Cats and toads

We caught our cat playing with a toad, we are not sure if she bit it but she vomited a couple of hours later. That is something she never does. She hasn't been herself the last few days so we think she found the toad before and got mildly poisoned.

The toad appears fine and is in our water feature, it dives down to the bottom and hides if we go near. We hope it will crawl out and find a safe place overnight.

Any tips for relocating a toad or signs of poisoning in cats.

 

Toads are poisonous to pets (toxicosis) but they usually learn their lesson from it. Toads in this country are non fatal but they can make them fairly sick for a while.

You may be able to read about it on veterinary sites.

 

Thanks shiney, yes we did Google. I hope she has learnt her lesson but you never know with cats.

 

Cats are usually good at learning, and remembering, unpleasant surprises but dogs tend not to learn their lesson as quickly. Their curiosity overcomes their longer term memory.

 

Thanks for all your advice and information everyone.

She is still not 100% as she was asleep in her nest till I got up. She normally goes straight outside as soon as her flap opens at 7am and appears later for breakfast. We assumed she had become more house bound as a new cat has appeared recently and think she had a fight and lost so is a bit miffed at not being able to patrol her patch.

She doesn't eat any of her prey, mice and birds are brought in for us as gifts, usually alive. So doubt she bit the toad but would have been carrying it her mouth.

There are a few toads in the garden and I've disturbed them recently tidying a pile of logs. They did crawl off. It's the warts on their back that are poisonous they secrete a toxic slime as defence. I only ever pick them up with gloves but as I understand animals are more susceptible to the toxin than humans.

 

Thanks @noisette47 a good tip I will give that a go. I wonder if she laps it up I could hide her flea tablets in it. She avoids her normal food if she smells the tablet even if we try hiding it in chicken or fish.

 

The toad toxin is emitted through their skin and is a steroid. All toads in this country only emit a mild toxin so it is not harmful to humans. As cats and dogs tend to carry the toad in their mouths the toxin can go directly into their system but they usually recover within a couple of days.

 

Misty can hear me opening the packaging even if I do it carefully in another room. She runs and hides behind the sofa or TV and her eyes are already blinking and streaming before we can grab and wrap her in a towel.

To save her the trauma we switched to tablets but she won't go near her bowl when she detects the crushed up tablet hidden in a treat.

Yet she eats any old rubbish outside, is partial to slug pellets, dragonflies and grass

 

Thought chocolate was bad for dogs my brother in law's labrador loved the annual easter egg hunt, she could sniff them out and eat the egg, silver paper and all in one go, the children didn't get a look in. Dog never seemed any worse for all the chocolate.

Like you say cats are bit more fussy, I've tried butter so maybe cheese is a good idea thanks @Garrett