Do Cats Like Milkweed

Silky Gold tropical milkweed is healthier than scarlet in this area.

Do cats like milkweed. If Milkweed is a host they may be competing for Milkweed leaves with the Monarch caterpillars. Milkweed Asclepias spp is a group of common herbaceous ornamentals that are an essential food source for caterpillars of the monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus. CATS CAN BE RAISED ON A COMBINATION OF MILKWEED AND SQUASH FROM EARLY INSTARS if you baby them I checked on them every couple of hours during the day but they are more susceptible to disease than cats raised on all milkweed.

Dont forget about adult butterflies too. Generally for single leaves its every other day or so based off of one leaf per small cat and for cuttings it all depends on how many you have eating milkweed. Caterpillars can drop off of plants if disturbed.

One monarch caterpillar can eat an entire milkweed plant in the 10-14 days before it turns into a chrysalis. Pinch the very tip of a leaf and carefully turn it over without shaking the plant. They chirp or purr as well.

You really want to keep the milkweed fresh for your cats for fresh food means a healthy Monarch butterfly someday. If you were a deer grazing in a salad bowl of vegetation you might bite off a Milkweed occasionally but if you got a mouthful of white sticky latex on your tongue every time you would definitely prefer to eat something else. Theyre endearing ubiquitous easy to identify and we have a special relationship with them.

A female monarch can lay 300-500 eggs over the span of two-five weeks. Last week I noticed this fellow noshing on a pot of Swamp milkweed Asclepias incarnata. Honeyvine milkweed Cynanchum laeve and butterfly milkweed Asclepias tuberosa.

Photo by Monika Maeckle. But theres a at least three other caterpillars that eat milkweed for breakfast lunch and dinner. It revealed that cats can understand their owners voice and they pay attention when talked to.