Cats can't have garlic! News to me!

In another thread here, I was reading about how cats can't have garlic! Yet it is included in some cat foods.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...4&page=2&pp=10

http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/garlic.php

http://www.peteducation.com/article....articleid=2414

Any other thoughts or comments? I love to cook with garlic (and onions). Sometimes I give leftovers to the kits, especially Will (in my avatar)!

In a unknown doseage (varies kitty to kitty) garlic can cause anemia and could be deadly.. Since kitty cant tell you it can hadle this amount it is my opinion none should be given... This makes sence since garlic and onions are close relatives and all of us should know that onions are bad for kitty... Garlic can be given to dogs , i would nt feed a food with it higher than say the last three ingrediants and will not to my kittys...AFFCO must okay garlic in cat foods since some cats eat it and dont have problems ... For me it is a err on the side of caution .. Hope this makes a bit of sence

I just love to give Will a burger off the grill sometimes, or a piece of our steak or chicken. I'll just have to season his different! LOL!

Oliver loves chicken, and Emma loves salmon--when I make those things for us, I usually cook a tiny piece for them plain w/ no salt, pepper or other seasonings--either on the grill or I poach it in a tiny bit of broth in a little pan on the stove. My husband thinks its rediculous that I cook a separate little pan for them, but I wouldn't want to feed them too much oil or garlic or onion. I think it probably takes a lot of both to really cause severe problems, but it isn't worth risking it to me.

Garlic can irritate a cat's esophagus and cause trouble breathing. I learned this the hard way from feeding Wellness to my baby kitty.

Don't worry about the garlic in cat food....it's such a small amount, it won't do any harm. And garlic has some beneficial effects, too. (In small amounts )

Originally Posted by coaster

Don't worry about the garlic in cat food....it's such a small amount, it won't do any harm. And garlic has some beneficial effects, too. (In small amounts

)

Click to expand...

Please read the links in this thread on this topic. It is not beneficial to *cats*, and in any amount, it can do great harm. There is no study that says otherwise.

Originally Posted by Beckiboo

I just love to give Will a burger off the grill sometimes, or a piece of our steak or chicken. I'll just have to season his different! LOL!

Click to expand...

Exactly, you can do that. Make little "will burgers"

I think in the same way that many people are more sensitive to certain foods than other people are.......cats are the same way.
When we first started out with bengals and before we switched to the raw diet, we tried just about every expensive commercial brand of food available.
Everytime there would be 3 or 4 of our cats that wouldn't tolerate this food or that food.
It was very frustrating. It's obvious to me now that each of the different processed foods had something in it that at least a few of our cats would have a reaction to. Since we have 12 adult bengals, it was virtually impossible to find one commercial diet that suited them all.
So, while garlic and onion in small amounts may not affect a cat who is not sensitive to them, even a tiny amount might have severe effects on a cat who is hyper-sensitive.
Better to err on the side of caution.

Originally Posted by sharky

Garlic can be given to dogs

Click to expand...

sharky,
go post that on a dog forum and you will see how debatable that statement really is!!! garlic is also listed on many many dont feed lists for dogs, though like catfood some dogfoods do contain it in small amounts. this is a big debate among the raw feeders that i know, some feel that feeding a small amount of garlic is beneficial, and others feel that the only safe amount is none at all... anemia is the concern with dogs as with cats. of course, neither animal should be fed onions... it surprises me how many dog owners do not know this and throw their dog any old onion filled human food leftover without a second thought.

i have also heard that garlic oil is okay (like they sell for suppliments for humans) but that fresh garlic is not... have heard this for dogs and cats but i dont know the truth of it... if someone has some real info on this i would love to hear it.

That's very interesting - the rescue cat I got in January had been given garlic in her food as her previous owner thought it would either kill fleas or worms (I can't remember which) - this cat has been to the vet more times since Jan than the cat I have had for 3 years, and we have a constant battle with her weight - she is underweight (3.58kg, the most she has weighed since Jan has been 4.06kg), although not enough to be too much of a concern to the vet, although she would like to see her put some on - does anyone think it can be connected and should I mention it to the vet? Off to check cat food labels now, as I do give her a lot of gourmet food

Originally Posted by Avocado

sharky,
go post that on a dog forum and you will see how debatable that statement really is!!! garlic is also listed on many many dont feed lists for dogs, though like catfood some dogfoods do contain it in small amounts. this is a big debate among the raw feeders that i know, some feel that feeding a small amount of garlic is beneficial, and others feel that the only safe amount is none at all... anemia is the concern with dogs as with cats. of course, neither animal should be fed onions... it surprises me how many dog owners do not know this and throw their dog any old onion filled human food leftover without a second thought.

i have also heard that garlic oil is okay (like they sell for suppliments for humans) but that fresh garlic is not... have heard this for dogs and cats but i dont know the truth of it... if someone has some real info on this i would love to hear it.

Click to expand...

Wow , thanks for making me aware... I have given garlic powder for fleas for years to my dogs... WHat dog forum is this ??? please send link Yeah I thought all knew onions were a no no till I saw a very well known dog food with both... I will research this better since I just tried Evo for the dog and she likes ...

Originally Posted by Avocado

i have also heard that garlic oil is okay (like they sell for suppliments for humans) but that fresh garlic is not... have heard this for dogs and cats but i dont know the truth of it... if someone has some real info on this i would love to hear it.

Click to expand...

Nothing I have ever read (nor in any of the links I have posted) does it say the form of the garlic renders it harmless. I hope you will accept the following as real info:
click here and scroll down to the publication title:Allium Species Poisoning in Cats and Dogs dated August 2005, and click on that (you must have Adobe Acrobat reader installed, as the document is in the form of a pdf).

Originally Posted by Pat & Alix

Nothing I have ever read (nor in any of the links I have posted) does it say the form of the garlic renders it harmless. I hope you will accept the following as real info:
click here and scroll down to the publication title:Allium Species Poisoning in Cats and Dogs dated August 2005, and click on that (you must have Adobe Acrobat reader installed, as the document is in the form of a pdf).

Click to expand...

Thank You Pat and Avacado
I have always thoguht a little garlic was good for my dogs ... looks like only I will be getting any... Off to find dog food that Gigi will eat with out garlic... I think raw may be the food in this house

Onions should never, never never be given to cats. The garlic used in cat foods is a flavor enhancer and is only a small amount. I never had a problem giving Wellness to Rosie. Foster and Smith cat food has a little garlic in it too and the ingredients are almost identical to Wellness and they're veterinarians. I don't believe that either Foster and Smith or Old Mother Hubbard would make a cat food that would harm our cats. They could be sued. I think it would be a mistake to give cats additional garlic other than the small amount used in cat food.

Well one person did mention that his/her cat had breathing problems so I suppose some cats have food sensitivities/allergies.

Originally Posted by moggiegirl

Onions should never, never never be given to cats.

The garlic used in cat foods is a flavor enhancer and is only a small amount. I never had a problem giving Wellness to Rosie. Foster and Smith cat food has a little garlic in it too and the ingredients are almost identical to Wellness and they're veterinarians. I don't believe that either Foster and Smith or Old Mother Hubbard would make a cat food that would harm our cats. They could be sued.

Click to expand...

Rebecca Remillard, Ph.D., .V.M., DACVN, has to say regarding garlic:

(from http://www.petdiets.com/faqs/display_faq.asp?ID=637)

"Yes, garlic does cause RBC problems in dogs and cats, but the ingredient is still on the AAFCO allowable list. So individual companies may legally still use it but they do not have to use it.
There is no known concentration of garlic proven not to cause a problem."

"We recommend not feeding garlic or onions to cats. There are plenty of foods available that do not contain these ingredients."

Please also read the link I gave above to a toxicology paper published in August of this year, re allium species which includes garlic. There are many folks who think if a company they respect uses it, it must be okay and/or safe. That doesn't make it so however.

I visited that petdiets website once. The veterinarian answering the questions also considers Science Diet a high quality cat food and believes in feeding only dry food. Many people consider Wellness one of the best cat foods. I haven't seen any adverse reactions in my cats for feeding it and many people who feed Wellness can claim that their pets do very well on it and are very healthy. How come we don't hear or read reports of hundreds of cats and dogs getting sick eating Wellness? If the tiny amounts of garlic put into Wellness were that dangerous then that would be happening.

I can ask the member of my support list if her cat that died from garlic consumption was eating Wellness at the time, but it really is beside my point. My point is, that there is no study that shows garlic in small amount, dry, raw, special variety, is safe, and as is noted in the ASPCA article I hoped you would read, there is strong concern that like onions, any member of the allium family (which includes garlic), is not safe.

You may not respect the vet I quoted (others do), and you may choose to continue feeding this, but I can not recommend it, and I will continue giving the links that I do, to explain why.

I consider this to be a substance that will eventually be removed from all pet foods, and until then, will list my concerns.

I looked at the links and the pet education article. The pet education article is a Foster and Smith source of information. But did you know that the Foster and Smith company makes a cat food that contains garlic. Foster and Smith cat food is on their website and in their catalogs that are mailed to pet owners. I once e-mailed Foster and Smith and asked about this because of these concerns and the reply was that the small amounts of garlic used in cat food as a flavor enhancer are safe. So then why does Foster and Smith make a cat food that contains small amounts of garlic and give access to information on the harmfulness of garlic? I just find it hard to believe that they would make a cat food that would cause illness in cats and if this was the case, wouldn't hundreds to thousands of cats be getting sick eating Foster and Smith cat food? How could the company stay so big? There would be a lawsuit if cats and dogs got ill eating the Foster and Smith dog and cat food which contains a little garlic and is so similar ingredient wise to Wellness.

I'll have to look into this further. I already bought some canned Wellness for Rosie. I don't want to have to panic and throw it away thinking I bought poison. I've fed this to my cats many times without adverse reactions. I could use up the food and not buy any more Wellness. She eats Nutro Max Cat canned food too. But if it turns out that it really is no danger to feed Wellness then I'm not going to take away her favorite food.

Avoiding garlic would also rule out foods such as Natural Balance and Merrick as well. How many cat owners are loyal to these companies? Natural Balance makes food for zoo animals too. All these companies so highly reccommended by health conscious cat owners who want to avoid by-products and chemical preservatives now these alternative natural pet foods are bad too? I find that very frustrating.

Nutro, their canned food is all right, but their dry food contains corn gluten as a source of protein and it has a lot of fillers. I've come to the conclusion that there is something wrong with just about every cat food company.