7 Herbs to Grow for Your Pets

7 Herbs to grow for your pets includes those which are suitable for horses, ponies, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs and tortoises. However, not all of the herbs are suitable for all of these pets, so I have noted which pets they’re not okay for. For example, small amounts of garlic and chives are fine for horses and ponies but not for the other pets I’ve included.

Important points

This is not intended as a herbal medicine guide. If you intend to give more than occasional small amounts of a fresh herb to your pets, then professional advice must be sought. This may be your vet, or a licensed animal herbalist.

Botanical Latin – of which more below – is crucial where edible herbs and plants are concerned.

Some pets are curious by nature and may be tempted to lick or chew plants. Others may have a sniff and then move on. Knowing your pet and – where possible – preventing them from coming into contact with herbs and plants that are not good for them, is just as important as knowing which plants are okay.

Not all pets are affected in the same way. Just as some humans are allergic to normally ‘safe’ foods, so too are pets. A plant which is generally deemed good for pets may cause an allergic reaction in some of our fur babies.

The herbs are meant for use fresh from the garden. However, some of the herbs could be dried for use during the winter.

Essential oils – it is advisable not to apply or use essential oils made even from the ‘safe’ herbs without professional direction. The oils are very concentrated and could do more harm than good.

Pregnant and lactating pets, or those with, for example, kidney, stomach and heart conditions, should not be fed anything other than their specific diet without taking professional advice.

7 Herbs to Grow for Your Pets

You may well be growing some or all of these herbs in your garden, but if not, perhaps you’d like to try them as they tend to be good for humans too. Unless stated otherwise, the herbs are good for horses, ponies, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, tortoises.

As well as the seven below, I’ve also separately looked at and hopefully clarified a couple of others for you. This is because there is a lot of misleading information online where the writers do not actually know about the plants.

Our first two on the list are annuals, the others are all perennial plants.

Basil
Coriander
Fennel
Lavender
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme

Basil

Ocimum basilicum, sweet basil, is grown as a a tender or sometimes half-hardy, annual herb. Although the flowers and stems are edible, it is grown primarily for the aromatic foliage. The older, larger leaves generally have a less strong taste.

Coriander

Cilantro, Coriander sativum, is another tender annual. It has a very pretty feathery foliage which, with the stems and flowers, are the parts eaten fresh from the garden. It’s not advisable to crush the seeds and offer these without correct advice.

Garden Teacher Tip

If you sow seeds of both basil and coriander at fortnightly intervals, starting indoors in mid – late March, you should have a good supply for humans and pets though to October. Sow outside from mid-May and carry on through to late August. Basil is easy to grow in pots, coriander needs more root depth, so taller pots are better.

Fennel

Foeniculum vulgare, both the green and bronze types are edible, but keep the amounts eaten small, especially when first offering it to your pet, as it can cause an upset tummy. It has a faint aniseed smell and taste so it’s often popular with dogs, who generally are less likely to have issues with eating it than cats, for example.

Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia is English lavender and the one you’re most likely to be growing in your garden. The other is Lavandula stoechas, French or Spanish lavender or sometimes called butterfly lavender.

This is one of our 7 herbs to grow for your pets where you may have read conflicting advice online. And I think the writers confusion may arise from muddling the essential oil with the shrub. For example, I’ve read descriptions from “Toxic! Even rubbing against the plant can harm your pet!” to “give freely, is highly beneficial”.

Certainly Lavender contains a small amount of a compound called linalool, which is toxic to many pets. However, a very large quantity of fresh lavender leaf would need to be eaten for there to be an effect. And that is generally unlikely. In fact a large quantity of any of the safe herbs could cause problems – overindulgence is not generally a good thing…

You may find that your pet rabbit isn’t keen on lavender as they tend not to like the smell – which is why it appears on my rabbit proof plants list!

Lavender stoechas

Rosemary

Salvia rosmarinus, Rosmarinus officinalis is another strong smelling herb. Which means that most pets won’t be interested in eating large amounts. This makes it a good, aromatic herb to add to your tortoise or rabbit enclosure as you’ll know it’s safe if a little bit gets nibbled. As a taller herb it offers shade too.

Sage

Salvia officinalis, in the usual green, golden purple and variegated forms are all acceptable. You yourself may find it a strong tasting herb, so don’t be surprised if guinea pigs squeak at it rather than chomp. Although I have found that offering a sage leaf to a dog who’s eaten something a bit smelly can help improve their breath (that’s probably the antimicrobial properties at work).

Thyme

Many plants are called thyme that aren’t the herb Thymus vulgaris, which is the one we want. This is another highly aromatic herb, and may not be a popular nibble for that reason. But you could try Thymus vulgaris thracicus which is known as lavender thyme (for the obvious reason)

And a bed of Woolly thyme, Thymus pseudolanguinosus, has been, in my experience of dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs having access to it, exactly that – a perfect, soft, scented, bed to snooze on. As its pretty much flower free, there aren’t any tempting bees to disturb the snooze either…

One of those non-thymus herbs is cat thyme, Teucrium marum or Chamaedrys marum. This is often suggested as an option for cats who don’t like the usual catnip, Nepeta cataria. Your rabbits won’t like it (yes it’s also on my rabbit proof plants list) but it does make a good companion plant in the vegetable garden.

7 herbs to grow for your pets

We’ve reached the bit about Botanical Latin – but please don’t skip this section! As you’ve read in the Thyme paragraph above, common names can be deceiving, and if you get it wrong you could have a seriously ill pet, be that a tortoise or a pony.

An example:

You may have read that marigolds are great for tortoises to eat. That is both true and not true. Why? Because more than one plant shares that common name. What is true is that Marigolds, Calendula species, are tasty for tortoises to eat; but Marigolds, Tagetes species, are toxic to them.

Now it makes sense! Both types of Marigold are sold as summer bedding plants and as companion plants for your vegetable garden, so be sure to buy the right one for your tortoise, or indeed for your other pets.

And remember herbs which are okay for rabbits may not suit your cat. The leaves of borage, Borago officinalis being one example. And again, check the Latin first, as starflower is a common name for borage, Trientalis borealis and Calytrix fraseri. These latter haven’t been proven as edible.

Oh and don’t panic

Reading a list of plants toxic to your fur baby might make you want to rip out most of your garden and be left with bare earth! For example, all parts of Narcissus, daffodils are toxic, especially the bulb to both humans and their pets. But most of us manage to grow them without any particular mishaps.

And finally

Hopefully 7 herbs to grow for your pets has given you some helpful tips and ideas to get growing and using your garden herbs. But if you’d like help with a pet friendly planting design or herb garden in your own garden, or have queries regarding your existing planting, do get in touch to ask about our design and consultancy services.

For further gardening advice and inspiration, ideas for bee friendly gardens and more, check out Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the selection below and our monthly Tipsheet You could come and find us on Instagram – @plewsgd Pinterest and Facebook too.

And on that note, you can have a peek at my new garden in the (new) Instagram account @spitfiresandslowworms and for those of you who prefer Facebook – Spitfires and Slow Worms

And if you’d like some personal help, we offer a mix of practical sessions and theory in our bespoke Gardening Lessons and Courses. There’s a blog link below plus a pdf download with more info