Having pets is very enjoyable but feeding your pets harmful foods is a strict no.Garlic and onions are two foods that must not be fed to your pet cat as they may lead to poisoning. In order to manage the health of your cat or dog, you must keep a close watch on what you feed them.A small bit of garlic might end up increasing the blood pressure in your pets to a point where it will damage them considerably. Cats eat garlic if they come across it. Since they have no idea that this little thing can harm them, you cannot expect them to avoid the garlic lying around the kitchen. Cats eat whatever they find suitable to eat. If they eat garlic, the after-effects are pretty concerning.Can cats eat garlic without putting themselves in danger? Why do they have such a bad reaction to garlic? Let us learn a bit more about the curious case of cats and garlic or onion.After you have acquired this essential knowledge about the health of your cat, you should also know can cats eat chicken and can cats eat beef?Is garlic harmful to cats?Garlic is considered to be full of many health benefits. For humans, garlic brings many benefits for sure. But, what about cats? What does garlic do to their body?Can cats eat garlic? Of course, they can eat it. But the real question is should cats eat garlic? Garlic is said to be toxic to cats. The garlic poisoning dilemma in cats is real. What could be the reason for such a risk? Garlic belongs to the allium family. The way humans digest garlic is not the same as in cats. When cats eat anything from the allium family, it can result in significant oxidative damage to their red blood cells. The red blood cells traveling through their body can become weak and burst. The condition that affects the red blood cells in this manner is called hemolytic anemia. It could also result in an upset stomach, vomiting, and diarrhea. Even a small clove of garlic is considered toxic to cats. Much like garlic, other members of the allium family such as onion are found to be toxic to both cats and dogs. Certain species in dogs and cats are found to be more at risk from garlic.What happens to cats if they eat garlic?Since garlic is literally pet poison for your cat, how much will it affect them? Would it be OK if we let them eat a bit of garlic once in a while or should we completely stop it? Let us see how garlic affects cats.The symptoms of toxicity won’t appear for 1-2 days. You will know a cat is suffering from garlic poisoning when they start to show signs of drooling, nausea, oral irritation, vomiting, elevated heart rate and respiratory rate, pale gums, or severe weakness. Vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms might appear within a day or so. Anemia symptoms will take some time to surface. But that doesn’t mean that even a small amount of garlic once in a while will result in garlic toxicity. If your cat is healthy and fit, having a bit of garlic on rare occasions won’t be a problem. The problem arises when they regularly consume foods that are cooked with garlic. The compounds in garlic contain toxic elements for cats and dogs. Although a small amount of garlic won’t affect dogs much when compared to other animals, large ingestions can be very toxic to both cats and dogs.What To Do If Your Cats Eat GarlicNow, imagine that your cat found some hidden garlic and started eating it. After two days, the symptoms started to appear. What would you do? What is to be done after your cat has eaten garlic?If you find your cats eating garlic and later suffering from symptoms of garlic poisoning, seek veterinary treatment immediately. The veterinarian will induce vomiting in cats by giving them a hydrogen peroxide solution or activated charcoal. This method frees the toxins in the cats. Sometimes they are given IV fluids or oxygen therapy. If the toxin is severe in cats, then they might need a blood transfusion to prevent the poison from damaging their body further. The vet will take all the necessary steps to ensure that the poison has left the body. Since the anemia symptoms appear after some days, it is important to make sure that your pet never gets near garlic or onions. The consequences can be severe and it is better to be safe than sorry much later. Since garlic is considered five times more toxic than onions, it is important to be extremely careful. Instead of waiting for the symptoms to appear, it is better to consult the vet if you are sure that your cat ate garlic.How To Prevent Your Cat From Eating GarlicIt is good not to give garlic to cats. Why cause a heart disease for your pet that will upset their good health?There is a common misconception about garlic and cats. Garlic is said to free cats from fleas. This piece of information is found to be ineffective. So, if you plan on using garlic on your pet to prevent fleas, stop right there. What you are doing is harming your animal. If you are using garlic products like raw garlic or garlic powder, make sure that your curious cats won’t be able to find them. It is best to keep garlic, onions, chives, and other such food far away from pets. If you have doubts regarding the proper diet for your pets without garlic, consult a vet for advice. Treat your pets to food that does not contain garlic or garlic powder. Garlic, onions are best to be avoided in the food that your cat eats. Double-check if the food contains anything related to garlic, onions or other hazardous ingredients. Cats eat whatever they find in the kitchen. It is your job to make sure that what they search for is not garlic or onions.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for can cats eat garlic then why not take a look at can cats eat pizza or munchkin cat facts pages?
Having pets is very enjoyable but feeding your pets harmful foods is a strict no.
