Turkey stuffing, the RSPCA tell us, is toxic to cats and dogs. As Christmas has arrived, cat and dog caretakers who are unaware should be warned. Not that cats like turkey stuffing but if some of it is attached to pieces of turkey it may be ingested by a cat.
Angela Grigg of Putney Animal Hospital, London (a place I have walked past many times) said that there were 15 cases of dogs being poisoned by turkey mixed with turkey stuffing last year.
I had never heard of this before. A quarter of 867 people surveyed by the RSPCA didn’t realise either. I bet the figure is higher than that, actually.
It is the onions in stuffing that poisons dogs. It causes vomiting, diarrhea and dehydration as a result.
As for cats, I am not sure what it is in the stuffing that might hurt a cat. My immediate research indicates that in some (perhaps all) recipes turkey stuffing contains a large quantity of currants or raisins. Currants and raisins can be toxic to cats and dogs. They can cause kidney failure.
There may be high levels of salt and some alcohol in stuffing too. Both can harm cats and presumably dogs.
Also, if you buy pre-prepared turkey stuffing you don’t what is in it. There may be some chemicals that are also toxic.
My cat doesn’t like Turkey. He’s a chicken man. Anyway I don’t do Christmas!
See Toxic to cats for some more nasties.
Well I guess I been poisoning my dogs and cats for 5 decades. I only use celery and onions and herbs in my stuffing and no one has ever died from it. They been eating my meatloaf with onions for 5 decades too but yet still no one has died or been sick. But then again I only use enough onion as a herb not as a flavoring. I think maybe my moderate use onions is why no one has been poisoned. Maybe it’s the use of that instant stuffing crap that sickens pets, I know it sickens me. 🙂
Well thanks Tamara. It must be about quantity. And also ‘poisoning’ is a very elastic word. It can mean no symptoms. I’ll revisit the page in the light of what you say. Hope you are well.
I just know everyone enjoys Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner in my house and then we all take a long nap 🙂 Maybe it’s prepackaged stuffing has a preservative that sickens pets. But I do make everything from scratch except pie cuz I stink at pie making. I wish the Great Bake Off covered pies more.
I’m doing well Mike preparing to start my garden plants inside for April planting. 🙂 How are you doing?
Tamara, my big priority is maintaining health at 74 and it’s okay at the moment. I hope to live to 90 😎. Now I have said I’ll probably pop my clogs tomorrow. Do you have that phrase in the US? Pop my clogs.
No. “Pop my clogs” LOL. My mom lived to 91. Me I just want to outlive all these kitties and 6 dogs. While mom was pretty active she did a lot of sitting which they call the new smoking. My neighbor is 78 and stays active and seems pretty healthy but has many health problems. Mom out lived 3 siblings and 3 children and most of my cousins, I’m the only one left but have 2 sons. I think it’s in the gene’s and luck of the draw.
My dad lived to 92. I am not sure I want to live that long even if I have the choice.
Me either but mom was still driving in September when I got her in home hospice and gone on November 30th. She went downhill real fast. Just 3 days in a facility hospice and she was gone. I want to close my eyes and be done I don’t want to know it’s coming. Although your Captain Tom made me want to live longer, he inspired me. 🙂
When they go into homes they die fast. I’ve seen it myself. I think they give up because they feel others have given up on them.
Mom was seeing things, didn’t know who she was. All her organs were shutting down, hadn’t eaten in 3 days. It was like dominoes and she went fast. Totally freaked me out. The in home hospice did her dirty because it was Thanksgiving weekend. They had set nothing up to help her for end of life like they were suppose too. I had no one to help me help her and it’s why I had to move her to a facility. It was a absolute horror. I actually fired them just hours before mom died and hired a new hospice. 1 hour after signing the papers she passed. Two days ago I received a call asking about her hospice care because medicare is finding some hospice are a rip off. Three Rivers Hospice is lucky I’m not a crazy gun toting nut. 🙂
A horror story. I shake my head in despair. On the day my dad died in his sleep I visited his room. He was hyperventilating and there were two people attending to him. He was clearly terrified but I believe he had asked the doctor to give him a fatal dose of morphine to end his life. And I believe that the doctor had agreed to do it. And therefore, he knew that he was going to die that night in his sleep. Realising this, his body automatically panicked. He couldn’t help himself. He looked at me and said with his eyes that everything was all right. He was asking me not to intervene through his expression. Those were the last moments of his long life.