What's the worst mistake you have made with your cat?

I have lost count of how many times I have stepped on my cats' tails and feet. They are always walking underfoot. I have also
done more serious things like closing one of my cats up in a recliner when he was a kitten (he was fine) and trying to toss a pair of shoes in the closet and hitting one of my cats in the head. I have also dropped a remote on their heads more than once. A few days ago, I accidentally shut one of my poor kitties in the closet before I left for work. Fortunately for him, he is very vocal, and my roommate heard his yowling and rescued him. This was not dangerous, but a few months ago, I grabbed the wrong cat and put him in the car to take to the vet. I was halfway there when he meowed, and it dawned on me that I had the wrong one. I only have two cats, and they look nothing alike! My poor cats probably feel so abused. Has anyone else messed up
badly with their cats?

Poor Mouse has had to live with countless paw-under-foot and tail treading events, not to mention being shut in the bathroom for several minutes before anyone heard his muffled meowls (he does tend to follow people about like an invisible gray shadow) but he is endlessly forgiving of his human servants.  

My worst offense was of course not realizing that stinky cat breath was a sign of illness and he had to stop eating for me to realize how red and sore his gums were:  by that time he had tonsillitis and a number of nasty ulcers around his gums and tongue and was very sick indeed.  I was lucky  that he recovered well and now he has a very strict oral hygiene routine - which he loves.  

My other seriously bad kitty-parent failing was not stopping him chew on a bunch of gladioli a visiting friend gave me when Mouse was about 9 months old.  (It is impossible to keep him away from anything plant related so my home is usually plant and flower free).  He chewed a bit at one of the leaves, and then chomped away enthusiastically at a flower for about 30 seconds and my friend and I didn't try to take it off him as had never seen anything suggesting Gladioli might be poisonous to cats.  Then we noticed he looked a bit like a leaning tower of Pisa sitting on the floor and his eyes were definitely not as alert as usual!  Instant panic.  Thankfully a couple of minutes later he looked fine again and the evil gladioli were locked away in the bathroom for the remainder of their lifespan.  Mouse did make endless attempts to get in there but no way was he going get away with it, I had to watch him constantly to make sure he didn't sneak in.

It was only when I found TCS a couple of years later I found anything that mentioned gladioli as being toxic for cats. 

I closed Oliver's tail in a door when he was seven months old. I didn't know he was behind me until he screeched. I still feel bad about it, and he has lived his life and gone to his reward.

Feeding dry food.

I caught Patches tail in the hinge side of the door and scraped some of the fur and skin off.

I closed Alice in a closet right before I went to work.  She was loudly telling it when I got home from work but she was quiet before I went to work.

I used a flea shampoo (certain brand) on my cats, and it almost killed 2 of them. Now the one has respiratory problems. My word of advice, research the flea killing product before using it on your animals

My bad thing was accidentally locking her in the closet over night.  Strange thing was it was in the bedroom and she never made a sound to alarm me.

I did that to Mollipop one time when she was young. She was always nosing around in the bathroom with me and I had the closet door open. She walked in and I didn't see her and I shut the door. I always do a head count before I leave the house and only came up with five cats. Started calling her and I could hear her meow to me, but couldn't find her. Her voice was muffled and I finally realized she had been in the bathroom with me, walked in, opened the closet door, and there she sat. She wasn't worried, but I felt terrible.

My mother shut Muffin up in the refrigerator one time. Not for long, thank goodness. She had opened the fridge door and Muffin jumped inside. Mom didn't notice she was in there, I guess. She opened the door a minute later for something else and Muffin jumped out. Scared the heck out of Mom. When she told me what happened, I went up that night and we had a conversation. I told her that she really needed to pay attention to where Muffin was as she was going about her business. I think she may have run Muffin over a time or two, too, with her walker, as she walked about the house. Mom had a tendency to not notice anything much at all. And she didn't look where she was walking, but simply expected everybody to automatically move out of her way. 

With my old cat Bandit, he was a bitty kitten and got stuck in the dryer for about 15 seconds before I realized it and got him out! 

With Xena my current baby, I trimmed her nail too short one time and i tbled and bled, she cried and cried

mihjoy said:

I used a flea shampoo (certain brand) on my cats, and it almost killed 2 of them. Now the one has respiratory problems. My word of advice, research the flea killing product before using it on your animals

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Yeah, I did something similar with a spot treatment for fleas. I almost lost Parker. Washed it off as soon as he started freaking out but he was very ill for a few days. 

Not traveling cross country to a Paw Project hospital and have her paws examined, xrayed, and possible correction surgery.