Woman's warning after cat poisoned by laundry liquid

A pet owner has issued an urgent warning online, after her pet cat was poisoned by coming into contact with a small amount of laundry liquid.

The woman said she'd sprayed the Canesten Laundry liquid on a scratching tower, and woke up to find the cat "salivating".

The antibacterial and antifungal laundry liquid contains Benzalkonium Chloride, which is harmful to cats.

"This is harmful to cats, as I learned the hard way today," the woman wrote in a post on Facebook.

"Woke up this morning having found one of my girls salivating after I had lightly sprayed this liquid on a cat tower last night," she said.

Her cat was taken to a cat hospital, which she called an expensive and dangerous "mistake".

Benzalkonium Chloride is a relatively common ingredient in household cleaning products. If ingested, cats can experience hypersalivation, ulcers in their mouth, hyperthermia, a loss of appetite and lethargy.

High doses can lead to the cat experiencing tissue damage. If treated, a cat can recover within four days. The first sign of poisoning is excessive salivating.

Cats can also experience problems when they get the chemical on their coats and feet. If this occurs, Ark Vets recommends stopping the cat from grooming itself and bathing the cat to remove traces of the chemical.