Important to know if you are a cat owner

I never heard of the sugar and coffee being dangerous to cats. Do you know why? I'm going to have to do some searching for this. My cat loves coffee grounds (when they're fresh). When I open a can of coffee, he tries to get up there and lick the grounds. He won't touch brewed coffee, though. I wonder what the attraction is? I'll for sure keep an eye on him and not let him near it from now on, though.

Also, electrical wires because sometimes they'll try to play with them and if they bite them they'll be electrocuted. Rubberbands, also, because it can get tangled in their intestines, I believe that's the reason.

yes I agree with you are little kitties can really get themselves in a heap of trouble. My one cat everytime I buy potting soil and leave it out she will bite holes in the bag and then the dirt comes out all over. So now I have to put it away immediatly. Oh these childred of ours.LOL

Yes, 'curiosity can definitely kill the cat!' My cat loves anything sweet. If we are eating cake, he will beg for you to put a dab of icing on your finger and let him lick it off. We give him just tiny bits but not much. He loves cake icing, creme chese, ice cream...lots of things! I didn't know that cats were drawn to coffee. Mine dosn't seem to be. Thank goodness, because both hubby and I are coffeeholics! I did know that the xmas tree needles are bad for them. I love my cat dearly and would have a fit if something happened to him!

I remember once our kitten got into the thread and eat it. It came out all right but for a day there was a sting sticking out his butt. It just kept getting longer. LOL It is dangerous to the poor little guys. We must protect them because they dont know what is poision. Thanks for reminding me.

Some of those things I didn't know would hurt my kitty like sugar and coffe! Thanks! I would also like to add don't leave your meds lying around.If they happen to get ahold of your pills and chomp om them it's rainbow bridge time for kitty.

Dangers outside include a warm engine in the winter, they crawl on it, and when the car is started next, hurt or killed. Open car doors, they will get in and go for a ride, not necessarily with their owner, or get trapped in a seldom used vehicle. Antifreeze, which smells sweet to animals and is poisonous. Lawn chemicals, ice melt. Open cupboard doors in your house, can be slammed suddenly on tails and necks. Cats can get locked in cupboards.

I am amazed none of my kitties like any of these. Thanks though for sharing these. Better to be safe than sorry for our beloved pets. I guess I give my feline friends all they can handle so they don't go looking for more to get into. Glad you shared these and possibly helped to save a wonderous animal.

Artificial Christmas trees can be a killer for cats, as they may try and eat the needles thinking they are real, and the sharp plastic needles can perforate their stomach lining. My friend actually lost a kitten to this - they operated but they couldn't save her:-(( Tinsel, lametta, and all the usual Christmas tree decorations can be bad for them too. In fact I don't have anything like that in my house now because of the danger to my babies. I used to, and here is a pic of y oldest cat Sasha with the Christas tree when he was very young. I didn't know about the dangers then, and only glad he didn't suffer any ill effects.

I've never heard about sugar being bad for cats. I do know however that bamboo is bad for cats. It's bad for all pets actually so it's best to keep your pets away from bamboo if you have any plants.

Thanks for posting these! Here are a couple more that can be problematic. Some cats really like the rubber bands around newspapers and will try to eat them-- they can get caught in their intestines. Also, spider plants in the house evidently taste like normal grass to cats, yet can make the extremely ill. Poinsettias are absolutely the worst of the Christmas plants.

I knew about some of these but not the coffee or sugar. I knew that chocolate in particular can be toxic. Thanks so much for sharing these tips. Its nice to know what we need to keep away from our cats in order to keep them as safe as possible.

Hi thee, Nice discussion. Tylenol, moth ball and antifreeze are also hazardous to cats . Thanks for the info...Take care...

i didn't really know that all these are so harming 4 a cat... my cat just loves eating olives... he first plays with them, chasing them through all the kitchen and then eats them. he's a sugar! :) i also heard that olives have an afrodisiac effect upon cats...although mine has nothing to do with this aspect any more...if you know what i mean :D

Thank you so much for starting this discussion. I didn't know that sugar was bad for kitties. We don't have coffee around much.I try to keep the rest of the family from feeding the kitty any thing but kitty food and kitty treats. If they are given any human food they will get on counters more and into the garbage to get the human food. we do keep the Chemicals and Plastic bags put up so she dosen't get into them.

why on earth would chocolate can harm a kitten? omg...where did you get this info???

This is very good to know. I have 8 cats myself. They are outside cats but I still take care of them as much as I can. I knew about the chocolate, plastic bags, chemicals, and the Christmas plants and flowers but I didn't know they could get sick from sugar and coffee. I also didn't know about the thread and yarn. Most cats love to play with thread and yarn but none of mine have ever eaten any. My cats will eat anything you put in front of them but all I give them is cat food and sometimes some of our food. I always watch what I give them though. Thanks for the tips. :)

Ojay you can add most household plants to that list. Also to be considered are rubber bands (they like to chew and swallow), bread wrapper ties, aluminum foils balls, and sharp knives if left too lcose to the counter's edge! I knew that the poinsettia was dangerous. A few years back when we acquired this kitty, I bought an artificial Xmas tree thinking that it would be less worrisome (no water needed to keep needles from drying out). That was the wrong mindset. My cat simeply scales the tree up the center around the "trunk". He will work his way up as far as he can get and still be covered. He has scared me a few times doing this. He will get to the spot where he can see me then wait for me to walk by and he will protrude his head out so that I can see him. When not expecting movement that high, it can truly scare you!

My daughter's kitty eats hair bands. And rubber bands, and strings. She discovered this one day when her cat threw up a big ball of hair bands. Since then she's been making sure there are none lying around her house. She did have to take her cat to the vet last week, as the cat stopped eating and pooping, and became weaker and weaker. We took the cat to the vet, and the vet took an x-ray, but didn't show anything. The vet figured that whatever the cat ate, it was passing into her intestines. She was very dehydrated, which made her even sicker. Anyway, I've never heard of a cat eating hair bands..so strange. Thanks for the list.

this is a good post! before i didn't knew chocolate can kill my cat..