Ashton: I love to eat the stuff the peeps eat. Turning on the cute to get some of their food is kind of an art form. Watch me go at the dinner table!
And it works every time. Who can resist that face? SCORE!
But listen up, peeps, this is important: No matter how much I beg, or your cat begs, you shouldn’t feed anything that contains onions. They can cause Heinz body anemia. A Heinz body is damaged hemoglobin inside your kitty’s red blood cells. It’s something that can only be seen with a microscope, but you can see symptoms like:
- Fever
- Sudden onset of weakness
- Loss of appetite (anorexia)
- Reddish brown urine (in severe cases)
- Pale mucous membranes (mouth area, for example)
- Skin discoloration
Heinz bodies can form from cats ingesting raw, cooked, or dehydrated onions or scallions.
Foods you don’t think about having onions or onion powder may have enough to trigger this dangerous condition.
Although baby food is often suggested as a means of getting sick cats to eat, many companies started adding onion powder to baby food recipes in 1995. One study found that as little as 0.3% onion powder in a feline diet resulted in Heinz body formation. This means that “Oh, a little won’t hurt” isn’t true at all. Small quantities of onions aren’t recommended for cats, period.
References:
Heinz Body Anemia In Cats, Jaime Tarigo-Martinie, DVM; Paula Krimer, DVM, DVSc
Anemia Due to Red Blood Cell Damage in Cats
Image “Onion_8174068” by Dubravko Sorić CC-BY-2.0
The Swiss Cats says
April 17, 2014 at 1:17 amThanks for the reminder ! And when you see how humans’ mouth smells after eating onions, and how they are farting a day later, that doesn’t tempt to eat it either ! Purrs
The Island Cats says
April 17, 2014 at 6:15 amGood info! The mom is real careful not to give us anything with onions in it. Though we rarely eat peoples food anyway.
Hilary says
April 17, 2014 at 6:24 amthanks for the 411 – I had no idea!
madi and mom says
April 17, 2014 at 6:58 amOH MY CATS I din’t know about on-yuns but that is ok I don’t eat veggies!!
Hugs madi your bfff
Marg says
April 17, 2014 at 7:05 amGood info. We don’t eat any people food except a very occasional piece of chicken. We just eat cat food. But thanks for that good post.
Angel's Lil Bear says
April 17, 2014 at 7:49 amyes plz donts eat onions or foods wiff onions in dem! I am furry bad kitty and wants to eat Moms spicy chicken and beef! but mom wont let me.
Be furry careful kitties! Onions am bads fur you!
oh and the Mom found my head… I was dreaming about being lost and not finding my body or Mom and stuff… and den I bounced to da Moon! and da moon waz red.
Angel's Lil Bear says
April 17, 2014 at 7:50 amotays… losing my head haz nuffin to do wif onions… but be careful.
Whisppy says
April 17, 2014 at 9:23 amMommy showed us onions before and peeled one for us to smell. She was very careful to make sure we couldn’t lick it. She needn’t have had to worry about that, we RAN as far as we could from the stink!
But Mommy will have to pay extra attention to the food we sometimes get from her dish. Thank you for this reminder!
Brian says
April 17, 2014 at 10:31 amYes, those stinky things aren’t good for us at all, not even a taste!
Kitty Cat Chronicles says
April 17, 2014 at 10:50 amGreat information! Will be sharing this on our facebook page.
Maxwell, Faraday & Allie says
April 17, 2014 at 10:50 amyup, that’s so furry important for humans to know.
Melissa says
April 17, 2014 at 11:14 amWonderful info. Last year when I was looking for easier ways to get Tara’s powder-based meds into her I would see people suggest mixing it in bouillon cubes and putting it in a syringe. But bouillon cubes have onion powder in them so I never did.
Angel AbbyGrace says
April 17, 2014 at 3:48 pmWe did not know about onion powder being used in baby food. Thank you for the alert. YOU are so right about the onions!
Cathy Keisha says
April 17, 2014 at 4:33 pmOMC! I should get tested even though I don’t have those symptoms. I love when the peeps have frozen foods. It’s much tastier than the bland stuff TW cooks. She’s been taking all the sauce off it although then it takes the joy out of it for me.
Derby and Ducky says
April 17, 2014 at 9:17 pmYep and when mum gets a sammich that she plans to share with us, she gets it with no onions. So not even a speck of onion juice is on the sammy.
Fraidy Cats! says
April 17, 2014 at 9:27 pmyow! we would not have thought to look for onion powder in baby food. Thanks for this info!
Pip, Smidgen, Minnie, Hollie
Caren Gittleman says
April 18, 2014 at 6:58 amadd onions to a looooong list of things that aren’t good for cats. Many people don’t know that tuna is actually not good for cats (they should only have the tuna water, or SUPER SMALL amounts of tuna). Guess what is TERRIBLE for male cats? Turkey. Causes urinary problems.
Timmy Tomcat says
April 18, 2014 at 1:07 pmGood infurmation. We have to be wary
Ms. Phoebe's Mom says
April 20, 2014 at 5:14 amI didn’t know even onion powder in small forms could do so much damage, I thought it was just onions in general. Thank You for this important information, I’m going to share it with all my fellow cat parents.
My Kaspars is like you Ashton, I can never resist his sweet face pleading with me or his big paw reaching out to snatch meat right off the plate, but there are certain foods I never allow him to have because they are dangerous for you felines. I now will be checking ingredients on premixed/made items far more carefully to make certain there is no onion powder before I allow him to have any.
You babies are our life, and we want you in it for as long as possible! Purrs of gratitude for always sharing great posts on your blog!
Selina says
April 28, 2014 at 11:57 amWow Ashton! I guess we’re pretty unobservant around here. NOW I see your eye! Let’s hope my sisfur, Rachel, comes out as nicely as you did!
Purrz!
Selina