It happens so fast! One day, you are enjoying your backyard or your favorite wooded hiking path with your cat and nothing is out of the ordinary. The next day, the same area seems to be covered in small yellow, brown, or white mushrooms. Weather conditions were just right for them to sprout and your cat thinks they look like a delicacy. Before you know it, he's eaten some and you're left wondering "Are mushrooms toxic to cats?" The answer is that many are. Those that aren't specifically toxic can still cause irritation of the gastrointestinal tract, leading to vomiting. Mushroom ingestion in cats seems to happen more commonly in kittens because they are so curious and mischievous.
There are countless varieties of mushrooms and many of them have been associated with toxicity in cats. Here are a few examples of common poisonous mushrooms based on the type of toxin they contain. There are many others and you should not rely on this list or pictures to identify a mushroom if your cat has eaten one.
The most common mushrooms to cause death in humans and pets contain Amanitin toxins. This includes members of the Amanita family like the Death Cap and the Destroying Angel. Other mushrooms containing Amanitins belong to the Galerina and Lepiota families.
Cats that eat mushrooms containing Amanitin develop vomiting, diarrhea, drooling, excessive tearing, and eventually liver damage. Two troubling aspects to poisoning with this type of mushroom are that signs of illness often do not develop until 6 to 24 hours after ingestion and that there is often a period of time after the initial GI signs have resolved where the cat seems to be doing better. This is not the case, though, as liver failure is developing, and can become irreversible if it isn't caught and aggressively treated. This is one of the reasons it is important to take mushroom ingestion and identification seriously.
Several species in the Inocybe and Clitocybe mushroom families contain Muscarine toxins. These mimic the actions of the parasympathetic nervous system in your cat's body and result in increased salivation, decreased respirations and heart rate, vomiting, and diarrhea. Signs of illness occur around 30 minutes after ingestion of the mushroom. Treatment with a medication called Atropine can help the signs resolve faster.
Mushrooms that contain isoxazole toxins include some in the Amanita family: the Fly Agaric and the Panther. This toxin causes vomiting, then neurologic signs of either hyper-excitement or depression.
Mushrooms containing the psilocybin toxin are better known as "magic" mushrooms, and include many in the Psilocybe family. Often, cats obtain these mushrooms because they are stashed in the home for use by humans. These mushrooms cause hallucinations and fever.
Mushrooms can be extremely difficult to identify. When humans die from mushroom toxicity, it is usually because they misidentified the mushroom. Many mushrooms look very similar to each other and, where growing conditions are right for mushrooms, you will often find multiple similar types growing together.
Because toxic mushrooms can be so tricky to recognize, you should consider any mushroom that is eaten by your cat to be dangerous. Contact your veterinarian, take your cat in, and bring any remaining mushroom, wrapped in a moist paper towel, with you. If there is any doubt as to the safety of the mushroom that was eaten, it should be treated as though it is toxic. Your veterinarian may do several things when you take your cat in.
It is best to consider all mushrooms to be toxic ones. If you see any mushrooms in your yard, pull them up and dispose of them. If you see that mushrooms have been popping up along your hiking trail, keep your cat on a leash (if you take your cat on walks with you) to minimize his ability to get them.
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