Bitter Yuck

[SaraBeth88]

Is bitter yuck safe for cats? I keep hearing people use it for wires and such, but I spread it on a couple wires and now I'm freaking out because I am reading all of these horror stories online about it possibly being toxic to cats? Help!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

This is going to sound very simplistic, but here it is. Bitter Yuck is sold on Chewy and advertised as safe for cats. I, personally, have found Chewy to be very reliable and careful in the products that they sell.

Here's the thing. Bitter Yuck contains rosemary oil, which is toxic to cats, but not to the extent that one or two "tastes" would do harm. And it tastes so nasty to them that they don't go back for seconds. If you catch your cat actually LICKING THE STUFF, wash it off and watch for changes in behavior, but I can almost guarantee that won't happen!

 

[SaraBeth88]

Is that what's in the bittering agent? I can't find a broken down list of that anywhere online

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Yep. And, disgustingly, now I can't find the source I used. Took me about half an hour to track it down in the first place. I should have bookmarked it!

 

[denice]

I can't find a list of ingredients. I did use it when one of my cats was young. He started the wire chewing thing, specifically on the wires from my old desktop computer. He got one taste of it and that was the end of the wire chewing.

 

[LTS3]

The ingredients are listed here: NaturVet Bitter YUCK! No Chew Spray for Dogs and Cats - 8 oz Another web site lists rosemary as 0.5% of the solution.

The actual bittering agent is a chemical called Denatonium Benzoate. The MSD sheet is at https://www.dog.com/ContentFiles/Associated_Content/498267.pdf

 

[Mamanyt1953]

NICE JOB! And that percentage of rosemary oil is not going to be an issue unless your cat actually drinks the stuff. And s/he won't.