Expert: Ali - 2/3/2009

Question
can cats eat all human foods besides chocolate??

Answer
Nicole,

The short answer to your question is no, absolutely not. Cats can eat high quality organic meats and high quality nutrient dense fish like chicken breast, duck, salmon. Cats shouldn't have milk, ice cream or other frozen treats that are dairy based. Cats can however have small amounts of plain, organic yogurt, the reason for this is that the yogurt contains natural bacteria normally found in the digestive tracts of mammals, this means that feeding a tablespoon or two of plain, organic yogurt once or twice daily can help with diarrhea. Some cats like leafy greens and other vegetables. It's important to bear in mind that cats are obligate carnivores so their diet should ideally be made up mostly of high quality meat and nutrient dense fish. In terms of veggies things like leafy greens can be served raw in small amounts (a tablespoon or two a day), however foods like squash and broccoli need to be cooked and minced in a food processor to mimic the way that most cats would get their veggies if they were hunting for their own food. This means that since cats wouldn't normally eat squash, broccoli or other similar veggies raw and the typical prey animals would essentially by cooking the vegetables well and mincing them in a food processor you would be providing a small amount of "pre-digested" veggies like cats would normally consume by eating the stomach of a prey animal. Bear in mind not all cats will eat all vegetables and some really aren't safe for cats at all. Onions, grapes and garlic really aren't meant for cats. Onions can cause problems with iron levels in a cat's blood and if regularly consumed could result in the cat needing a blood transfusion. Grapes could result in choking, and the seeds from these fruits contain substances toxic to pets. Garlic should never be fed raw or in any great amount...In fact there are many people who believe that the stinky rose makes cats unattractive to fleas, brewer's yeast sprinkled over a small amount of your cat's favorite food and mixed in well will accomplish the same thing without the potential health risks associated with garlic. If you wanted to feed your cat a homemade diet I would recommend that you consider checking out a site that my vet recommended to me: catinfo.org, this site provides accurate information and was written by a veterinarian. You may not be entirely comfortable with the idea of feeding your cat the diet described on this site, however there are some fairly high quality commercially produced foods that will work in the place of a homemade diet. I recommend that cat parents look into feeding high quality, holistic foods made from human grade ingredients in the event that they aren't able to feed a homemade diet as a result of time or financial constraints. Foods like Wellness or Spot's Stew by Halo which both come in canned and dry forms are well worth considering. I have opted to feed Spot's Stew, Sensitive Cat formula because it is well priced and doesn't contain ingredients that will irritate my eldest cat's skin as much as some other foods on the market. A 6 pound bag of Spot's Stew costs around $25 CAN and it lasts my 3 resident cats about a month. The last time that I researched Wellness I found that the company charged a fair amount for canned or dry foods and expected that a kitty caregiver would feed a mix of the two products. In short cats are considered obligate carnivores which means that they must have meat (preferably high quality like chicken/turkey breast and high quality cuts of meat like beef, bison, or even high quality fish - my cats like trout, salmon and tilapia poached in water and served with the water they were cooked in) in order to meet their nutritional needs. The vegetables that they would consume if left to their own devices would be limited to fresh catnip, grass, some leafy greens, and the stomach contents of an animal that they had just killed. If you have further concerns about nutrition I would be more than happy to send off information regarding high quality foods and issues that are common concerns within the pet food industry when it comes to commercially produced lower quality foods. If you are going to feed your cat tiny servings of vegetables be sure to wash them thoroughly and in the case of broccoli or squash they must be completely cooked after being washed. You can feed small amounts of freshly washed baby spinach or other greens including lettuce, but bear in mind this should only make up about 10-15% of your cat's diet.