from
If there is a node then yes. If it’s below the seedling leaves there will be no node. And they’ll die.
Some might survive. My pointy eared giraffed did the same to kale and beets. I had to cat proof mybgrow rack. My condolences.
Even if they do, they’ll be pretty stunted and your harvest will probably be trash. I’d start new seeds.
I would be more worried about the cat. Tomato plants can be toxic to both cats and dogs. Keep an eye on your baby!
I honestly cheat with tomato plants and buy them already blooming at the gardening store every spring. For the life of me, I can start everything but tomatoes!🫣
Good question! Let us know what happens
Grow some oatgrass for your cat
This happened to me a few years ago. My cat was fine (and he has a really sensitive stomach) and some of the tomatoes grew back
I was always told tomatoes leaves are toxic to pets. Proved that wrong! Maybe keep a few of the less chewed ones but these are very young seedlings so maybe best to start over with a few. It’s getting a bit late in the game for planting tomato seed so I would get going.
My cat almost died nibbling on tomato leaves. He vomited profusely and got really large pupils, stopped eating any food and got really dehydrated. Had to spend a day at the vet.
They got my pepper plants too 😭😭
We grew cat mint for our felines and with only one exception, they loved it.
Start new seeds or buy seedlings at this point. Your plants, even if they survive, will not be ideal.
Do you have a plan for how to protect your new plants from your cat cause she’ll just eat the new stuff, too.