As Princess prances across your wet, freshly mopped floors, hops in her bed and proceeds to clean her toes, she may be swallowing traces of the chemical-laden floor cleaner - which could be harmful to her health if consumed in large enough amounts.
"When we look at traditional cleaners, they can be acid or alkali based, and those can cause oral or dermal burns, along with drooling, vomiting and pain," says Tina Wismer, DVM, medical director at the ASPCA's animal poison control center in New York, N.Y.
"We also have products that contain phenols," like disinfectant-type cleaners, she says. "And cats are very susceptible to phenols because they don't have the enzymes to metabolize them like most other mammals.
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