Ten Common Household Dangers to Your Cat

In This Chapter

• Protecting against poisons
• Ties that bind — up
• Avoiding two-ton hazards
• Looking out for two-legged trouble

Our friends who work as critical care veterinarians have seen every imaginable problem a cat can get into.

They see people who bring in healthy pets with minor health problems — such as worms — that could wait for morning or even next week. They see people who bring in their ancient or terminally ill pets late at night to be put to sleep, because after they finally make this heart-breaking decision, they want to act on it. They see cats mauled by dogs, by wild animals such as coyotes, or by other cats. They see cats sick with feline leukemia. They even see animals deliberately injured by people — shot with BB guns, set afire, kicked in the ribs. A lot of what they see, incidentally, is as good an argument as you could possibly find for keeping your cat indoors.

Although every animal lost is a tragedy, some of those are a little harder to take than others. Into this class falls those pets whose deaths were the results of something an owner could have done to protect them but didn’t know about.

We want you to know about them, so we’ve assembled in this chapter the most common household dangers your cat may face. Forewarned is forearmed, we believe. So read this chapter, and do your best to protect your cat from these avoidable dangers.

Cat Tracks

What constitutes a veterinary emergency? Chapter Preventive Health Care for Your Cat offers the information you need to make the decision that may save your cat’s life. Find out when your cat needs a veterinarian’s help now — and what can safely wait until morning.

Strings and Similar Things

What would you call a kitten with a ball of yarn? A perfect time to reach for your camera? How about an accident waiting to happen?

Kittens and cats love playing with yarn, as well as string, ribbon, and anything that twists and dances. They like to stalk, to pounce, to flip their slender prey in the air, and to start stalking again. That’s all good, clean fun, but there’s always a chance that your cat won’t stop with play and will decide to eat his plaything. And that’s where the fun stops, because any sort of yarn, ribbon, Christmas tinsel, or string can cause havoc in your cat’s intestines, causing a problem that may need to be surgically treated.

If you knit or sew, put your supplies securely away after you’re done with them, and if you’re opening or wrapping packages, clean up after you’re done. Packing material such as foam peanuts can be a health hazard for your pet, too.

Even if your pet’s not really the playful type, she may find one kind of string irresistible: juice-soaked string from a roast or turkey. Dispose of these tempting dangers carefully, putting them in a container your cat can’t get into.

Cat Tracks

Everything you need to know about safe playthings for your pet is in Chapter All the Right Stuff. We even include suggestions for cat-friendly freebies!

Figure 22-1: Cats love to play with strings and ribbons, but you shouldn’t let them do so unsupervised.

A Shocking Experience

Chewing on electrical cords is more of a risk for inquisitive kittens, but protecting your grown-up cat against them wouldn’t hurt either. Tuck cords out of the way, and if you notice any you can’t hide and that are attracting kitty teeth, coat them in something nasty, such as Bitter Apple (available at pet-supply stores) to convince your cat or kitten to chomp elsewhere.

Cat Tracks

Cords aren’t the only things cats love to chew on — some are especially drawn to wool fabrics. For help with getting your pet to leave your sweaters (and other cloth objects) alone, see Chapter Solving Behavior Problems. More on kitten-proofing your home is in Chapter Getting the Relationship Started Right.

The Warm and Deadly Dryer

Cats love warm, dark hiding places, and a dryer full of freshly dried clothes is a favorite spot of many. So what’s the worry? Some cats have been killed after their owners have accidentally closed and turned on a dryer with a sleeping cat inside.

Sounds implausible, you say? You’d be surprised how often cats are killed this way, and surprised, too, at how easily you can throw a few extra clothes in, close the door, and turn on the dryer without noticing your cat is inside. One of Gina’s friends lost his cat in just such a way.

Prevention is simple, but must be practiced by your whole family to be effective. Keep the dryer door closed and make sure whoever’s doing the laundry knows to always check for your cat — just in case. Keep an eye out, too, in the washer, dishwasher, or oven. This situation is one case in which the saying “curiosity killed the cat” can prove to be tragically true.

Tip

If you find your cat in the dryer, oven, washing machine, or dishwasher, take a deep breath and do something that seems cruel but has your cat’s best interest at heart: Scare the fur off him. Close the door with him inside, and then pound on the appliance for a few seconds, making a racket that could wake the dead. Then open the door and let him make his escape. You can’t always be sure everyone in your house remembers to keep appliance doors closed or checks for a cat before hitting the “on” switch. Convincing your cat to avoid such sleeping places provides another kind of insurance against tragedy. We wouldn’t suggest such drastic measures if it weren’t such a horrible way to die.

Figure 22-2: Cats are drawn to the warmth of the dryer, but this is one hiding place that can be deadly. Keep the dryer door closed at all times, and always check for your cat before turning on the appliance.

Pain Medicines That Kill

Here’s an easy rule to remember: Never give your cat any medication without clearing it with your veterinarian first.

That’s a good rule to remember in general, but in particular, it applies to painkillers. Although you can safely give aspirin to arthritic dogs, the smaller size and different metabolism of cats make aspirin a dangerous proposition for them. Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, can kill your cat, as can some of the newer, longer-lasting painkillers available in nonprescription form for human use.

If your cat is in pain, call your veterinarian immediately. Cats are very stoic, and if you’re noticing your pet’s discomfort, he’s really suffering and needs immediate care. As for chronic pain, your veterinarian can prescribe something that’s effective and cat-safe.

Attack of the Killer Plants

Cats love to nosh greenery. Some experts suggest that cats crave the half-digested plant matter that they’d find in the bellies of their vegetarian prey, but just as good an explanation is that cats eat plants simply because they want to.

Indulge your cat with plants he can nibble on — the elements of a cat-friendly garden appear in Chapter Feeding Your Cat — but make sure he isn’t munching on anything that can make him sick. You can discourage cats from chewing on houseplants — you find some tips in Chapter Solving Behavior Problems — but you can’t guarantee they’ll leave them alone. Your best bet is to make sure that anything your cat can get into isn’t going to hurt him.

Cat Tracks

Although you obviously can’t control what your outside cat is eating on his rambles, you should be aware of signs of illness. Check them out in Chapter Preventive Health Care for Your Cat.

Cool Cat Facts

The poinsettia has long been considered a poisonous plant, but that’s no longer thought to be the case. No less an authority than the National Animal Poison Control Center says that the holiday plant is no longer considered deadly, although ingesting a considerable amount of it may still give your cat a tummy ache.

Garage Dangers

Most people just aren’t very neat in their garages. In addition to ignoring the drips and puddles coming from their cars — which can include deadly antifreeze, of course — folks can be careless about storing insecticides, paints, cleaning supplies, and fertilizers, all of which can be toxic.

Although cats are considerably more discriminating in what they eat than dogs are, making sure you safely store household chemicals and clean up all spills promptly is still a good idea.

Another garage danger: the door. A garage door in the open position makes a nifty high hiding place for a cat, but that secure perch can injure your pet if you set the door in motion while he’s there.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to check out other places cats get into — and sometimes shut up in — such as basements and closets.

Toxic plants Cats can be deadly to plants, but more than a few plants are quite capable of getting revenge. The ASPCA/National Animal Poison Control Center, a resource for veterinarians, says this list contains some of the bad seeds. Most “just” make your pet sick, but a few of them can kill. If your pet has tangled with any of these, call your veterinarian. And don’t forget: Even “good” plants can cause problems if they’ve been sprayed with insecticide.  Aloe Vera (Medicine Plant) Amaryllis Andromeda Japonica Apple (seeds) Apricot (pit) Asparagus Fern Autumn Crocus Avocado (fruit and pit) Azalea Baby Doll Ti Baby’s Breath Bird of Paradise Bittersweet Branching Ivy Buckeye Buddhist Pine Caladium Calla Lily Castor Bean Ceriman Cherry (wilting leaves and seeds) China Doll Chinese Evergreen Christmas Cactus Christmas Rose Chrysanthemum Cineraria Clematis Cordatum Corn Plant (all Dracaena species) Crown Vetch Cyclamen Daffodil Daisy Day Lily Devil’s Ivy Dieffenbachia (all varieties; commonly called Dumb Cane) Dracaena Palm Dragon Tree Elephant Ears Emerald Feather English Ivy Fiddle-Leaf Fig Flamingo Plant Foxglove Fruit Salad Plant Geranium German Ivy Glacier Ivy Gladiola Glory Lily Hawaiian Ti Heavenly Bamboo Hibiscus Holly Hurricane Plant Hyacinth Hydrangea Impatiens Indian Laurel Indian Rubber Plant Iris Japanese Yew Jerusalem Cherry Kalanchoe Lilium species (includes Easter lily, Japanese Show Lily, Oriental Lily, Tiger Lily, and so on) Lily of the Valley Marble Queen Marijuana Mexican Breadfruit Miniature Croton (and other varieties) Mistletoe Morning Glory Mother-in-Law’s Tongue Narcissus Needlepoint Ivy Nephthytis Nightshade (Solanum species) Norfolk Pine Oleander Onion Peace Lily Peach (wilting leaves and pit) Pencil Cactus Philodendron (all varieties) Plum (wilting leaves and pit) Plumosa Fern Pothos (all varieties) Precatory Bean Primula Privet Rhododendron Ribbon Plant Sago Palm (Cycas) Schefflera String of Pearls/Beads Sweet Pea Taro Vine Tomato Plant (green fruit, stem, and leaves) Tulip Weeping Fig Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow Plant Yucca

Antifreeze? Anti-CatIf you’re a shade-tree mechanic, be extra careful when changing your car’s coolant. That’s because most antifreeze poses a severe risk to animals — and to children, as well. Every year, nearly 120,000 pets in the United States are poisoned by antifreeze, and more than 90,000 of them die.

It doesn’t take much of this deadly substance to kill a cat. Less than a teaspoon is all it takes. Antifreeze has a sweet taste that may appeal to your cat, or your pet may ingest a lethal dose merely by licking her paws clean after walking through a spill.

Clean up carefully with a rag after changing coolant, and always be alert for puddles on your garage floor. If you think your cat got any antifreeze into her system, get her to a veterinarian right away. Doing so may be her only chance at survival.

The Cat’s Meow

Less toxic kinds of antifreeze are now available. They’re made from propylene glycol instead of the ethylene glycol of conventional coolants. These new products are available at most auto-supplies outlets. Make the change!

Four-Wheeled Menace

Probably the biggest danger cars present to cats is when the vehicles are in motion. The meeting of a two-ton car with a ten-pound kitty never comes out in favor of the feline. But even a stationary vehicle can become a deadly temptation for a cat.

Cats are heat seekers, and many of them discover that engines are warm for a long time after they’re turned off. These cats slip into the engine compartment from underneath, snuggle against the warm metal, and settle in for a catnap. On a cold night, such a protected place must seem a godsend to an outdoor cat.

A running engine is no place for a kitty to be, however, and the cat that’s still inside after the car’s started can get badly injured or killed.

Tip

Even if your own cat’s an indoor one who never has access to the engine compartment of your car, you can save another cat’s life by getting into one simple habit: Before you get into your car — especially on a cold morning — pound on the hood for a couple seconds. If a cat’s in your engine compartment, she’s sure to wake up and take off at the sound.

Towering Danger

Paul’s a city kid, and he did his cardiology residency at New York City’s Animal Medical Center, the largest hospital in the world for companion animals. While he was there, he saw a lot of cats who’d fallen — or maybe jumped — from high-rise apartments. Some cats survive a fall like that. Many others don’t.

Did they fall or did they jump? No one knows for sure, although most speculate these falls are accidental. And although cats are very good at landing on their feet, the impact from several stories up can be deadly.

Prevention is the key to avoiding such accidents: Keep screens on your windows, and never let your cat out on your terrace.

Cool Cat Facts

Paul has seen some kitties survive from pretty far up, as high as 15 stories or more. And, in fact, studies of “high-rise syndrome” in cats reveals that the cats most likely to survive a tumble are the ones who started at the intermediate floors. From the lower floors, a cat hasn’t time to prepare himself for impact by righting himself. From the highest, the fall’s too great to survive. In between, however, is a margin of survivability — although few cats walk away unscathed.

Don’t Do Doggie Dips

You may think a flea product designed to be safe for dogs and puppies is likewise safe for your cat. As solid as that reasoning may seem, however, it’s wrong — dead wrong.

Never use a flea-control product designed for dogs on your cat. Many people tend to take these products lightly, but insecticides are designed to walk a very fine line: enough toxins to kill the parasites but not enough to endanger the pet. A product engineered to meet these challenges for dogs may not do so for cats. Check the label. Ask your veterinarian. Call the manufacturer before using any product. Your cat’s life is at stake.

For safe, effective flea control in cats — including the latest new products available from your veterinarian — see Chapter Good Grooming.

by Gina Spadafori and Paul D. Pion