How true does this ring?
How true does this ring?
Found this one online while browsing for what cats shouldn't eat. However I feel like this area is quite controversial and opinionated. Also feels like half the websites are written by AI and riddled with ads. So if anyone has a good source as to what cats should avoid then let me know.
Anyways, I found this nice illustration, but wanted to hear with you peeps whether you have any experience regarding these food items.
Also what's your take on milk/sour milk for cats? My previous cat loved it so much, and she aged until she was 17 years old, and never seemed to have a problem with it. Also asked the vet at the time and she said it was OK. However every other website I visit tell to never give milk(dairy) to cats. So which is it? Does it just depend on the cat?
Yeah… don’t pay any attention to this kind of nonsense. Cats are obligated to carnivores. They don’t have the machinery to process a lot of non-meat foods. If they occasionally get into some things, it shouldn’t cause a problem.
Ultimately, just listen to your vet.
So far as the milk and cats thing… I think the issue is that they love it, they’ll almost always go for it, but many if not most are lactose intolerant… so too much will cause issues. If you had a cat who could process it, then great!
Just for clarity, not trying to be a pedant:
Cats are obligate carnivores
Cats must eat meat to live. Like you said they can't really process other stuff.
Damnit… that’s what I get for trying to sound smart, lol.
I love what spellcheck did to 'obligate carnivores' here. 🤣
Ugh… I really try to keep shit like that from happening. Autocorrect bonked on “carnivore” too, and that’s what grabbed my attention.
My cat is in LOVE with ice cream from a specific ice maker ( with high percentage of milk of course ). We only give her like a finger tip of it and she doesnt have any problems ( the cat is 17, soon 18 ). We know its not so good to give her ice cream, but she annoys us until we give her a little bit.
Seconding the lactose intolerance, I've also heard that most cats can't tolerate it well. My baby girl (11) loves to beg for yogurt but she gets a dime-sized dollop at most, otherwise I'm cleaning up kitty barf within the hour.
It's also true that kitties (and dogs) shouldn't eat onions or garlic as alliums are toxic to them, in a single large enough quantity or over time. And we don't want to feed any animals cooked chicken bones as they are way too brittle and can break into dangerous shards.
That said, a cat wrote this infographic and put turkey and shrimp in the top section 😅
That said, a cat wrote this infographic and put turkey and shrimp in the top section 😅
🤣
We gave our elderly cat ‘cat milk’ from the pet food isle as a treat and she loved it. I suppose it’s lactose free or something and it was a great way to get her to take her meds.
Yet my cat loves pumpkin and olives. Omg, will she go crazy for some pumpkin and olives.
I mean, this is mostly about treats, so...
Cats being obligate carnivores means most of their calories must come from meat because they e.g. can't synthesize taurine like a human or dog can. But eating a bit of cat grass isn't gonna kill them.
I was going to say that my cat must be broken, none of them eat anything that it's not cat food/treat or meat. One of them likes lemom pie ans coke, but she's an orange, she's weird
#FeelTheBernCats
That man has been on the right side of every issue forever.
He really has been! I know the comment is based on a joke, but when I learned who Bernie Sanders was when he was running for president I had a "oh shit it's that guy!" moment.
Pretty much any documentary I had watched about any random topic where there was a segment about US government involvement he was always on the right side of whatever was being discussed.
Yeah don’t give them raw chicken because cats that kill chickens in the wild will always cook them first.
It's bc of how our meat is processed/what bacteria may be one it. Cats are not immune to salmonella nor most other foodborne pathogens.
yeah. until it eats the wrong chicken, gets sick and dies.
some stuff is fine until it isnt.
Animals in the wild die of food poisoning all the time; that doesn't mean that we should have our pets doing the same. It's a bit like playing Russian roulette, the risk is better than outright starving, but it isn't riskless.
Also, I'm not sure but I think that battery farming increases the proliferation of salmonella.
I stand here defeated. You my sir are the true king 🙇♂️
Fresh kill is a far cry from raw meat days after butchering which is only deemed safe on the condition that it gets cooked.
That list gets a few details right but is also full of nonsense. Grain is not appropriate food for cats. Fruit and anything else that contains sugar is also not appropriate. High quality cat food with at least 90 percent meat and no grain, no sugar is best. I sometimes serve fresh meat and fish too, like chicken hearts or cod. Just make sure there are no bones or bone fragments in the meat or fish and also that it has been frozen to make sure there is no risk of any infection.
Edit: removed a few details which I am not sure about
I'm not sure the sugar argument holds, plenty of animals naturally eat foods with sugar, and do not brush their teeth. Of course they don't eat nearly as much sugar as a typical human, but that doesn't mean that sugar should always be avoided.
For cats specifically though I am not sure, maybe all sugar is bad, but I don't think it's because of teeth brushing.
It's worth noting that cats are unlikely to be able to perceive sweet tastes. So while sugar is not toxic to cats, there's not really any benefit to letting them have it, even as a treat.
On a related note, there's a hypothesis that the mutation that caused them to lose the ability to taste sweet things in cat ancestors is what led to them becoming obligate carnivores, which is kind of interesting.
Good point, fixed my comment.
I don't think the picture is about proper cat nutrition. I think it's about giving the cat a treat/letting it taste something you're eating. You're right that you should definitely feed your cat meat or proper meat-based cat food.
It appears to be missing the major food groups of random house plants, spiders, and fluff
My cat goes nuts for spider plant leaves. He must eat them every time he sees them.
I have never once not seen him throw up after eating them. But he must always eat them.
Now that gave me a good chuckle 😁
THE SAND
ALL THE SAND.
(it is definitely too sand)
Xylitol, a sugar substitute found in some sugar-free products, including certain brands of peanut butter, is highly toxic to cats (and dogs).
Lol, my cat eats a diet of chicken, prawns, some beef, and organs like liver, heart, kidney, and brain. He is extremely healthy and does not look his age (13). He started on kibble but we transitioned him to meat because of hairball and general health issues. His teeth are clean and strong, his coat is shiny, and his eyes are clear.
Honestly, cats are predators. They eat meat. Feed a cat mice and you are close to what mine eats. It would be really strange if they were ok eating rice, corn, and brocoli.
I do want to add that a lot of predators also eat the stomach of their prey and there for everything they ate and since most of their prey are either herbivores or omnivores they do consume some plant matter.
Most of the better quality cat foods I see that have veggies in it has like 80% - 95% meat and the rest vegetables, which I think tries to simulate the natural consumption of plant matter.
A lot of cats also eat grass on their own since the fiber helps with digestion.
My cat never liked meat, fish or chicken. she would eat vegetables and kibble.. sometimes watermelon or another juicy fruit.
I really dont know if this was a sign or not, but eventually we discovered she had a renal condition.
My cat is unable to tell the difference between a sparrow and a sparrow hawk and as such as being attacked by at least one sparrow hawk, and is now afraid of all birds.
What she really likes is frogs, although also they can be scary if they move unexpectedly.
I was under the impression that barfing requires adding taurine and minerals, or are those already part of certain organs you feed?
TIL that BARF stands for Bones And Raw Food or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. Interesting. wiki on BARF
My cat hunts mice and birds, occasionally snakes and lizards, and corn. She'll murder a whole cob.
A vet once told us, no fish bones for cats, but chicken and anything bigger was OK. No chicken or fish bones for dogs, bigger than a chicken was OK. It's about the size of the bones, and whether they can swallow them and get them stuck in their throats.
I trust the vet's advice over some random internet image.
A few other posts have pointed out cats are obligate carnivores so they need to consume meat to survive, as well as the general lactose intolerance.
One addendum to this is cat saliva lacks enzymes that break down carbohydrates. Cats consuming carbs consistently without proper teeth cleaning tend to have dental issues. Often regular eating and chewing scrapes carb build up, but it is something to keep an eye out for.
Thanks, this is what I came to the comments for, as my cat tries to steal any lemon pastry while I am eating it. Usually a little cat treat snack keeps her away.
Just listen to a vet instead. Cats can eat a lot of things, but they can process only very little. They're carnivores through and through, and evolved to deal with a diet consisting entirely of small animals they've hunted down, but also all of them (not just the selectively removed meat parts we as humans consume).
Im noticing a distinct lack of catfood on this chart…
I give the community cat a slice of ham on occasion, if he's good
He is good. Give him some ham. I am a human person writing this and not affiliated with the cat.
Okay but can cat have a lil salami? As a treat?
Yes a little(too much salt not that good for cats) but it should not contain garlic as it is toxic for cats
Yippie
Why can't they have raw chicken assuming it's been deboned? They would naturally eat chickens in the wild and I pretty sure they're not cooking it first. I've given my cats scraps of raw chicken (along with other meats) my whole life and it was never an issue.
I think the concern is pathogens from the meat.
I love the "pretty sure" here
Always hedge your bets. This is the Internet. You might say something like "cats don't cook food" and then someone will come along and reply with a picture of a cat grilling a hot dog.
Why even deboned? Dogs will crunch the whole thing and a cooked chicken bone can splinter (I heard even bird bones raw are okay) but won't a cat pick the meat off?
I'm not too informed on that, but that table looks sensible as long as you keep in mind that their diet is mostly meat-based, so watch out for amounts. And it fits well what I've read across the internet.
The main problem regarding dairy is the lactose; it isn't poisonous but they don't digest it well. So dairy in small amounts as a treat is probably fine, just don't overdo it. Soured milk is probably better than plain milk, as the souring likely consumes some of the lactose. Or yoghurt, one of my cats is crazy for that.
Past that, as a general rule:
- OK: gourds (pumpkin, cucumber, watermelon)
- OK: apple, banana
- never OK: alium (onion, leek, garlic) is outright poisonous
- treat it as "not OK" by default: other botanical fruits, unless you know that it's OK
- OK, but don't overdo it: non-meat animal protein (cheese, eggs)
- probably OK in small bits, don't overdo it: if it has too much sugar, salt, or fat (ice cream, peanut butter)
- not OK: if it could give you food poisoning (raw chicken)
- not OK: if it could mechanically harm you once chewed (chicken bones)
Grapes are toxic to cats (and dogs). Onions and garlic are both toxic, and will absolutely kill your cats. Ice cream usually has small amounts of antifreeze in it; it's safe enough for humans, but not safe for cats. Raw chicken with bones can be given to cats if it is finely ground so that there aren't any bone shards or fragments. You can get frozen turkey and chicken chicks from raw food suppliers, and those are safe enough for cats to eat because the bones are mostly too small to harm them. (Raw food is not suggested for most cats; it's hard to get it balanced so that they aren't malnourished in some way. A very, very few cats will do better on a raw food diet if they have something like IBS.) Lots of common house plants can be deadly to cats too. One I know off the top of my head is everything in the lily family.
ice cream usually has small amounts of antifreeze in it
Weird. I read a bit about it and it seems true. It's not technically antifreeze but also is technically antifreeze. When I think of antifreeze I think of the orange or green liquid in cars. This liquid is clear and also in many vaporizors (ecigs and carts).
It's because otherwise your ice cream will freeze as hard as a rock. If you make your own, you probably won't use any.
You could probably make your own ice cream that was perfectly safe for cats and dogs. I think that goat milk is better for cats? You certainly couldn't use any artificial sweeteners though; real cane sugar or honey only.
What about my cables, flip-flops and my backpack? Scratches seems to love eating these.
Lol, our cat gets lots of random raw meat, yogurt, ice cream or really any leftovers, which often enough includes onions in the sauce, anything she doesn't refuse to eat outright and she's still surprisingly healthy at 15 years old.
I think the main danger with raw meat is harmful bacteria (salmonela, listeria, e coli, etc). Basically the same things that make people sick if they're present and we don't cook the meat properly. They aren't always present, but it's kind of a gamble to keep feeding a cat raw meat.
our cat eats our dog food all the time. other than being a bit fat she's fine
The reason dog food is a no for cats isn't because it's harmful if they eat a kibble or two, but because dog food isn't fortified with an amino acid cats need, taurine, so feeding a cat exclusively on dog food will result in a type of malnutrition in the cat.
https://www.petmd.com/blogs/nutritionnuggets/cat/dr-coates/2014/december/what-taurine-32287
she doesn't exclusively eat it. she eats his biscuits now and then if I don't put her food out fast enough...
So what do you eat, if the cat eats your dog food?
We have human food too
Dog food should be fine, it just lacks taurine so you shouldn't feed your cat exclusively with it (as with anything else on there), but if turkey is in the sure category then dog food should be there too.
what do you mean by tuna is occasional, but rice and corn are sure? Cats can't digest rice and corn, wtf?
Also raw chicken is never? Maybe in the USA only. We in other parts of the world vaccinate our chickens.
As a barn cat owner, everything on that list goes down the cats. They are my cleanup crew. Especially chicken bones as I don't trust the dogs with them.
No cat has ever choked on bones or become sick from eating scraps. If there are things like onions, they just don't eat them. In fact none of my cats have ever died of anything other than being eaten by coyotes or run over by trucks 😥
Meanwhile, the cats in my neighborhood: b Pigeons? Food! Rats? Food!
Blessed be those vermin exterminators.
Just out of curiosity: What is the issue with the avocados?
Avocadoes contain a compound called persin that is poisonous to them.
Thanks! TIL!
I assume it is fat density. Imagine if a human ate an avocado the size of their head. That'd be way too much fat, saturated or not. Probably ok in very small slices. But you know, consult your vet.
I'd argue grapes are worse than onions and garlic.
My cat loves corn, chickpeas and 4 cheese pizza.
Glad to see blueberries on the Sure! list.
Those are my cat's favorite. I was as surprised as you!
Chicken bones??
Chicken bones don't just break, they often shatter in sharp pieces that can cause internal damage if swallowed.
I think that is only true for cooked chicken bone. In nature cats eat birds all the time without a problem
Because chicken bones are small, and when they break, they tend to splinter, and the sharp edges can cause damage.
Having said that, my grandma's cats in the countryside have been living eating raw chicken scraps, leftover human food, and chicken bones. They have never been to the vet and never tasted canned cat food. They're fine.
Yeah I think the raw chicken thing also varies from country to country depending on what the local agriculture is like. I'm in Australia, we've fed our cats raw chicken necks every day for 10+ years and they've never had any issues with it. It's great for their teeth.
I understand some countries' poultry industries have more pathogens that are potentially harmful. Cats obviously evolved to eat raw meat, just not farmed raw meat, so it depends on how clean the farms are.
Worth noting as well that cooked chicken bones are significantly more dangerous than raw ones
Had a dog once years ago who managed to get at a piece of bone from KFC. The bone got stuck in her jaw and it was horrifying trying to get it out while she was choking on it.
My cats will sometimes steal our chicken and the chicken bone/meat connected to the bone gets stuck in the teeth and they walk around with a chicken bone hanging from their mouth until we can get it off.
It can be difficult because they kinda panic.
My cat loves cheese
Mine too!
I have a cat who loves pistachios. I'm not going to tell him no.
But my cat only eat raw meat. He just kicks all other ready to eat cat foods.
Where does coffee feature on this list
ETA: this was fed to Crème Puff by her owner. Crème Puff is regarded as the longest lived domestic cat at 38 years.
Xanthines like the caffeine in coffee or the theobromine in chocolate are poisonous
Your cat drinks coffee????
Sure - AN ENTIRE FUCKING TURKEY
Dog food? Dogs like cat food. Are they not interchangeable? I haven't ever seen a cat eat dog food now that I think about it.
Cat food is enriched with the amino acid taurine, which they can't produce themselves. Dog food is not. Feeding cats exclusively on dog food will kill them eventually, via blindness and heart disease.
Not a disaster if they steal it from the dog once or twice, but it cannot be their long-term diet.
Yeah, it doesn't really belong in the 'no' column. It's not an appropriate cat food because it's not nutritionally complete.
So it's rather like how just eating bread or cornmeal that don't have added vitamins will give you scurvy or pellagra. But obviously they're not poisonous or anything and most of the world eats them without a problem.
I used to feed my cat raw quails. He loved them. I don't know how he is doing now as my ex got the cat and I kept the dog.