Ethanol is the same molecule in a beer glass, a rum cake and a bottle of mouthwash. A 4 kg cat reaches 1 g/kg from about 100 ml of 5 percent beer, 40 ml of wine or 24 ml of mouthwash, and signs begin at 30 minutes. The lethal band starts near 5.5 g/kg.
Two kinds of alcohol: the glass and the hiding place
The first kind is drinkable: beer at 4 to 6 percent, wine at 11 to 14, spirits at 40 to 50. Cats go for the foam, for cream liqueurs at 15 to 17 percent, and for the sweet dregs left on a low table; lapping 20 ml of gin is 6.3 g of ethanol, or 1.6 g/kg at 4 kg.
The second kind hides in food and household products, where most cat cases start: rum cake and rum balls, vanilla extract at 35 to 40 percent, mouthwash at 14 to 27 percent, hand sanitizer at 60 to 70, perfume at 60 to 90, and raw bread dough, which ferments in the stomach and produces ethanol plus gas. One slice of rum-soaked cake can carry 20 ml of 40 percent spirit, 6.3 g of ethanol, or 1.6 g/kg at 4 kg.
The 30 minute clock
On an empty stomach ethanol reaches the blood in 20 to 30 minutes and peaks at 30 to 90 minutes. The first thing you see is not sleepiness but a wobble: the hind legs cross and the cat sits down suddenly. Drooling and 1 or 2 vomits follow within 15 minutes, then the head drops, pupils dilate, and the cat stops responding.
Cats clear ethanol slowly, at a fraction of the human rate, so a cat that swallowed at 21:00 can still be flat and cold at 03:00. Watch the breathing rate: under 20 per minute at rest, or a pause of 5 seconds between breaths, means the drive is depressed and the cat needs oxygen.
Grams per kilogram decide the night
The bands are consistent across veterinary sources. Under 0.5 g/kg: mild wobble, still walking. From 0.5 to 1.5 g/kg: clear ataxia, vomiting, disorientation. From 1.5 to 3 g/kg: depression, low body temperature under 37 degrees Celsius, blood glucose that can drop under 60 mg/dL. From 3 to 5.5 g/kg: coma, slow breathing, aspiration risk. Above 5.5 g/kg: the lethal range in dogs is 5.5 to 7.9 g/kg, and cats are treated as more fragile, not less.
| Source | Ethanol | 1 g/kg at 4 kg | 3 g/kg at 4 kg | What that volume buys |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beer | 5 percent | 100 ml | 300 ml | Ataxia, then coma risk |
| Wine | 13 percent | 40 ml | 117 ml | Vomiting, hypothermia |
| Spirits | 40 percent | 13 ml | 38 ml | A 30 ml shot is 2.4 g/kg |
| Mouthwash | 21 percent | 24 ml | 72 ml | One capful is 0.8 g/kg |
| Hand sanitizer | 65 percent | 8 ml | 23 ml | A 30 ml bottle is 3.8 g/kg |
The arithmetic fits on a phone: pure ethanol in millilitres is volume times percentage, grams is that times 0.789, and g/kg is grams over weight. A 3 kg cat doubles every line above, which is why a kitten and a capful of mouthwash is a real call.
Why cats fall further than people
Three things stack up. A cat has little body water, so the same grams per kilogram give a higher blood level. Ethanol blocks gluconeogenesis, and a cat has small glycogen stores, so glucose can fall under 60 mg/dL within 2 to 4 hours; 40 mg/dL looks like weakness, then a seizure. Ethanol also widens skin vessels while the cat cannot shiver at 35 degrees Celsius, so the core temperature slides.
Three things not to do
- Do not make the cat vomit. Ethanol is absorbed in 20 to 30 minutes, so vomiting after that removes nothing, and a depressed cat aspirates what comes up.
- Do not give coffee, tea or an energy drink to wake it up. Caffeine adds tremor, tachycardia and arrhythmia to a heart that is already abnormal.
- Do not use a cold shower, an ice pack or forced walking. Cold water drops the core temperature further, and a hypoglycaemic cat that cannot place its feet falls hard.
Warm them slowly, not fast
Wrap the cat in a towel, add a 37 to 39 degree Celsius water bottle wrapped in cloth at the flank, and hold the room at 25 degrees Celsius. Rewarm at about 1 degree per hour and recheck the rectal temperature every 15 minutes; stop active warming at 37.5 degrees. If it is unconscious, keep the head level with the body and turn the whole body if it vomits.
What the clinic does, by name
Care is prescription-only. Expect warmth, an intravenous line with fluids at 2 to 4 ml per kg per hour, and dextrose added if the glucose is under 60 mg/dL; diazepam or midazolam if there are tremors or a seizure; oxygen or intubation if the breathing rate keeps falling. There is no antidote that reverses ethanol; fomepizole, the drug people ask about by name, is for antifreeze, not for beer.
The 6 and 24 hour tail
Blood glucose can drop again at 6 to 12 hours as the liver runs out of substrate, so a cat sent home at hour 4 is often rechecked at hour 12. Aspiration shows up late: a cough, a rate above 40 per minute and a fever at 24 to 72 hours, so a cat that vomited while drowsy gets a lung check and an X-ray. Urine output is measured at 1 to 2 ml per kg per hour in hospital, and a cat that goes home with a catheter needs the routine in catheter aftercare.
Timeline from the lap to 24 hours
| Time | What you see | What you do | Number to hit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-10 min | Empty glass, wet chin | Remove the source, note the time and volume | ml x percent x 0.789 |
| 30 min | Wobble, drooling, 1 vomit | Call the clinic, wrap and warm | arrive under 60 min |
| 2 h | Depression, cold ears | Rectal temperature every 15 min | 37.5 C floor |
| 6 h | Glucose dip, slow breathing | Vet recheck, no food by mouth if drowsy | 60 mg/dL glucose |
| 24 h | Cough, fever, poor appetite | Lung check, X-ray if the rate passes 40 | under 30 per min |
Do this now
- Take the glass, bottle or cake away and photograph the label for the percentage.
- Estimate the volume swallowed in millilitres, then multiply by the percentage and by 0.789.
- Weigh the cat, divide, and write the g/kg on the same paper as the clock time.
- Wrap the cat, warm the room to 25 degrees Celsius, and drive; do not wait for the wobble to pass.
- Bring the bottle and the packaging, and say the g/kg figure out loud at the desk.
If the cat also chewed a plant or licked a spill, treat it as a second exposure and check the toxic dose tool for that substance. A cat already unsteady from a lily or sago palm is in plant poisoning territory too.
Frequently asked
My cat licked beer foam off my glass. How much is dangerous?
Foam carries little ethanol, usually under 1 ml, so a few licks of foam is a 0.2 g/kg event in a 4 kg cat and observation is reasonable. The dangerous line is the liquid: 100 ml of 5 percent beer is 1 g/kg, and 300 ml is 3 g/kg, where coma and hypothermia appear. Note the volume, weigh the cat, and call if it laps more than 20 ml of any spirit.
Can I give it coffee or walk it around to sober it up?
No. Caffeine adds tremor, tachycardia and arrhythmia to a heart that ethanol has already made irregular, and walking a hypoglycaemic cat that cannot place its feet is how falls and jaw fractures happen. Warm it, keep the room at 25 degrees Celsius, take a rectal temperature every 15 minutes, and drive; the only thing that removes ethanol is time and liver work.
The cat seems better after 4 hours. Can it stay home?
Only if a vet has checked the glucose and the lungs, because blood sugar can dip again at 6 to 12 hours and aspiration pneumonia appears at 24 to 72 hours as a cough, a rate above 40 per minute and fever. Ask for the glucose value in mg/dL, keep the cat warm and quiet, offer water in small amounts, and return at once for any cough or heavy breathing.