Can Eating Slugs Hurt My Cat?
Pets often enjoy ‘supplementing’ their diet with things they find in the backyard. Cats have been known to taste-test slugs, with their owners asking afterwards if they need be worried if their feline’s unusual predilection for the slimy creatures presents a health risk.
Slugs in themselves do not pose a significant problem to cat’s digestive system – insects and the like are a natural part of the feline diet. Though slugs are non-toxic, the mucous they produce may cause your cat to drool or vomit.
Diligent gardeners eager to deter slugs from their gardens may create the slimy creatures are a far greater threat to cats than they would normally be. Poisons absorbed by a slug before it is eaten may present a health hazard to a cat misfortunate enough to have eaten it. Depending on the slug-deterrent used, one slug is unlikely to cause terrible results. Yet a cat who eats poisoned slugs as a habit may be in significant danger as the toxins build up in their system.
Symptoms of poisoning include:
Slugs in themselves do not pose a significant problem to cat’s digestive system – insects and the like are a natural part of the feline diet. Though slugs are non-toxic, the mucous they produce may cause your cat to drool or vomit.
Diligent gardeners eager to deter slugs from their gardens may create the slimy creatures are a far greater threat to cats than they would normally be. Poisons absorbed by a slug before it is eaten may present a health hazard to a cat misfortunate enough to have eaten it. Depending on the slug-deterrent used, one slug is unlikely to cause terrible results. Yet a cat who eats poisoned slugs as a habit may be in significant danger as the toxins build up in their system.
Symptoms of poisoning include:
- Agitation
- Drooling
- Muscle tremors and seizures
- Racing heart rate
- Heightened temperature
Lungworm is another problem that can occur as a result of slug ingestion. Slugs and snails are regularly infested by the parasitical lungworm. If a cat eats an infected slug, they too can become hosts. Lungworms cause difficulty with breathing through damaging the airways and interfering with mucus accumulation in the lung tissue, with possibly fatal consequences. Lungworm vaccinations exist for cats and dogs to provide protection against this issue.
Keeping you cat indoors, especially just after rain when slugs emerge en masse to roam the garden, is essentially the only sure way to keep a predisposed cat from slug-eating.
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(My cat ate a slug he wants to vomit but he can not ... should I worry?)