One possible solution to the dizziness in the house thing

[xiphias]

Plants. Plants filter and clean the air. And someone's published lists of houseplants that are particularly good at filtering out formaldehyde, benzine, and trichloroethylene, which are, apparently, the indoor pollutants most common, and most likely to cause the things which have been making me wobbly.

There are also lists of plants which are toxic to cats.

I cross-referenced them.

Here is the complete list of plants which filter out toxins and are not themselves toxic to cats:
-Spider plant
-Bamboo Palm
-Gerbera Daisy

I begin to wonder if the reason that many of the plants which are toxic to cats ARE toxic to cats is that they encapsulate and hold large amounts of formaldehyde, benzine, or trichloroethylene.

Fortunately, spider plants are really easy to care for, and bamboo palms are nice-looking, but gerbera daisies don't do much for me, are somewhat trickier to care for than I was hoping for, and are the more important ones since they deal with benzine and trichloroethylene, while spider plants and bamboo palms are mainly good for formaldehyde.

So, when we get back into the house, it's off to the greenhouse for us, I suppose. See if that helps things.

Comments

[brooksmoses]

I wonder if it would be worthwhile to build some smallish screen boxes (with grow-lights inside; even window screen makes a lot of shade) to put some of the other plants that deal with benzine and trichloroethylene but are toxic to cats inside. If that's easier than caring for the gerbera daisies, it might be.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Oh, please understand that "easy to care for" is a relative term. It's not like gerbera daisies are THAT difficult. It's just that they're more difficult than spider plants are. In other words, it's possible to kill them through neglect, which is tricky with spider plants. . .

Spider plants

[ailbhe]

We killed dozens, in our flat in London. I now wonder if it was a Very Very Toxic Flat, as the one we have now is still alive, and the only one that didn't die in the flat was in a plastic bag under a bookcase for 6 weeks, ie with almost no light or air.

Re: Spider plants

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Those brave, brave spider plants -- to nobly throw themselves on the Very Very Toxic air to try to spare you!

Re: Spider plants

[(Anonymous)]

Actually, the air in your London flat probably didn't kill the spider plants. NASA and others have actually done studies to see whether cleaning toxins out of the air killed or damaged plants, and found that the plants were fine. I'm guessing that the plant which survived did so because the plastic bag created a more humid environment, thus preserving the available water supply for a longer period.

- Felis Sidus

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

Do you think you might be able to get your insurance company to spring for an air purifier (the mechanical kind, that is)? I've heard some of them work wonders, and they have the advantages of needing little maintenance and (one assumes) being completely unappealing to cats.

There's a website called AlerG, which I've ordered from before, and which seems to have a good selection of them. They're not exactly cheap, though.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Apparently, they work less well than plants do. Plants move the air around and filter it, but then they metabolically break down the organic chemicals. Air filters just encapsulate the stuff, which isn't as useful.

Plus, the plants are cheaper, smell nice, and are generally prettier than the air filters.

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

I've heard that tea, as in the dried leaves, will absorb a lot of toxic cruddy fumes.

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

Have you thought about also including some plain old grass? My experience with our cats sniffing around our houseplants, and me not knowing if they were toxic or not, was that what they really needed was grass.

They still sniff the other plants, and it takes a little while of monitoring until they learn that the grass is the good stuff, but they only chew the grass now. Usually with the most fabulously blissed-out expressions on their faces.

It also helps if you can have the grass on an easy-to-clean surface, because they sometimes bring it straight up again (often with a hairball in tow, which I believe is the whole point of the exercise.)

[navrins]

You might want to double-check the spider-plants-not-being-toxic-to-cats thing. I think I have heard that they are. My information should not be assumed to have any confidence value at all, though.

Also, to get spider plants you don't really need a greenhouse - most people with spider plants have spares. They're like rabbits, except you can't spay them. (Though I suppose most spider-plant-owners aren't likely to be able to supply them in quantity on short notice, and you'll still need pots and dirt and stuff, so I guess you'll need to make a trip anyway.)

spider plants and cats

[(Anonymous)]

Nope, definitely not poisonous to cats. This is per several feline-based organizations, including a veterinary poison hotline. Also per my cat, who ate about 20 of them over a period of months, with no ill effect. It's very hard to protect an innocent spider plant from a really determined feline! - Felis Sidus

[cheshyre]

So, when before we get back into the house, it's off to the greenhouse for us

[goljerp]

I don't know what's in the "cleaning chemicals" that are being used, but I would be surprised if they're using benzene... I mean, that's a known carcinogen now. Tolulene, maybe. Or did you really mean benzine, and it's just been too long since I've been in a lab for that to register with me? Hmm... better check the CRC... OK, in the list of organic compounds, Benzine isn't found. Now, I don't have an Aldrich catalogue here, but I guess I could google... hmm... found a link to a page that suggests that benzine is a petroleum distillate. Or it could be an alternate spelling. I'm going to write about benzene.

OK, looking at the "Threashold limit values for airborne contaminants" table (page 16-19 in the 71st edition of the CRC (90-91), formaldehyde is listed as being a known/suspected carcinogen, with 1 ppm ; trichloroethylene also a known/suspected carcinogen with 50 ppm; benzene the same with 10 ppm. Note that this data is from a 1989 paper, so is a bit out of date...

Ooh, wait, 16-36 has a list of chemical carcinogens. Benzene is listed as known carcinogen by IARC, NTP, NIOSH, and regulated by OSHA; Formaldehyde got more mixed reviews - proven carcinogenic in animals according to IARC, reasonable to suspect as being carcinogenic by NTP, ACGIH, proven by NIOSH, and regulated by OSHA. Trichloroethylene is just listed as carcinogenic by NIOSH, regulated by OSHA.

Again, this is from old research; nothing could possibly be later than '90, and in fact most of it is, in fact, from the mid '80s. Now, the point of this was not to make you crazy, nor was it just an excuse to drag the CRC off the shelf and start quoting statistics at you. Well, maybe a bit of the latter two. But also, if a "cleaning" company is really using substances which were known carcinogens 12 years ago in their "cleaning", something is seriously wrong... even if they're using small amounts. There are other solvents, like e.g. Tolulene and Acetone, which share some of the useful properties of Benzene, but aren't as toxic. (I don't feel like taking the CRC down from the shelf again).

Of course, this doesn't help the fact that whatever the heck they used is making you sick. But maybe you should also add some plants which aren't on the "filtering toxic" list, but aren't toxic to cats... as long as you're at the greenhouse...