The antidepressant Venlafaxine sold under the brand name Effexor is a pharmaceutical success story; in a single year, U.S. doctors prescribed it more than 17 million times. It’s not without controversy. As Medline Plus points out, it’s among a group of antidepressants that were linked to suicidal behavior in children, teenagers and young adults.

But while that risk has been well reported, most people don’t know that Venlafaxine is also uniquely dangerous to household pets. Especially cats. “Cats love to eat it,” says Dr. Tina Wismer, medical director of the Animal Poison Control Center operated by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ASPCA. She speculates that it may be something about the way this particular antidepressant smells. “It’s crazy when you think about how hard it is normally to give a cat a pill. But in this case they’ll swallow multiple pills.”

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