Garlic is a part of the Allium genus, along with onions, chives, leeks and shallots. All of those foods are considered equally toxic to cats.
Garlic is the most dangerous substance in bunches. It is five times more poisonous than onions to cats.
If your cat eats garlic in large amounts, they are at increased risk of garlic toxicity. This also causes a disease called hemolytic anemia. Which may cause their body to attack its own red blood cells The good thing is that if you act fast, you can limit the damage and possibly even stop hemolytic anemia from progressing. The bad news is that the longer you wait to seek help, the more damaging garlic poisoning can prove to be, and if you wait too long it can prove fatal.
If you have given your cat food containing garlic, or you suspect that they have eaten something containing garlic, you should take immediate action. It is important to understand that these signs do not appear immediately. In some cases, it may take up to 4 days for the garlic to cause noticeable problems in your cat’s blood cells.
But by then it may be too late to repair some of the damage, which is why you should take action as soon as you realize garlic has been eaten, rather than waiting for symptoms to appear.
How much garlic is poisonous to a cat?
Garlic is not good for cats, but that doesn’t mean that even a small amount of it will cause them any haram is said that any amount over 5 grams per kilogram can cause toxicity in cats, but the breed of cat can also play a role. For some reason, Asian breeds seem to be more sensitive to impacts than others, so if you have a Siamese, Burmese, or any other Asian breed, you may want to take precautions.
Cats with prior health problems also have a significantly reduced ability to resist the effects of garlic poisoning. If your cat has a poor health history, you should be concerned about