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submitted 8 months ago by LunchEnjoyer@lemmy.world to c/cat@lemmy.world

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?

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[-] zigmus64@lemmy.world 99 points 8 months ago

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!

[-] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 34 points 8 months ago

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.

[-] zigmus64@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

Damnit… that’s what I get for trying to sound smart, lol.

[-] Spendrill@lemm.ee 19 points 8 months ago

I love what spellcheck did to 'obligate carnivores' here. 🤣

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[-] Rooki@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

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.

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[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 83 points 8 months ago
[-] moody 36 points 8 months ago

That man has been on the right side of every issue forever.

[-] Asafum@feddit.nl 15 points 8 months ago

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.

[-] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 14 points 8 months ago

Just imagine what the world would be like if he had won the primary instead of Hillary.

Nope, wait, don't do it. I just tried and it makes the real world even MORE depressing.

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[-] M500@lemmy.ml 57 points 8 months ago

Yeah don’t give them raw chicken because cats that kill chickens in the wild will always cook them first.

[-] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 37 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

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.

[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 23 points 8 months ago

Yeah, but that's not a chicken-specific thing. The actual infographic is utter horseshit, of course. Especially with recommending so many greens, as if cats can do more with that than pass them unprocessed and then demand more food as they expelled non-trivial amounts of energy on it.

[-] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

It kind of is. You know how it's fine to eat a rare steak, but not rare chicken? It's because of higher contamination levels.

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[-] cactusupyourbutt@lemmy.world 18 points 8 months ago

yeah. until it eats the wrong chicken, gets sick and dies.

some stuff is fine until it isnt.

[-] lvxferre@mander.xyz 15 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

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.

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[-] Nacktmull@lemmy.world 49 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

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

[-] Kacarott@feddit.de 17 points 8 months ago

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.

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[-] echodot@feddit.uk 46 points 8 months ago

It appears to be missing the major food groups of random house plants, spiders, and fluff

[-] johannesvanderwhales@lemmy.world 15 points 8 months ago

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.

[-] Timecircleline@sh.itjust.works 12 points 8 months ago

I grow a "snackrificial" spider plant (well, 2 of them actually) so that my other plants are left alone. I swap them in/out of cat reach depending on when one needs a break from the chomping.

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[-] TastyWheat@lemmy.world 43 points 8 months ago
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[-] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 39 points 8 months ago

Xylitol, a sugar substitute found in some sugar-free products, including certain brands of peanut butter, is highly toxic to cats (and dogs).

[-] rowinxavier@lemmy.world 36 points 8 months ago

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.

[-] Lokoschade@feddit.de 29 points 8 months ago

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.

[-] rowinxavier@lemmy.world 16 points 8 months ago

My cat only eats grass when he wants to vomit. He will clean himself, get too much hair in his stomach, then yowl to go outside. He then eats grass, vomits, and is chill. When I am more on top of brushing him this happens less, but if I neglect his brushies he needs to purge the hair.

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[-] Siegfried@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

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.

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[-] sxan@midwest.social 28 points 8 months ago

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.

[-] ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 20 points 8 months ago

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.

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[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 19 points 8 months ago

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).

[-] cactusupyourbutt@lemmy.world 19 points 8 months ago

Im noticing a distinct lack of catfood on this chart…

[-] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 18 points 8 months ago

I give the community cat a slice of ham on occasion, if he's good

[-] watersnipje@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 8 months ago

He is good. Give him some ham. I am a human person writing this and not affiliated with the cat.

[-] blotz@lemmy.world 16 points 8 months ago

Okay but can cat have a lil salami? As a treat?

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[-] lvxferre@mander.xyz 13 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

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)
[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 13 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

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.

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[-] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 11 points 8 months ago

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.

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[-] zaphod@feddit.de 8 points 8 months ago

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.

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this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2024
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