Which Herbs Are Safe for Cats? Basil, Cilantro, Parsley and the Rest of the Kitchen Shelf
Can cats eat basil? Basil, cilantro, and dill are non-toxic per ASPCA, but parsley is caution grade and garlic and chives are dangerous. A grade-by-grade guide to the culinary herbs on your windowsill.
Plenty of homes keep a pot or two of herbs on the kitchen windowsill. And while you're pinching off leaves for a pasta dish, it's common for the cat to wander over and take a bite of its own. The question that follows is usually the same one: can cats eat basil?
The short answer is yes — basil has no known toxicity to cats according to flower cat's data (based on ASPCA). The trouble starts when that answer gets stretched into "herbs are all pretty much the same." They aren't. Parsley sits at caution grade, and garlic and chives are firmly in the danger grade. This guide sorts the herbs you actually cook with into their safety grades.
The Grades at a Glance
Grouped by safety grade, the culinary herbs listed on flower cat fall into four boxes.
- Safe — basil · cilantro · dill · rosemary · lemon balm · sage · thyme · chervil · fennel
- Mild caution — stomach irritation — mint · oregano · marjoram · chamomile · bay laurel · caraway · lavender · catnip
- Caution — worth monitoring — parsley · lovage · eucalyptus
- Danger — garlic · chives · onion
Pots sitting side by side on the same shelf can land in four different boxes. A similar scent, or a shared place in the same recipe, tells you nothing about the grade.
Basil, Cilantro, and Dill — Safe, With Evidence Behind It
Basil, cilantro, and dill are herbs the ASPCA has confirmed as non-toxic to cats. That's different from "it isn't on any warning list, so it's probably fine" — here a source has positively confirmed the plant is safe. A cat chewing a leaf or two isn't something to worry about.
Rosemary, thyme, sage, lemon balm, chervil, and fennel belong in the same box. If you're putting together a windowsill herb garden, those nine are the easiest ones to live with.
"Non-Toxic" and "Good to Eat" Are Not the Same Thing
This is worth stating plainly. A non-toxic rating from the ASPCA means "eating it won't harm them" — not "go ahead and feed it to them."
Cats are obligate carnivores, so there's nothing nutritional they need from herbs. Even a safe-grade herb isn't something to offer as a supplement. On top of that, any plant eaten in quantity puts a load on the digestive system, so don't let your cat strip a whole pot, however safe the herb is. If your cat has a strong urge to chew, growing cat grass for that purpose is a far better answer than an herb pot.
Mint, Lavender, and Catnip — Mild Caution
Mint, oregano, marjoram, and caraway contain irritant compounds throughout the leaves, so chewing them can bring on vomiting or diarrhea. Most cats recover on their own, but if you saw your cat chewing, keep an eye on it for a day.
Lavender is a caution for a slightly different reason. The risk sits in the essential oil rather than the plant itself — compounds such as linalool put a strain on a cat's metabolism, which means a diffuser or an oil deserves more care than the potted plant does.
Catnip gets misread precisely because cats love it. The rolling, rubbing, and drooling that follow a sniff are a normal response to nepetalactone, not a warning sign. What matters isn't the scent but the amount swallowed: eaten in quantity, catnip can bring on vomiting or diarrhea, and the nepetalactone can leave a cat wound up and then unusually flat — so it's worth limiting how much your cat gets. Chamomile and bay laurel sit in the same box.
Why Parsley Lands in a Different Box
Parsley is sold right next to basil, so people are often surprised to find it at caution grade. Parsley is a carrot-family herb, and its leaves and stems carry compounds called furanocoumarins. Where the reported signs for mint and oregano in the box above are vomiting and diarrhea, the sign reported for parsley is photosensitization — skin that sunburns and turns dermatitic after the compound is eaten and the cat sits in the light. That's a different kind of problem from a digestive upset that simply passes, and it's the reason parsley sits a box higher.
The source (ASPCA) attaches a qualifier, though: large amounts are needed to produce the effect. A leaf or two isn't cause for alarm — just don't leave the pot out to be stripped.
Lovage is a carrot-family herb at caution grade too, but for a different reason. Its listed effect isn't photosensitivity but a diuretic one — it increases urination. Sharing a family doesn't mean sharing a mechanism.
Worth noting too: "spring parsley" is an entirely different species from the parsley you cook with. Carrot-family plants growing wild look a great deal alike, so if your cat has chewed an unfamiliar one outdoors, identify it before anything else.
Eucalyptus belongs in the same box, though the reason is chemical rather than physical. Eucalyptol (1,8-cineole), the oil behind its scent, can cause drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, and lethargy. It turns up in bouquets often enough to be worth watching for when you're arranging a vase.
Garlic, Chives, and Onion — This Is Where the Line Is
The alliums share your kitchen, but they behave nothing like the herbs above. Garlic, chives, and onion destroy red blood cells and cause anemia. The toxicity survives cooking and powdering intact, which means a broth made with onion or a spoonful of minced garlic is dangerous to a cat too.
What makes them especially tricky is that small amounts eaten repeatedly accumulate. If you suspect your cat has eaten any of them, contact a vet right away even if it looks fine. For a closer look at allium toxicity, see Garlic, Onions & Chives Are Dangerous — What About Herbs?
Setting Up the Kitchen
Keep the safe-grade herbs on the windowsill, and move the caution-grade pots to a high shelf off your cat's usual routes. Store ingredients like garlic, onions, and chives in a drawer or a closed cabinet, and don't leave them sitting on the cutting board while you cook.
When an herb's name doesn't tell you enough, search it on flower cat and the grade comes straight up. Simply letting go of the assumption that "herbs are all pretty much the same" prevents a good number of kitchen accidents.