Ingesting Cough Drops Could Be Toxic to a Kitten . . .

but only if they contain menthol. And if they eat 500 of them. This makes #462 on the list of facts I did not know about cats one year ago.

I found Loki and Zoey both standing by a chewed up cough drop wrapper last night. I had no idea where it came from, if there had been a cough drop inside when the kittens found it, and, if so, which one of the kittens ate it. A panicked call to our wonderful vet's office (who I feel must have our account flagged as Eric & Allison, aka the people who we must be extra patient with because of their tragic history with kittens), confirmed that the kittens would survive. It would take over 500 menthol cough drops to be toxic. Good to know. This factoid is now filed in my brain along with everything I now know about FIP, fleas, tapeworms, nutrition, alteration surgeries, litter box preferences, vaccine reactions, and nail clipping techniques. As I said to the angel at the vet's office, "It's always something with these kittens."