How to Feed My Pet

Myths and home remedies that cause harm

Dogs & catsBirth – 16 weeks·Sources checked September 13, 2026
This is general information, not veterinary advice, and it cannot diagnose your animal. Very young puppies and kittens deteriorate quickly — when something looks wrong, contact a veterinarian rather than waiting to see if it resolves. Medical disclaimer

Most of what follows comes from people trying to help. The two most dangerous items on this page — paracetamol given to a cat, and a dog's flea treatment used on a cat — are almost always acts of care that went wrong.

What the action labels mean

Emergency now —
contact an emergency veterinary service and arrange immediate assessment. Do not wait for the next scheduled feed or weigh-in.
Call now for triage —
telephone the veterinary service when you notice the sign. The veterinarian decides how quickly the animal needs to be seen.
Contact today —
get in touch when you notice the issue to agree on a time. This does not mean waiting until evening.

The two that kill cats

Emergency now

Paracetamol / acetaminophen can be fatal to cats.

Cats metabolise it poorly, which can impair the blood's ability to carry oxygen and damage the liver. Signs include brown or blue gums, weakness, rapid or difficult breathing, vomiting, and swelling of the face or paws. There is no safe household dose. Contact an emergency veterinarian immediately — even before symptoms appear.

Emergency now

Permethrin dog products can be fatal to cats.

Never apply a permethrin-containing dog product to a cat, and never try to make one safe by splitting or diluting the dose. Pyrethroid poisoning can cause drooling, twitching or tremors, poor coordination, agitation or depression, seizures, and respiratory compromise. Contact an emergency veterinarian immediately, with the product in hand.

How we label our evidence

  • Source-supportedStated directly in the cited institutional publication.
  • Our editorial guidanceA conservative reading of the evidence applied to a caregiver decision. Not a validated clinical protocol.
  • Evidence gapWe could not verify this in our approved sources, so we have not invented a number.
Source-supported
But be precise about why. "Every dog dewormer is poisonous to cats" is not accurate — some antiparasitic ingredients are used in both species. What differs is concentration, formulation, and indication. The rule that actually protects your cat is "use the product licensed for this species and this weight", not a blanket belief that gets abandoned the moment it seems inconvenient.
Our editorial guidance
Skin decontamination may be needed after insecticide exposure. But for a newborn, or an animal that is trembling, seizing, or breathing abnormally, telephone the emergency clinic while you arrange transport rather than improvising a prolonged bath. Do not give household oils, and do not try to make the animal vomit without instructions.

Food hazards

Puppies

Xylitol — in sugar-free foods, some peanut butters, and toothpaste — can cause profound low blood sugar and liver injury. Signs may begin within 30–60 minutes: vomiting, confusion, staggering, tremors, seizures.

Known or suspected ingestion means contact a veterinarian immediately, before symptoms. Bring the packaging and your best estimate of when it happened. Do not delay while trying a household antidote.

Also hazardous: chocolate, grapes and raisins, onions and garlic. Bones can damage teeth and the digestive tract, and rich table scraps can cause gastrointestinal illness.

Human medicines generally

Human pain relievers can cause serious poisoning in both species. If a pet has taken any, contact a veterinarian immediately and give the exact product — combination cold and flu medicines often contain several active ingredients, and which ones matter enormously. Do not induce vomiting without veterinary direction.

"Children's medicine is gentle enough" and "a small lick can't matter" are both unsafe assumptions — species, ingredient, and concentration decide the outcome, not the label on the box.

Kittens

Cornell generally discourages milk treats, since many cats are lactose intolerant. Note what that does not establish: that every newborn kitten is lactose intolerant, or that lactose-free cow's milk is a nutritionally complete replacer. It is not.

Bathing

Evidence gap
We could not verify a universal "first bath" age in our approved sources, so we are not going to name one. What we can say: unnecessary full-body bathing works directly against keeping a newborn warm and dry, which matters more at that age than cleanliness does.

Chemical contamination is a separate matter and a reason for immediate veterinary advice. And heavy fleas are not a reason to leave a kitten untreated until some arbitrary birthday — get advice, particularly if the gums are pale or the kitten is weak.

Neutering timing — genuinely unsettled

This one gets argued about with more confidence than the evidence supports, in both directions.

Puppies

The historically common 4–6 month approach is now individualised for larger dogs, since some studies suggest benefits to waiting until after puberty.

AAHA cautions that associations between neutering and joint disease or some cancers do not establish causation, and that findings in one breed should not be generalised to all dogs. Decisions should weigh sex, breed, expected adult size, growth, reproductive disease risk, and whether unwanted mating can be prevented.

Neither "all puppies should be neutered before four months" nor "all large dogs should stay intact" follows from this evidence.

Kittens

Kittens can become pregnant from four months of age — which is sooner than most people expect and is the practical driver here.

Cornell emphasises discussing surgery before puberty to prevent unwanted pregnancy and some reproductive and behavioural problems, while recognising that paediatric neutering requires age-appropriate anaesthetic and surgical precautions.

Findings about joints in large-breed dogs should not be carried across to cats — different species, different question.

Our editorial guidance
Cornell's own public pages give differing customary ages, so we are not publishing one compulsory number. Raise it at an early veterinary visit and decide for your individual animal.

Sources