Cats & Sweet Potato Vines

From grade school science project to a tantalizing side dish and attractive garden accent, the 'ipomoea batatas' (sweet potato) has long been the source of admiration and wonder. The vine itself is fun and easy to grow as a beautiful addition to window sills and hanging baskets and is considered safe if your cat is one that likes to nibble your indoor plants.

  1. Cats, Houseplants and Sweet Potato Vines

    • Many houseplants are toxic to cats, among them the popular asparagus fern, peace lily, philodendron and rubber plant but nibbling on your indoor sweet potato vine would at most result in an upset stomach, just as it would ingesting grass or catnip. Just to be on the safe side, it's always a good idea to keep houseplants out of reach of your pets.

    How to Grow a Sweet Potato Vine

    • It's easy to grow a sweet potato vine indoors. Suspend a potato in a jar of water (pointy end down) by inserting four toothpicks into the sides to hold it up and then watch the roots grow into the water. Soon enough, shoots will appear on the top half and the vines will grow long and lazy as far as you let them.

    The Sweet Potato Vine

    • When rooting to plant outdoors, cut a piece of runner about a foot long (called a slip) and remove all leaves except a few at the end. Cover the entire cutting except the leaves---it'll root at every node. Sweet potato vines make excellent ground cover because they spread quickly and grow in all types of soil.The benefit to letting to grow at will might be an occasional potato under the soil---look for thickened stems and then dig carefully around the time of the first frost.

      The sweet potato vine is considered invasive and for this reason should be confined to containers unless used as ground cover.

    Sweet Potato in Cat Food

    • While the vine itself has no nutritional value, the potato, or tuber part of the plant, is especially high in Vitamin A and is used in some cat foods as a source of wholesome nutrients and fiber. Combined with a protein source such as herring, salmon or duck, sweet potatoes contribute to foods that are hypoallergenic, all natural and easily digestible. Adding sweet potato to your cat's diet a few times a week has been known to be beneficial for those suffering kidney or gallbladder problems.

    Signs of Toxicity in Cats

    • A cat that has ingested a toxin may be thirsty, salivate excessively, vomit frequently, refuse to eat and in severe cases, may experience seizures. Contact your veterinarian if you think your cat has eaten something poisonous---treatment should be administered within 24 hours to lessen the threat of coma or death. If possible, take along a sample of the ingested material for identification and a more targeted treatment.