It's true, though the apple tree was only about 8" tall to begin with!
Anyway, I think that I'll have a whole new bunch of gray hairs soon! Gray Baby (our kids named him) is one of our cats. He came from a feral litter of kittens that we fostered and we weren't supposed to get attached to (hence the generic name)...but of course, we did & he stayed. He's 8 y/o now and recovering from fatty liver syndrome, so he's delicate (though at 15# he sure doesn't look it). Today I caught him standing on the kitchen counter eating all of the leaves (8 or 10 of them) & 1/2 the stem off of our son's prized baby apple tree that was growing in the kitchen window. After searching the web, calling our vet, our back up vet & the emergency vet in the nearest city I still couldn't find any real info about whether or not apple tree leaves were toxic, just that the apple seeds are toxic. So I just called the ASPCA Poison Hotline. Thank goodness he's going to be fine but it took me almost 45 minutes all together (hold time at ASPCA, too) & $60 to find out. Sigh....I love that kitty and now I'm worn out and ready for a nap.
Oh & our son is not happy about his tree (he started it from a seed), but it looks like it will probably make it too. Though it lost almost all it's leaves & almost 1/2 it's height so it will take it some time & extra careful handling to get it to recover. It won't be recovering within Gray Baby's reach, either!