About Leaf & Paw
I’m Anastasia, a cat and animal lover, indoor plant parent and, finally-able-to-call-myself, plant blogger. I live with my husband, three cats, small animal zoo, and over 100 houseplants in New York.
As an animal-lover and plant hoarder, I created Leaf & Paw to provide information, inspiration, and thoughts about my two favorite things. You’ll find information about toxic and non-toxic houseplants for pets, plant care, and I may even bore you with my ever-growing plant collection.
Meet Harlequinn.
Harlequinn, our all-black cat, came to us a few days before Halloween in 2011. Obviously lost, she stared at us through our window for a few hours, meowing at an unbearable pitch and we chose to take her in. Immediately passing out on the couch, we decided to keep her. Harlequinn did give us both a fright after eating a certain plant and is actually my inspiration for this blog. Like most cats, Harlequinn likes eating stringy plants and palm trees, meowing loudly at 4am, my husband better than me for some reason, and catnip.
Meet Harvey.
Harvey was adopted in 2013 at the SPCA. She immediately fell into my lap and purred like a small motor and I knew she needed to come home with me. Harvey actually loves when I pick up my camera and is more accommodating than Harlequinn, which is why she appears in more photos. Almost always, Harvey enjoys her picture taken, anything filled with catnip, hugging/terrorizing her sister, and snuggles. And turkey. She loves turkey.
Meet Henrietta.
Henrietta was my first hedgehog. She passed away from breast cancer in 2017 which was one of the hardest experiences I’ve ever gone through. Henrietta was adopted in 2016 and meant the world to me. She loved mealworms and always sat on my lap while I wrote and researched blog posts for many hours at a time.
Meet Simon.
I picked up Simon in January of 2017, he was surrendered by his owner who became allergic to him. This little man had no teeth and ran miles every night on his wheel. Simon liked hanging out with Harlequinn and Harvey and watching Parks and Recreation reruns with his mother – that’s me. He passed away in 2018 at age six, which is very elderly for a hedgehog.
I absolutely love your blog. We share our home with four cats and three dogs. Plus an assortment of plants. My largest fiddleleaf is eight feet tall, and our cats love sleeping in the huge flower pot. You are so right cats love all the tall plants, a mini jungle!
Thanks for the kind words, Dara! I fully believe all cats love jungles.
So sorry about Henrietta. A vet friend in another city in Québec lost a Siamese to breast cancer – remember that they have multiple breasts, so they suffer terribly.
My Livia is a very small pure black stray with green eyes, perfectly healthy now as far as I can tell. She is so small that we thought she was a half-grown kitten, but the my vet (here in Montréal) told us she was 2. I love plants too, and have just brought home a new peperomia with leaves that look like bunches of green beans.
We are all SO sick of the winter this year!
Livia sounds lovely! And yes, winter takes a toll on everyone, maybe that’s why I buy more houseplants in the winter – it gives me hope for spring!
So sweet we had a black and white kitty ride home 25 miles in the wheel well of our car on September 20,2019. She was maybe 4 weeks old. We took care of her and at 1 yrs old we gave her to our cousin who has 8 cats and 2 or 3 dogs. She is taking special care with kitty to get her used to her clan but it’s been 5 weeks now and Binx is only touching noses. Is it normal to be taking so long for her to adjust. Thanks for your feedback on the rubber plant
How long should it take a 1 yr old kitty to adjust to a new home with 8 other cats
My very first monstera and I’m seeing a node and wondering whether i should try propogating. my whole plant have 6 leaves.. and seeing 1 node from the newest leaf. should i go for it? what would happen to the mother leaf and will it grow back from where i did the cutting.
Hi Mary, I would wait until your plant is more mature. You’re plant will benefit from propagation when there are more leaves, just propagating with 6 leaves won’t hurt the plant, but more leaves, I’d say 12+ is ideal. If you do propagate, the mother plant will just pump out new leaves horizontal from where you cut.
thank you so much.. il take ur advice and wait?
Hi
I changed the soil of my monstera 1 month back since it was potted in just coco peat when i got it.. changed to monstera potting mix and after a month am seeing roots growing out of drain holes. what should i do? and another problem am worried about is leaves yellowing.. it had 4 leaves when i got it and it grew 2 more but the oldest & smallest ones yellowed first (one by one) and fell off and now the varigated older one is beginning to change colour on its edges, its going to start yellowing am sure.. what could i do? its been in the same spot getting bright indirect light and i water like once a week when the soil goes dry.. waiting for your reply..
Thanks
Hi Masha, The change in soil may have shocked him a bit, which is why some leaves have yellowed. Coco peat holds water differently than soil so you may be overwatering too. The roots growing out of the bottom isn’t an issue – the leaves yellowing is and sounds like overwatering. Let him dry out and really monitor the soil moisture before you water, water when only quite dry. You can also remove those yellow leaves, those won’t come back. Also running a humidifier will help those edges from crisping.
I discovered your blog today and I’m loving it!!! (I’m very new in this “having plants” universe :B). Also: I looove Parks and Recreation 🙂 Have a great week!
Love your blog so much! Thankyou for all your tips and tricks 🙂
Great blog, lovely pets. I have two cats, one husband and too many houseplants. I’ve learnt a lot about tradescantia today, which has massively helped with my school gardening club, so thank you. Your hedgehog photos are gorgeous but I am totally in love with Harvey.