Editorial Policy

Last reviewed 14 September 2026.

Our About page covers what this site is and who runs it. This page is the method: exactly how a verdict is sourced, decided and worded, and the rules we hold ourselves to. Every food page links here.

Source hierarchy

A verdict is transcribed from a published veterinary source and cited on the page it appears on. We do not infer verdicts and we do not write them from general knowledge. When sources differ, the higher one wins:

1. ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center — its "People Foods to Avoid Feeding Your Pets" list and its toxic/non-toxic plant database, which publishes a separate finding per species. Our first reference, cited by 73 records.
2. VCA Animal Hospitals pet health library — 95 records.
3. Merck Veterinary Manual — 9 records.
4. Pet Poison Helpline (5) and the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine (3).

Each record stores the source, the date we last reviewed it, and a confidence rating that is shown on the page. Of 140 foods, 88 are high confidence and 52 medium. We would rather tell you the evidence is thinner than present everything with equal certainty.

What each verdict word means

• Toxic — a published source documents poisoning in that species. Do not feed it; if your pet already has, call your vet. 32 of our 277 verdicts.
• Don't feed — not established as a poison, but a real hazard: fat load, salt, mould risk, or a documented harm short of toxicity.
• Choking hazard — the danger is the shape or the bone, not the chemistry.
• Caution — usually not poisonous and not worth feeding: too fatty, too salty, or of no use to an obligate carnivore. This is a nutrition position, and the page says so rather than implying toxicity.
• Generally safe — plain, in moderation, prepared as the page describes.

Where a source is silent, we say nothing

This is the rule we are strictest about. A finding established in one species is not evidence about the other. Macadamia nuts, hops and star fruit are documented in dogs with no established finding in cats. We do not extrapolate: those three foods have no cat page at all, and the checker answers "we don't have a sourced answer for cats — ask your vet" rather than guessing.

The same restraint applies inside a verdict. Grape toxicity is documented in dogs and not established in cats, and our cat page says exactly that instead of borrowing the dog finding. Where the ASPCA attributes a risk mainly to other animals — avocado's persin, which it associates with birds and ruminants — we say so rather than inflating it into a dog toxin.

A food missing from this site is not a food we have cleared. It means we have no citable source, and the answer is your vet.

What we refuse to do

• We never tell a reader to induce vomiting, and we never give a dose or a home treatment. This site tells you when to get help, never how to treat.
• We never place a product link on a page carrying a toxic, don't-feed or choking verdict. That is enforced by an automated check that blocks the deploy, not by editorial habit.
• We never soften a sourced toxicity finding, and we never let a commercial consideration change a verdict.
• We do not claim veterinary credentials. This site is written and maintained by one person working from published veterinary sources — not by a vet, and it is not reviewed by one.

The limits, stated plainly

This is a reference, not veterinary advice and not a diagnosis. Toxicity guidance changes as findings are published, and animals differ in size, age, breed and health, so a quantity that is harmless to one may not be to another. Where this site and your vet disagree, your vet is right.

If your pet may have eaten something harmful, call your vet or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435 now — don't wait for symptoms, and don't wait on a web page. A consultation fee may apply to that hotline.

Corrections

If a verdict here contradicts a veterinary source, we want to know. Send the page and the source to our contact address; we check it, correct the record, and update the reviewed date shown on the page. A correction that changes a verdict is made the same day we can verify it. We would rather be corrected than be wrong.