Dear Boo:

I would like to make some home made dog and cat treats. One common ingredient in the recipes I’ve found is garlic powder. I know onions are bad for dogs & cats, but what about garlic? I can find no definitive answer through my research. While I can’t imagine there would be garlic in the recipes if it’s bad, I would like to hear from those in-the-know either “yea” or “nay.” Sites sponsored by commercial pet food makers don’t mention anything about home made treats (they want you to buy theirs!), so I thought maybe you would know?

Thank you!

Tyra Schutt
(KiKi & Pip Squeak’s mom)

PS – typical recipes usually contain these ingredients in some way:

Whole wheat flour

Powdered milk

Powdered garlic

Cheddar cheese or baby food meat

Dear Tyra:

I know sometimes people have believed that adding garlic to food will enhance its palatability. Besides the obvious breath issue (though I’m so handsome even if my breath was not, everyone would still love me), there are food safety concerns with garlic and onions in cats.

Both onions and garlic can be toxic in cats. They can cause a type of anemia called “Heinz Body anemia”. Although garlic may be ok in very small quantities, no cat dose papers have been published. We also know that the relatively small doses that were included in commercial baby foods years ago did cause a number of cats to develop this type of anemia. (Commercial baby foods no longer contain garlic). Cat hemoglobin is different than the hemoglobin in other species, which makes us more susceptible to this type of anemia. The bottom line is that it is best to avoid garlic and onions in dogs and cats.

Boo,