Why it is dangerous to cats
Nicotine acts quickly on the nervous system and the heart. It is in cigarettes and cigarette ends, tobacco, nicotine gum, patches and e-cigarette liquid, where it is especially concentrated.
A cat can eat a cigarette end from an ashtray or off the pavement, play with a patch or lick up spilled liquid. Signs can appear quickly: drooling, vomiting and restlessness, then trembling, wobbliness, laboured breathing and seizures.
How much nicotine your cat took in cannot be judged at home. Contact a vet or an emergency clinic straight away, even if your cat seems well, and take the packet or the cartridge with you.
What to watch out for
- Drooling, vomiting and restlessness can follow.
- The heart rhythm can be upset.
- Trembling, wobbliness and seizures can follow.
- E-cigarette liquid and cartridges are especially dangerous, as they hold a lot of nicotine.
- Tobacco smoke irritates a cat's airways, and the cat licks off what settles on its coat.
The forms it comes in
The same substance can turn up in different places.
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Cigarette ends
DangerousNicotine stays in the end of a smoked cigarette too.
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E-cigarette liquid
DangerousThe nicotine in it is especially concentrated, so even a little licked up is dangerous.
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Nicotine gum and patches
DangerousThey contain nicotine too, even a used patch.
What it can cause
Signs that can appear after eating it. Each page explains what to look out for and when to hurry to a vet.