Slug and Snail Bait (metaldehyde)

How Much Is Dangerous

A relatively small amount of bait pellets is enough to cause serious, rapid-onset poisoning; this is considered one of the more acutely dangerous common garden and lawn chemicals specifically because of how quickly and severely it acts once ingested, in contrast to some other pesticides where onset is slower and there's more of a practical window to intervene before things become critical.

Symptoms

• Restlessness and anxiety, appearing quite quickly after ingestion — often the first sign an owner notices
• Drooling
• Muscle tremors that can become severe and sustained
• Incoordination
• Rapidly rising, dangerously high body temperature — a direct consequence of the severe, sustained muscle tremors themselves generating heat faster than the body can dissipate it
• Seizures
• Rapid heart rate and breathing

Time to Symptoms

Very rapid — often within 1–3 hours of ingestion, sometimes faster still, making this one of the more time-critical acute poisonings on this list in terms of how quickly the situation can become severe.

First Aid Steps

• This is a genuine emergency — go to a veterinarian or emergency animal hospital immediately without delay
• Do not wait for tremors to appear if ingestion is witnessed or strongly suspected, given how rapidly this toxin can progress from exposure to severe illness
• Keep the cat cool and as calm as possible during transport, since both agitation and warmth directly worsen the clinical picture given the toxin's mechanism

What Not To Do

• Do not use metaldehyde-based slug or snail bait in any area a cat has access to — pet-safe alternatives based on iron phosphate are widely available and achieve the same gardening goal without this level of risk
• Do not delay seeking care in the hope that mild early restlessness will pass on its own — this toxin is well known among veterinary professionals for escalating quickly from mild to severe

Veterinary Treatment

Aggressive sedation specifically to control tremors and seizure activity, active cooling measures for elevated body temperature, IV fluids, and decontamination if performed early enough in the course to still be useful. This poisoning requires intensive hospitalization and close monitoring; prognosis is good with prompt, sufficiently aggressive treatment, but this specific toxin can be fatal without timely intervention given how quickly severe, dangerous hyperthermia can develop from the sustained muscle activity.

Toxic Compound

Metaldehyde, which causes rapid, severe overstimulation of the central nervous system through a mechanism that isn't fully understood at the molecular level but produces a well-recognized, distinctive clinical picture. Veterinary staff sometimes refer to this as "shake and bake" poisoning specifically because of the combination of severe, sustained muscle tremors and the dangerously high body temperature those tremors themselves generate — the muscle activity essentially cooks the body from the inside if left unchecked.