Foil?

my cat will not play with regular cat toys or even anything with catnip, but he just adores alum. foil balls. is this bad for kittens/cats teeth?

Yes. Aluminium foil is highly toxic to cats even though they are attracted to it. Try scrunched up paper balls instead - same noise and just as much fun, but not poisonous!

oh ok, thanks! i will try using the paper balls and see if he enjoys those much more than foil!

I don't have any veterinary expertise, but it seems to me that foil HAS to be bad for kitties -- perhaps not for their teeth, but certainly for their insides, should they ingest any of it. Aluminum is apparently involved in the development of various diseases, including Alzheimer's...and also, I imagine chunks of foil moving through a kittycat's little digestive system and possibly getting hung up on something, causing an abscess in the intestine, causing injury when it passes...scary stuff. I try to keep foil away from my babies.

As far as I know, aluminium foil is fine for cats as long as its not small enough that they can swallow it where it can cause choking or intestinal blockage.

All my cats have had foil balls and we have never had a problem.

thanks for all the help! usually i give him a ball that is probably as big as a golf ball so he doesnt swallow it. i didnt thi nk there was much harm, and noone has told me that it was, until i got on here!

As long as it is that big I don't think you should have trouble - I have just gone on Google and looked up Foil toxicity in cats - Most sites say that the most dangerous thing is them swallowing it and it causing intestinal damage. I had one site say it was toxic, but they said it was toxic to humans and should not be used at all (which I personally don't believe). Most sites recommend using foil to cover things like pot plant soil to stop the cat from getting on it (apparently they don't like walking on it) - So from this I have decided that foil shouldn't be too bad for your cat as long as the ball is fairly big (like you already have) and he is not chewing little bits off it!!

So have fun!
(But take this advice with a grain of salt, always do your own research as well!!)

Smokey loves to whack foil balls around--I fill them with nip(hence the name Smokey-she was named after the guy in the Friday movie--she loves her nip & don't try to come between her & it, it will cost ya some skin!)poke holes in it & she tears around the house like a nut! She's never eaten the foil-just leaves trails around for me to pick up.
cheryl

thanks once again jane!
sheffie-your Smokey sounds like my colter. he always leaves stuff for me to pick up. he actually likes to play fetch with it, and i am not interested in playing with him he will tear the ball apart and demand a new one.

Hehehe - My boy loves his foil ball - But luckily for me he never rips it up but plays soccer with it all over the house!! We have a 3 split level house and it goes flying down the stairs all the time!!!

Despite the size, it's definitely toxic to cats, and I would recommend to anyone using foil balls that they stop just because there's always a small possibility that something could go wrong, even if it hasn't by now...

It can cause vomiting, blood poisoning and intestinal blockages - all things that are very nasty for our darling kitties.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but where's the proof? Its always wise not to believe in blanket statements that don't have evidence to support them.

I'm only putting across my personal point of view and what I have experienced.

From what I saw on the sites I looked at, they didn't state that it would cause blood poisoning. And anything can cause an intestinal blockage.

My advice is that everyone should do their own investigation, and if in doubt ring their vet.

Yes, that's what I did - rang my vet - who told me those symptoms. But then you can hear one thing from one vet, and one thing from another, so as you say, it is best to make your own decisions based on the evidence you find.

Having said that, it is also a common suggestion to put down aluminium foil where you don't want cats to go, because they don't like to walk on it, which seems to contradict keeping them away from it entirely. So there are definitely two schools of thought on whether or not it is bad for your cats.

I don't want to take the risk with mine, but if you feel happy that your kitties are safe and not going to ingest any, then they probably are safe and it's no problem. My girls aren't really into chasing scrunched up balls of anything, anyway! Sunday's too lazy and ever since Sashka discovered hair elastics nothing else has held any interest for her..

I have to hide all of my hair elastics!! Otherwise I'll have nothing to tie my hair up with!!

I just had all of mine cut off - so she can have them all!!! Little nut...

Yeah, anything that isn't tied down is fair game!!! And he speads it ALLLLLLL over the house!!! I have to watch what I vacuum!!

Sashka can also get into the bin (God knows how it's got a lid and it's in a cupboard). So we have to wrap everything up that she might be tempted to scavenge for and use tape and rubber bands to secure everything....lol.

Never know what you're going to find when you get home from work!

I know from first-hand experience that foil is toxic to cats. It can kill them. Several years ago I rescued a kitten whose owner only let her play with foil balls. The kitten was severly ill when it arrived, and I had no knowledge of the foil ball playing until later.

The owner could not afford the vet visit so the kitten was an owner surrender to me. The kitten was quite ill, vomiting, feverish, lethargic. It was finally determined that there was an obstruction and the surgery revealed several pieces of aluminum foil inside. Her throat was also cut from the foil as she swallowed it.

She only lived a few days after the surgery.

If you want your cat to play with household items, use safe items, like paper and other biodegradable, non-toxic non- irritating items. Don't risk it, just because you "think" it might be safe.

Heheh - I suggest you get kiddy locks on your cupboards!!!

Kitties can be bad can't they!! But we still love them to bits!! I swear, if kids were this bad we'd never speak to them!!

My bf's mum came over last night for dinner and had to contend with Sashka having a spaz on top of the kitchen cupboards because Ruby chased her, Sunday sticking her tail in our food because she WILL not get off the table, and Ruby and Chester belting around the house chasing each other, biting, growling, barking and just generally being lunatics. She had come over to puppy-sit and then we decided not to go out, and she was like, `OK. Soooooo relaxing at your place, isn't it??' We only live in a two-bedroom duplex there's not a lot of room for four pets - two of them baby dogs. We've both decided that if they're a precursor to furless children we're not having any of that sort!!