UK Food Safety
Foods toxic to cats
Every human food that's dangerous to cats — with UK brand names, hidden sources, and what to do in an emergency.
Cats are obligate carnivores with a short list of hard vetoes: alliums (onion family), chocolate, grapes and dried vine fruit, xylitol, alcohol, caffeine, and raw yeast dough. On top of that there's a 'caution' tier — foods that aren't immediately toxic but cause problems with repeated feeding.
This page lists every toxic and caution-tier food from our directory. Tap any one for specific emergency steps and symptom timeline.
Why cats are unusually sensitive. Cats metabolise a number of everyday compounds far more slowly than humans or even dogs. They lack certain glucuronyl transferase enzymes in the liver — which is why paracetamol, lilies, and some essential oils are lethal to cats at doses harmless to us. The same reduced metabolic capacity makes caffeine, chocolate theobromine, allium disulfides, and xylitol disproportionately dangerous. Cats are also much smaller than the humans whose food they're sharing: a 4 kg cat's safe sodium intake is about 40 mg per day. One slice of UK ham contains 10× that.
The most common UK feline-food emergencies are, in rough frequency order: chocolate ingestion (especially at Christmas and Easter), grape/raisin ingestion (Christmas cake, hot cross buns, mince pies), allium ingestion (onion in leftover meals), xylitol ingestion (chewing gum, sugar-free peanut butter), and lily pollen (cut-flower arrangements — covered on our toxic plants hub). If you're here because your cat has just eaten something, go straight to our emergency hub.
Hidden sources matter as much as obvious ones. Onion powder in crisps, gravy granules, and stuffing mix causes more allium emergencies in the UK than whole onions. Chocolate in biscuits, cakes, and protein bars catches out more cats than chocolate bars. Xylitol in 'sugar-free' peanut butter, chewing gum, and whitening toothpaste is rarely looked at by owners before offering a taste. We flag hidden sources on each individual page.
What this list doesn't cover. Cat-specific treats, cat food from shops, and medications prescribed by your own vet are outside this scope. If you're unsure about a specific branded product not listed here, the safest default is not to give it and to check with the Animal PoisonLine on 01202 509000. For any substance with a UK brand name — Calpol, Nurofen, Savlon, Fairy Liquid — we have a dedicated page with current UK formulation details.
Toxic foods — do not feed (48)
Alcohol
no
Bacon
no
Biscuits
no
Black tea / tea bags
no
Caffeine (coffee, tea, energy drinks)
no
Cake
no
Chewing gum
no
Chives
no
Chocolate
no
Christmas cake
no
Christmas ham / gammon
no
Christmas pudding
no
Cocoa powder
no
Coffee grounds
no
Cooked bones
no
Crisps
no
Currants
no
Dark chocolate
no
Easter eggs
no
Energy drinks
no
Garlic
no
Grapes
no
Gravy
no
Grease / cooking fat
no
Ham
no
Hot cross buns
no
Leeks
no
Macadamia nuts
no
Marmite
no
Milk chocolate
no
Mince pies
no
Mushrooms
no
Nutmeg
no
Onions
no
Oranges (and citrus)
no
Puff pastry / pastry
no
Raisins
no
Raw bread dough
no
Salt
no
Sausages
no
Shallots
no
Spring onions
no
Stuffing (sage and onion)
no
Sultanas
no
Turkey bones
no
Vanilla extract
no
Walnuts
no
Xylitol
no
Caution foods — unsafe in amount or frequency (36)
These aren't toxic in the strict sense, but regular or large exposures can cause illness. Keep them off the menu.
Almonds
caution
Baking soda
caution
Bread (cooked)
caution
Butter
caution
Cheese
caution
Cinnamon
caution
Coconut oil
caution
Cooked pork
caution
Cooking oil (spilled)
caution
Cream
caution
Dog food
caution
Dog food (cats eating)
caution
Fish oil / omega-3 supplements
caution
Greek yogurt
caution
Honey
caution
Ice cream
caution
Liver
caution
Milk
caution
Mint
caution
Olive oil
caution
Parsley
caution
Peanut butter
caution
Popcorn
caution
Potato
caution
Raw chicken
caution
Raw eggs
caution
Raw fish
caution
Raw tuna / raw fish
caution
Rice cakes
caution
Sweetcorn
caution
Thyme
caution
Tomatoes
caution
Tuna
caution
Vinegar
caution
White chocolate
caution
Yogurt
caution
First aid at home — what you can and can't do
What you can do. Move your cat away from the food. Take photos of what was eaten, the packaging, and (for plants) the leaf. Note the weight of your cat — most UK domestic cats are 3.5–5.5 kg; kittens are much smaller. Check the time so you can give the vet an accurate timeline. Call the vet or the Animal PoisonLine.
What you cannot do safely at home. Do not induce vomiting. This is sometimes advised for dogs but is dangerous in cats — cat physiology makes home emesis risky. Do not give milk, bread, salt water, hydrogen peroxide, or any home remedy you've read about. Do not wait 'to see if they get ill' — for some toxins (lilies, paracetamol, antifreeze) the window for effective treatment is short and early symptoms are easily missed.
Use our calculators if relevant. For chocolate, enter cat weight, chocolate type, and amount in our chocolate calculator. For a suspected paracetamol ingestion, our paracetamol calculator gives a time-critical dose check. These are decision-support tools, not replacements for veterinary advice.