While their feline friend’s constant leaping and jumping might be a menace at times, cat parents cannot imagine their lives without the constant purring and meowing, and that’s why their cat’s well-being is every pet parent’s top priority. Besides ensuring adequate nutrition and regular vet visits, taking specific safety measures around cats is essential to avoid potential mishaps. For instance, certain foods, although seemingly harmless, can be toxic to cats and must be avoided:
Citrus fruits
All citrus fruits, including lemons, oranges, grapefruit, and limes, should be kept away from cats. These fruits contain citric acid and essential oils, which can cause severe digestive and other health issues, including central nervous system depression if consumed by cats over long periods.
Grapes and raisins
Grapes can be toxic to cats, even in small quantities, though the exact reason for their toxicity to cats is unclear. A cat typically vomits within 12-24 hours of having grapes or raisins and may also exhibit other signs of toxicity, such as diarrhea, loss of appetite, and decreased urine output.
Chocolate
Chocolate contains methylxanthines, which can trigger digestive problems like nausea and vomiting among cats. Increased thirst, muscle tremors, high body temperature, and irregular heartbeat are other poisoning symptoms due to chocolate among cats.
Onions
Onions can cause oxidative damage to a cat’s red blood cells, preventing oxygen supply to different body organs. Thus, onion bulbs, flowers, and stems should be kept out of reach of cats.
Garlic
It has been demonstrated that garlic is five times more toxic than onions to cats. Thus, cat parents should ensure that not only the different parts of the garlic plant but also preparations containing garlic are kept away from cats. Some common symptoms of garlic poisoning among cats include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, and weakness.
Macadamia nuts
Macadamia nuts can cause symptoms of toxicity among dogs as well as cats, triggering lethargy, tremors, and vomiting. Since they are highly fatty foods, they may cause pancreas inflammation in pets, leading to such symptoms.
Raw meat
Salmonella infections are common among cats, and uncooked meat may carry this bacteria. Therefore, cat parents should feed their cats cooked, unsalted, unprocessed meat, which can provide them with the required proteins to go about their daily shenanigans.
Dog food
Although feeding dog food to a cat occasionally does not cause any harm, it should not replace cat food. Serving dog food to cats over prolonged periods can cause malnutrition, as their nutritional needs differ from those of dogs.
Milk and milk products
While kittens and young cats may digest milk well, cats usually become intolerant to milk as they mature. Therefore, it is best to limit a cat’s dairy intake and replace it with other protein sources, like cooked eggs, fish, and meat.
