Is Garlic Good for Cats?
Is garlic good for cats? Have an older cat that
has constant diarrhea, a friend had suggested maybe
garlic being something that would get rid of any
minor parasites.
Lauren
Kingwood TX
Garlic is not good for cats.
There are two potential problems with the use of garlic as a flea or parasite preventative in pets. First and most important is that garlic is potentially toxic. Second, in my experience when used to prevent fleas and parasites garlic is completely ineffective.
Garlic and onions contain chemicals that are oxidizers. These chemicals can react with the blood of pets (especially cats) to cause a syndrome called Heinz body anemia. Onion is much more dangerous than garlic. However, chronic toxicity studies of garlic have revealed cases of anemia (source: Handbook of Small Animal Toxicology and Poisonings, Gfeller and Messonnier, 1st ed.). Garlic also can cause skin rashes and breathing problems.
Garlic-based flea preventatives are commercially available despite their inefficacy and the risks they pose to pets. I suspect that this is due to lax government regulation of pet products.
Just because something is natural does not mean it is safe. There are millions of natural carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, mutagens, and toxins. Cobra venom, aflatoxin, and botulism toxin are all completely natural–and completely deadly.
Garlic certainly isn’t in the same league as the poisons listed above. Some pets appear to be able to tolerate garlic quite well. Not every pet suffers anemia or other problems after consuming garlic. Nonetheless, I cannot sign off on the use of garlic in pets.
Chronic diarrhea in older cats has many causes. Thyroid disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and parasites are just a few. I’d recommend a trip to the vet for your cat.
You have questions. 
We are big fans of natural remedies, but have so far found very few that completely address the flea problem as well as the veterinary topicals.
We raw feed and have been told this will be the best preventive. It’s not. Our raw fed cat got fleas from killing mice that got in the house. Garlic won’t help the problem in the furniture or rugs.
If there is one rather costly chemical solution I’m willing to use, it’s a good topical flea preventive!
this is good to know, my husband loves garlic and our butter seems to be attracted to it. well, maybe she just likes the smell on him. but im glad to know we shouldnt ever give it to her, should she show interest
something natural for fleas inside are flea lights. they use a nightlight bulb and glue pads to trap fleas and work very well. i know our hardware store carries them, and Wal-Mart carries a small version that you can hide behind furniture. we used to have an infestation a couple years ago, three bug bombs, ever-other-day vaccuming, and weekly carpet shampooings later, we discovered the flea light. they work better than anything else we’ve used. they also catch flies, gnats, spiders, and mosquitoes. they use no chemicals and claim to be approved by whatever board covers veterinary chemcals and what-not. the light itself can be found for about $13 and comes with three pads if you buy the same brand as we do. pad refills are about $6 and come with 3 pads.
I dont have any personal experince of garlic with my cat , she always gets frontline for the fleas and something similar for the worms. However , my cousin owns a female labrador retriver , Nala , and they were concerned because of the large amount of hair she was shedding. The whole house was covered in hair ,a dn it was really tiring to have to sweep all the time. they tried some garlic pills recomended by someone , I think it was the vet , and the shedding has stopped. I was witness to it , she now sheds a lot less than the average lab , hardly anything at all. I dont know if it really was the gralic or not , but maybe it can be of some use to dogs if not to cats.