Top 10 Most Toxic Human Foods for Cats
PlainPetFood ranks human foods classified as toxic to cats by veterinary toxicology consensus, rendered live from the rankings table joined to foods and categories.
Research period:
Research question
Among the 160 human foods catalogued, which are classified as toxic to cats by ASPCA Animal Poison Control, and how does the cat-toxicity profile differ from the dog-toxicity profile, particularly around obligate-carnivore metabolism, lily-family plants, and onion-family compounds?
Methodology
This ranking reflects the data currently in our database, sourced from the agency referenced in the citation below and updated automatically as new filings are processed.
Coverage and exclusions: the source agency occasionally suppresses values for confidentiality, small sample size, or quality control, and suppressed rows are excluded from this ranking rather than shown as zero. If the agency later revises a figure, the revised value replaces the old one automatically the next time our data is refreshed.
Data provenance: we pull each release as it becomes available and normalize it into our database; a later release simply supersedes the one before it, so readers never see a mix of old and new figures on the same page.
Comparability across years: when the source agency revises its release schedule, definitions, or coverage, we note the affected years on the methodology page so readers can compare like-with-like rather than across a changed measurement.
Editorial governance: a named editor reviews every ranking page before publication (see the byline above). If an entity disputes a figure attributed to it, corrections are checked against the official source record before any change is made.
Every number on this page can be traced back to its source by following the entity links and the citation below, so independent verification never requires anything beyond the original public source.
See the methodology page for the complete sourcing, source vintage, and column lineage.
Top 10 Most Toxic Human Foods for Cats
Live data: reflects the current dataset
The ranked top 10
Every row below reflects the current 10-record dataset. Reload the page after new data is processed to see the latest values.
| # | Toxicity rank | Food | Category | Reported symptoms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Alcohol | Beverages | Same as dogs: sedation, coma, death |
| 2 | 2 | Chives | Vegetables | Anemia, vomiting, lethargy |
| 3 | 3 | Chocolate | Processed Foods | Same as dogs: vomiting, cardiac effects, seizures |
| 4 | 4 | Coffee | Beverages | Rapid heart rate, seizures, muscle tremors |
| 5 | 5 | Energy Drinks | Beverages | Cardiac arrhythmia, seizures |
| 6 | 6 | Garlic | Vegetables | Lethargy, anemia, vomiting, increased heart rate |
| 7 | 7 | Grape | Fruits | Vomiting, lethargy, decreased urination |
| 8 | 8 | Leek | Vegetables | Anemia, vomiting |
| 9 | 9 | Macadamia Nut | Nuts & Seeds | Weakness, vomiting |
| 10 | 10 | Nutmeg | Herbs & Spices | Seizures, CNS effects |
Source: ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center + Cornell Feline Health Center, ASPCA Animal Poison Control cat-toxicity reference aligned with Cornell Feline Health Center guidance. Values reflect the current dataset, refreshed as new filings are processed. ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center + Cornell Feline Health Center, ASPCA Animal Poison Control cat-toxicity reference aligned with Cornell Feline Health Center guidance. Values reflect the current dataset, refreshed as new filings are processed.
Findings
Top entity in the ranking
The top-ranked record in this dataset is Alcohol, with a value of 1 on the Toxicity rank column. The full top-10 set is rendered in the table above. Every value comes directly from the current dataset; no number is hardcoded into this page. When the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center + Cornell Feline Health Center publishes a revision, the ranking and the prose around it update automatically.
Distribution shape
The gap between the top-ranked record (1) and the 10th-ranked record (10) characterizes how concentrated the top of the distribution is. Where the top value is many multiples of the median value of the visible set, the population is highly concentrated, a small number of entities accumulate the bulk of the measured quantity. Where the top and bottom of the visible set are close together, the distribution is relatively flat across the top end. The full distribution beyond this top-10 cut is summarized in the aggregate context section below and explored in the linked entity profiles.
Aggregate context
Across the full population behind this ranking, here are the summary statistics: how many records exist in total, the sum of the ranking metric across all qualifying records, and the mean per-record value. The methodology page documents the exact filter applied (records with null or zero values on the ranking metric are excluded). This aggregate row is computed from the same dataset that powers the ranking above.
Source provenance
The records in this ranking originate from ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center + Cornell Feline Health Center, specifically the ASPCA Animal Poison Control cat-toxicity reference aligned with Cornell Feline Health Center guidance. PlainPetFood ingests the source vintage published by the agency and keeps this page current, there is no static export carrying stale numbers, and a newly published dataset is reflected here within hours. The methodology page documents the source URL, the vintage date, and the steps applied to prepare the data.
Why this ranking matters
Rankings like this one let a reader scan a population quickly and identify outliers, concentrations, and patterns that warrant deeper investigation. The detail pages linked from each entity in the table above give the full per-entity context: time-series history where available, related metrics from adjacent tables, and links onward to the underlying source records. The methodology page explains how an entity earns inclusion in the dataset and how the ranking column is computed at the source.
What this analysis cannot tell us
Cats are obligate carnivores and metabolize many plant and dairy compounds differently from dogs. Lily-family plants (true lilies, daylilies) are acutely nephrotoxic to cats but generally not classified the same way for dogs, any exposure including pollen, vase water, or leaf ingestion warrants emergency veterinary attention. Allium-family foods (onion, garlic, leek, chive) are toxic to cats at smaller doses relative to body weight than to dogs because cats are more sensitive to oxidative damage to red blood cells. Many adult cats are functionally lactose-intolerant and dairy that is benign for some pets can cause GI upset in cats. Xylitol toxicity, well-documented in dogs, is less clearly studied in cats, but caution is still warranted. The ranking does not imply strict severity ordering among items; any consensus-toxic food on the list warrants emergency response if ingested. PlainPetFood is informational reference material, not veterinary advice. For suspected ingestion call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at 1-888-426-4435 or contact a veterinarian immediately. Symptoms listed are typical; absence of immediate symptoms does not mean the cat is safe.
Secondary cut from the same source
Top 10 cat-safe foods that may be offered as occasional treats with portion control
Sources
- ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, Cat-specific Toxic Food List - https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/cats-plant-list
- Cornell Feline Health Center, Toxic Foods reference - https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center
Every figure on PlainPetFood is rendered directly from federal and industry source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal and industry source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.