Pete the Vet: Human foods that are poisonous to pets 

Find out which seemingly-innocuous food can actually give your pet kidney failure, even when consumed in tiny amounts

Human foods that are poisonous to pets

Pet owners take great care to keep poisons out of reach of their pets: human medicines, pest control poisons (slug, rat, and mouse bait), and weedkillers are all kept in secure places. But there is one type of poisoning that can take pet owners by surprise: normal human foodstuffs. The metabolism of dogs and cats has unique enzyme pathways. Foods that present zero risk to humans can be highly toxic when consumed by pets.

Cats are less commonly poisoned than dogs: they’re more fastidious eaters. Dogs often have ravenous appetites, with no “off-switch”, so they are prone to eating large quantities of foods that can be bad for them.