Sorrel might have just eaten a small piece of raw onion.

I had a Greek pasta salad for dinner and had finished most of it off, set it aside and Sorrel jumped onto the table to lick the bottom of the bowl. She wasn't chewing anything (as far as I could tell), and I only noticed her licking the bowl when I heard the scraping of the bowl against the counter for a few seconds. The onions at the bottom of the bowl are about the size of my pinky nail...if she licked one or even swallowed a small piece like this, should I be worried about Heinz body anemia or onion toxicity? There are so many horror stories out there about cats and onions...plus some sources say raw are more toxic, while others say cooked onion or powdered forms are worse. I think she only licked some of the dressing, but I'm a real worrywart and I just want to know if I should be looking for toxicity symptoms over the next few days.

Never hurts to watch out.  I only Googled one article, and it was scary.  It did say to watch out for breathlessness, lethargy, diarrhea and vomiting and that symptoms can appear as long as four days after eating the onion.  It also said they could lose interest in eating.

So yeah, definitely watch out.  I would recommend to rinse or refrigerate your dishes immediately after you are done in the future, because all types of human food shouldn't even be served to humans, much less cats.

arouetta said:

Never hurts to watch out.  I only Googled one article, and it was scary.  It did say to watch out for breathlessness, lethargy, diarrhea and vomiting and that symptoms can appear as long as four days after eating the onion.  It also said they could lose interest in eating.

So yeah, definitely watch out.  I would recommend to rinse or refrigerate your dishes immediately after you are done in the future, because all types of human food shouldn't even be served to humans, much less cats.

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Yes, I know better about leaving food out as she's a very opportunistic girl when it comes to "snacks". Normally it goes straight in the wash, but this time I had turned away for a moment to do something to turn back and find that she'd taken advantage of my temporary distraction. She's quick when she wants to be! I'm not sure she actually ate it or if she just licked the dressing, but either way I'll be watching her (nothing new as she's always finding ways to get into trouble and it feels like I've got to have one eye dedicated solely to watching her). I appreciate your feedback.