Is Kalanchoe toxic to dogs?

The plant contains cardiac glycosides that can interfere with heart function, though it primarily causes gastrointestinal irritation in most cases.

The 2004 toxicology brief describes treatment as symptomatic and supportive, meaning vets treat the signs and support the body. If your dog has no signs yet, the vet may make it vomit and then give activated charcoal. Vets give IV fluids, manage vomiting and stomach upset, and keep the dog as quiet as possible to avoid extra stress on the heart. Today's Veterinary Practice advises monitoring heart rhythm, blood pressure and electrolytes, such as potassium, in any pet with signs, and treating rhythm problems with antiarrhythmic drugs. It recommends an antidote made for digoxin poisoning (digoxin-specific antibody fragments, sold as Digibind or DigiFab) when blood potassium is high or rhythm problems don't respond to standard treatment. The 2004 brief said it was unknown whether these antibodies bind kalanchoe's toxins, while the Merck Veterinary Manual says they work well for heart toxins from plants in general.

Today's Veterinary Practice says the outlook is excellent if only mild stomach and gut signs develop, and guarded if significant heart signs or a high blood potassium level develop. For heart-toxin plants in general, the Merck Veterinary Manual puts the outlook for a pet with severe signs at guarded to good with access to the antidote, and guarded to poor without it. The 2004 toxicology brief notes that published reports of kalanchoe poisoning in small animals are rare, and none of the sources used here gives survival figures for dogs.

• Kalanchoe (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana), a popular flowering houseplant also called florist kalanchoe, Christmas kalanchoe or Madagascar widow's-thrill. It is a compact succulent of the stonecrop family (Crassulaceae). It has thick, glossy, dark green leaves with scalloped edges, and large clusters of tiny red, orange, yellow, pink or white flowers. A 2004 veterinary toxicology brief calls it the most common ornamental kalanchoe in the United States.
• Holiday gifts. Florists can make kalanchoe bloom at any time of year, and red kalanchoes are popular Christmas gifts. Because it is kept as a houseplant all year, pets can eat it in any season.
• Related kalanchoes, such as mother of millions or chandelier plant (Kalanchoe delagoensis) and devil's backbone (Kalanchoe daigremontiana). Many kalanchoes grow tiny plantlets in the notches along their leaf edges. Mother of millions has narrow, gray-green leaves with reddish-brown spots, and dangling bell-shaped flowers in a cluster that looks like a chandelier. Pet Poison Helpline lists the names chandelier plant, devil's backbone, mother-in-law plant, mother of millions and mother of thousands under kalanchoe.
• Gardens, and the wild in warm climates. Kalanchoes are used in landscaping, and some have escaped from gardens and grow wild, especially in Florida and Hawaii. Mother of millions has become invasive in some parts of the world: its plantlets fall off, root easily and can come up in your other pots or on the ground.
• Every part of the plant. Its heart toxins, called bufadienolides (a kind of cardiac glycoside), are found in all parts of the plant but are most concentrated in the flowers.

• Keep kalanchoe where your dog or cat can't reach it, or in a room your pets don't go into. NC State Extension advises keeping it out of reach of dogs and cats.
• If you receive a kalanchoe as a gift, put it out of your pets' reach straight away. Red kalanchoes are popular Christmas gifts, and florists can make the plant bloom at any time of year.
• Pick up fallen flowers and the dead flowers you trim off, and throw them away where your pets can't get them. The toxins are most concentrated in the flowers.
• If you grow mother of millions or another kalanchoe that forms plantlets on its leaf edges, pick up the plantlets that drop. They root easily and can come up in your other pots or on the ground.
• Before you bring home a new succulent or flowering plant, check the scientific name on its label and look it up in the ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants list.