🚨 Cat Poison & Household Hazard Checker

Search 50+ foods, medicines, plants and household products for how dangerous they are to cats, what to watch for and what to do first — with the UK emergency steps and helplines at the top.

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If you think your cat has been poisoned
  1. Move the cat away from the substance, and keep the packet, plant or label — the name on it decides the treatment.
  2. Do not make your cat sick, and do not give milk, oil or charcoal, unless a vet tells you to. Cats cannot be made to vomit safely at home.
  3. If it is on the coat, wash it off with lukewarm water and mild soap — for flea products this is the treatment, so do it before you travel.
  4. Ring your vet now, or the out-of-hours emergency vet. Say what, how much and when. Never wait for symptoms — with lilies, antifreeze and paracetamol the damage is done before the cat looks ill.
  5. If your vet needs extra support, the UK Animal PoisonLine (the VPIS service for owners) is 01202 509000, 24 hours, a fee per case. Bring the cat with you to the vet.

Signs that mean go now: drooling, vomiting, tremors or twitching, wobbling, dilated pupils, fitting, collapsing, breathing hard, drinking and urinating far more than usual, or sudden extreme lethargy.

What has your cat got into?
Showing all substances.
Why cats are different, and the sources behind this list

Cats are not small dogs. Cats have very little of the liver enzyme (glucuronyl transferase) that dogs and people use to break down many drugs and chemicals, so substances that are routine in a dog — permethrin flea spot-ons, paracetamol, ibuprofen, phenol disinfectants, essential oils — can be lethal in a cat at a fraction of the dose. Red blood cells are also more easily damaged, which is why onions and garlic cause anaemia.

Severity here is about urgency, not a dose calculation. Emergency: treat it as life-threatening and go now, even if the cat looks fine. Urgent: ring the vet today. Caution: keep it out of reach; a small taste is usually mild but watch closely. Lower risk: commonly feared but rarely serious — do not panic, but do not encourage it either.

The classic emergencies. True lilies and daylilies (every part, including pollen and vase water) — acute kidney failure; dog flea products containing permethrin — tremors, seizures and hyperthermia; antifreeze (ethylene glycol) — kidney failure within hours; paracetamol — blood damage and liver failure; rodenticides and slug pellets — delayed bleeding or fitting.

Plants: the names matter. True lilies (Lilium, including Easter, tiger, Asiatic and stargazer) and daylilies (Hemerocallis) are emergencies. Peace lilies, calla lilies and Peruvian lilies are not true lilies — they irritate the mouth and stomach but do not cause kidney failure. Knowing which one is on the windowsill changes the treatment, so photograph it before you ring.

Sources. Compiled from ASPCA Animal Poison Control toxic-plant and human-food data, VPIS/Animal PoisonLine guidance, PDSA and International Cat Care advice, and the VMD position on permethrin products for dogs. Checked 4 October 2026. — Information only: this card does not replace a vet, and an emergency is a phone call, not a search.