Can cats eat cherries?

What is actually dangerous

The ripe flesh is not the problem. The pit, stem, and leaf are. They contain cyanogenic glycosides, compounds that release cyanide when they are crushed or chewed. The ASPCA lists cherry as toxic to cats on that basis, and names the stems, leaves, and seeds as the parts that carry it.

Our sources part ways on how severe that is in practice. Pet Poison Helpline rates cherry exposure in cats as mild and treats everything except the ripe pulp as toxic. The Merck Veterinary Manual notes that cyanide poisoning is most commonly seen in livestock, whose digestion favours the release, rather than in small animals. A cat would also have to bite through a pit rather than swallow it whole for much cyanide to be freed.

That is why this sits at caution rather than toxic. The risk is real and it depends entirely on which part your cat got hold of.

The pit is the more likely problem

A cherry pit is small, hard, and does not break down. Swallowed whole by an animal the size of a cat, it can lodge in the gut. VCA notes that an obstruction can cut off the blood supply to the tissue around it, and that if that goes on for more than a few hours the tissue can start to die.

This is the scenario that sends cats to surgery, and it does not need any cyanide to happen.

Signs to watch for

From a chewed pit, within about 15 minutes to a few hours:

• Fast breathing, then laboured breathing
• Drooling, watering eyes
• Muscle twitching or spasms
• Collapse
• A bitter almond smell on the breath

From a swallowed pit, over the following hours or days:

• Vomiting or diarrhoea
• Refusing food
• Straining in the litter tray, or passing very little
• Lethargy, or biting and growling when picked up

What to do

Call your vet or a poison line, and say which part your cat ate and roughly when. If it was a mouthful of flesh with no pit, you are most likely watching for an upset stomach and nothing more. If a pit was chewed or swallowed, that is worth a call straight away rather than waiting to see what develops.

There is no reason to offer cherries to a cat in the first place. Keep the bowl where it cannot be knocked over.