Top ten common household items that are dangerous to cats

Keeping your kitty out of danger when he/she is in your home shouldn’t be a problem for most of us, but occasionally special care is needed to ensure your home is 100% cat safe. Below we have listed our top ten household items that can cause a problem to your kitty!   

1. Household plants – Especially if you have a kitten, make sure to keep any house plant away and out of reach. Not all houseplants are toxic to your cats, like bamboo or Christmas Cactus but others like the swiss cheese plant, aloe vera and lilies could seriously harm your cat if ingested.

2. Yarn – This may be the most surprising dangerous item, considering propaganda would have you believe that all cats love playing with yarn! While this fact is true, if your cat eats the yarn, it could wreak havoc on the intestinal tract and could even kill your cat. So if you are a lover of knitting be sure to keep your yarns out of your cats reach.

3. Some foods – While chocolate is the most know toxic human food to cats, there are a whole host of other pantry items that could make your cat seriously ill if they were to eat it. For example, raw fish carries pathogens that are no good for our cats; and yeast dough, for pizza or bread, if eaten the dough will expand in your cat’s tummy and cause pain and possibly internal bleeding! Please research a full list of foods that may be harmful to your cat before feeding them anything you are unsure of.

4. Milk – As much as kittens like to drink milk and are depicted doing so, adult cats are actually lactose intolerant and ingesting it can cause massive pain and discomfort to them. If you would like to give your cat milk, it would be best to pick up some lactose-free milk from your local pet store.

5. Insect repellents and traps – Whilst it is important to keep those pesky bugs away, a lot of these products contain ingredients that are toxic to most pets. Please do not spay your pets with insect repellant; instead use measures like, flea spot treatment and collars. Also, be sure to keep any insect traps out of your pet’s reach.

6.Coins and other metals – Coins and metals containing zinc are extremely harmful to your cat. While swallowing a coin itself may not be, the zinc contained in coins dissolves and is absorbed into the bloodstream, causing kidney and heart failure in small mammals.  

7. All household cleaning products – While this is pretty common knowledge, it is extremely important to keep these items out of your pet’s reach. Cats are very cunning and with practice are very good at opening cupboards, so make sure your cleaning supplies are kept under lock and key, for your pet’s sake.

8. Exposed wires – Kittens especially like to chew on everything and anything, so make sure to keep all wires properly covered and well out of reach. Adult cats too are inquisitive and obviously don’t know of the danger of electricals. Don’t automatically assume your cat is ‘sensible enough’ not to be curious, so take the necessary precautions to keep your pets healthy and safe.

9. Bones – As tempting as it is to feed your cat bones, they can be so dangerous for your cat to eat. When cooked most bones become fragile and can splinter, leaving sharp points that will cause internal bleeding. It is probably wise to keep your cat away from even uncooked bones as it isn’t worth the risk of them coming to harm.

10. Mould – Don’t give your stale or mouldy leftovers to your cat. Any mould is toxic to cats, so even feeding them cheese is a no go! Especially as they are lactose intolerant anyway!