Hi katlady, you are not being paranoid. This is a good question which all pet owners should ask. It depends on the grower, but many who do use some sort of pesticide will state it in their ads. There are quite a few who I do buy from on ebay that use pesticides. Are they toxic to animals? I am not sure, but you can always contact the seller and ask.

I do not use any chemicals or toxic substances to grow my plants. But in large greenhouses this may be the only option to keep pests at bay.

Hi Katlady,
I have a drastic solution to your problem. I had a friend who always bought plants and to discourage bringing any bugs or disease into his collection, he would take off two leaves and grow the plant from scratch. His new plants were always clean and free of any toxic chemicals. After he removed the leaves he wanted he would give the plant away. Sounds crazy I know but as I said before, his plants were always clean and free of chemicals.
Fred in NJ

Because soil mealy bug is so rampant in my part of the country, I put Marathon in every plant that goes out and every plant that comes in.

I don't think Marathon acts as a systemic but I will have to mention this in my ads. Thanks for bringing up the subject.

Nancy

Thank you all for your replies. It gives me food for thought. Does anybody know, on average, how long a systemic chemical would stay potent in the leaves. I could certainly keep plants on a high shelf for a time where the cats couldn't reach them. But once I repotted them, could I feel fairly certain the residue would be gone?
As you might guess, I'm an overprotective cat Mom.