Can cats eat salty food? Do cats need salt? You will be surprised!

Many owners wonder if cats can eat salty food? After all, we are accustomed to generously seasoning our food with salt. According to the canons of natural nutrition, it is believed that cats do not need to add salt to their food and that salty foods are generally contraindicated for cats. But is this really so? And why is it believed that cats cannot eat salty foods? Let's figure it out.

This article is part of the category Nutritional Supplements for Cats

How to help a cat if she feels sick from lard

Many owners exclude pork and lard from their pet's diet to be on the safe side. However, few people know what to do and how to help a cat if it becomes ill from lard. Quite often, owners are faced with a situation where a cat sneaks onto the kitchen table and eats a large amount of lard, tempted by its aroma.

The first conclusion to be drawn is that your pet is sorely lacking in protein. If you feed your cat commercial food, do not hesitate to switch it to higher quality products. If your pet is on natural food, it is necessary to increase the quantity or quality of protein products.

In the “best” case, the pet will experience severe abdominal pain and diarrhea. Nausea, vomiting, and temporary refusal to eat may occur. These symptoms indicate that the body is coping with digestion on its own.

It is important to understand that when you eat a large amount of fatty food, the liver begins to work much more actively for digestion. To alleviate the animal’s condition a little, it can be given adsorbents and enveloping agents.

If more than 3 hours have passed after eating lard and the cat has not gone to the toilet, she is given an adsorbent and a laxative. In this case, you can only use laxatives prescribed by a veterinarian; it is strictly not recommended to use oils and other folk remedies.

Is it possible to give a cat salt? Cats need salt!

Salt (NaCl, sodium chloride) is useful for cats and therefore needed, like any mammal: approximately 21 mg per day (for comparison, about 7000 mg of salt fits in 1 teaspoon). That is, very little sodium chloride is needed.

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Why is salt needed? It helps maintain metabolism and is necessary for a number of important processes in the body. Without salt at all, the cat's body will die. However, there is enough salt in natural products - that’s why it is believed that cats should not add salt to their food.

But if you look at the composition of industrial feeds, you will certainly see salt there. This is done not only for the benefit, but also because salt enhances the flavor and is a natural preservative. However, manufacturers do not indicate its percentage. All that remains is to rely on their integrity, that is, on the fact that they do not add more salt than necessary.

How to feed your cat properly with natural food

Which of these do you think will be beneficial for the cat?

The basis of the animal's diet should be meat. Doctors advise feeding your pets the following meat products:

• Beef and veal.
• Chicken and turkey.
• Rabbit meat.
• Sea fish is not oily.
• Meat purees with vegetables for children.

Some cats love boiled vegetables. It is very useful.

Vegetables are also good for animals. It’s true that not all cats love them, but if you introduce them into your pet’s food correctly, he won’t even notice that they are there. Among the most useful vegetables are:

• Carrots and beets.
• Cauliflower and salad.
• Zucchini and pumpkin.

Your cat's diet should not include tomatoes or eggplants.

, as they contain harmful substances for your pet’s body. If your pet doesn’t mind simple vegetables, then you can give them raw and add a little vegetable oil. If you refuse them, vegetables are added to meat foods.

Dairy products

Caught in the act!

Fermented milk products such as:

• Kefir, fermented baked milk.
• Yogurt.
• Not fatty cottage cheese.
• Hard cheese without additives.
• Semolina, oatmeal.

Other products for a healthy diet

Cat and egg yolk

Other products that are useful for your pet and necessary for the proper functioning of his body:

• Egg yolk.
• Rice, oatmeal, wheat porridge mixed with boiled or frozen meat or fish.
• Greens (dill, parsley, oats, wheat).
• Vegetable oil.
• Vitamins and minerals.
• Purified or boiled water.

The egg yolk must be boiled

. It can be given either separately or as an additive to cottage cheese and porridge, but not more than twice a week. Porridge for a cat should be prepared based on a ratio of 1 to 2, that is, one part of porridge and two parts of meat. You can add finely chopped dill or parsley to the same porridges. You can buy oats and wheat at a pet store or grow your own.

When feeding natural food, do not forget about vitamins

Vegetable oil can be added to your pet's food no more than 2 teaspoons per day. Vitamins are sold in pet stores in the form of tablets or various goodies; they must be given to the cat every day.

Water is one of the main elements a cat needs for the normal functioning of its stomach. The drink in the bowl should always be clean, and it should be changed as soon as it gets dirty.

Should I add salt to my cat's food?

Salt, as a rule, is not added to natural foods. But there is one “but”. The fact is that most of the salt is contained in the blood, and butchers drain the blood - and very little of it remains in the meat. That is, the meat loses its natural saltiness. Not to zero, but not reaching the norm either. How to solve this problem?

You can give your cat organs that represent a blood depot: the liver and spleen. Blood clots are also found in hearts. Heart can be given in unlimited quantities, and liver and spleen can make up up to 5% of the diet, because in large quantities cause side effects, in particular diarrhea.

If the cat does not consume these organs, blood can be purchased separately. Some butchers sell it. If you buy liquid blood, it must be frozen for at least three days before use, just like meat. For convenience, the blood can be poured into ice cube trays. And then add one cube at a time to the plate along with food.

And after defrosting, do not pour out the blood that is contained in the pieces of meat that you feed the cat, but carefully pour it into the cat’s bowl.

Thus, if a cat regularly consumes meat with a small blood content or bloody organs, the food does not need additional salting. But, if there are no such products in the diet, many nutritionists believe that it is still necessary to periodically add salt to the meat: at the rate of 0.5-0.9 grams of salt per 1 kg of meat. In this way we recreate the natural saltiness of the flesh and blood.

Instead of salt, you can add a small piece of sea fish to your food or have one fish meal per week: there is more salt in sea fish than in meat. This does not mean canned or dried fish, but raw or boiled (baked).

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Another option is to put two bowls of water: one with an isotonic solution of water (0.9% salt, which corresponds to the natural salinity of the blood), the second with fresh water. The cat will choose what to drink. If your cat drinks salt water, it means that she really does not have enough sodium chloride.

Many people ask what to do if a cat licks salt? Most likely, this means that there is not enough of it in the diet. Then follow the advice in this article on how to properly give salt to your cat. But you shouldn’t let him drink too much at one time: this can lead to poisoning.

Recipe for very busy people

Not every person has enough time to prepare food for a kitten every day. What to do if sometimes after work there is practically no energy left for the kitchen? Grab the recipe and you’ll thank me later.

You will need:

• meat grinder
• cling film
• 4 parts chicken fillet or veal
• 1 part offal
• 1 part egg yolks
• 5 parts boiled cereal
• 3 parts boiled vegetables
• free day off

Grind all this stuff in a meat grinder, then knead thoroughly. Now place a piece of mass on the spread cling film and cover it with another layer of film on top. Now take a rolling pin in your hands and roll out a thin cake. Then put it in the freezer along with the film. A few of these cakes and your pet will be provided with food for a long time.

They came home from work and broke off a piece of the required size. Thawed in the microwave or naturally. Now you can feed the kitten.

Advice. Instead of flatbreads, you can roll out small meatballs. Just freeze them individually on a tray, and only then pour them into a freezer bag or container.

Water. The kitten should always have it within walking distance. Clean, first boiled, until about 3 months of age. Then you can give it raw. Just not straight from the tap! Let it sit for at least 6 hours, at the same time it will warm up to room temperature.

For a breastfeeding kitten, you can replace cow's milk with goat's milk. Just be sure to dilute it with water. Baby food should be prepared according to the instructions on the package, but the amount of water is doubled. A feeding syringe is taken without a needle and with a soft stroke of the piston, this will make it easier to dose the food so that the baby does not choke.

Up to 2 months, instead of meat products, a kitten can be given baby food from jars, pates and porridge. For older kids, such a menu is no longer necessary.

Don't let your pet overeat. Babies know no limits and will lap from the bowl as long as there is food in it. No doubt, the kitten, swollen like a balloon, is touching. But digestive problems and trips to the veterinary clinic no longer cause attacks of cuteness. For example, at the age of 1 week, 30 ml per feeding is sufficient. And at the age of 5 weeks - only 50 ml at a time. For kittens over 5 months old, the amount of food per feeding is calculated according to the scheme 200 g per 1 kg of live weight. That is, if a baby weighs 1.5 kg, then he needs 300 g of all food at one time, including liquid food.

You can often hear from some owners: “The soup is sour, I’ll pour it out for the cat.” I just want to say that they themselves should eat such rubbish. Still, a cat is far from a pig, and you shouldn’t feed it spoiled food. Otherwise you’ll be tortured to wash the tray. And it’s good if everything turns out to be simple diarrhea, and not more serious consequences.

And further. Kittens of any age are not given legume products. They are not absorbed by the body at all.

What to feed a kitten? Imagine that this is not a fluffy squeaking creature, but a human baby. This is what you use to create your pet’s menu. Then you definitely won’t make a mistake or do any harm, and the purr will live with you happily ever after.

Recipes for cats

Your cat will really like these dishes!

Meat with vegetables and grains

Required:

• 1 kg of meat;
• 500 gr. vegetables that your pet prefers;
• 2 tbsp. spoons of a mixture of 5 cereals.

Preparation:

1. It is necessary to boil the meat until cooked, then remove it and leave to cool.
2. Boil the vegetables in the resulting broth until half cooked.
3. Pour the broth over the flakes and let it brew.
4. When the grains are ready, place them and the vegetables in a blender and blend well.
5. Cut the meat into small, uniform pieces that are convenient for your cat to eat.
6. Mix the resulting mass from the blender and chopped meat, add 300 ml of broth
   .

Our dish is ready! It can be immediately divided into small portions for your cat to eat and frozen in the freezer.

Lazy dumplings

Required:

• 1 glass of purified water;
• 2 eggs;
• 500 gr. wheat or corn flour;
• 300 gr. chicken liver.

Preparation:

1. Grind the raw liver in a blender or grind through a meat grinder.
2. Mix water, eggs, flour and the resulting liver mixture.
3. Mix the dough.
4. The consistency of the mixture should be very soft.
5. Roll out a long sausage and cut into small pieces that look like cherries.
6. Next, we place our pieces in boiling water, and as soon as they float to the surface, they can be removed.

It is better to cook for 1-2 servings

. The rest of the mixture can be placed in the refrigerator. Cool the resulting lazy dumplings and, while warm, serve to the cat.

"Invisible" salt

In fact, the danger is not in the salt, but in its quantity. Constantly exceeding the norms for the consumption of this mineral will affect the cat’s health, quickly and noticeably. If you decide to ignore all the warnings and give your cat salty foods, you should understand that very soon an imbalance of electrolyte balance and metabolism will occur in its body.

Would a reasonable, loving owner intentionally harm a ward? Of course not, but practice shows that this happens quite often. The owner does not understand how much salt the cat consumes, adds the mineral to food and does not connect the consequences with the cause. The first hidden source of salt is water. The cat needs to drink, and the volume of liquid consumed per day is quite large. Salt provokes thirst and the cat drinks more...it turns out to be a vicious circle.

You can protect your cat from danger, but you need to take care of the quality and purity of the water. The average water consumption per day for a cat kept on a natural diet is 5 grams. per kilogram of weight. If the purr receives dry food, it drinks about 3 times more than the weight of the granules. Given this fact, an adult cat kept on a commercial diet can drink up to 300 grams. water per day. Your task is to provide your pet with enough water to drink and make sure that the water is fresh and clean.

The next issue that should concern you is water quality. Do you think that if we compare water from a tap, filter and bottled water (without gas or additives), will there be a difference in salt content? Of course yes! Moreover, tap water (depending on the region and area) may contain chlorine, calcium, manganese, potassium, fluorine, selenium, molybdenum, mercury, lead, zinc, cadmium, copper, iron, hydrogen sulfide, aluminum, polyacrylamide, tripolyphosphates, nitrates, pesticides and detergent residues.

You may be confused by some of the elements, and rightly so, many dietary supplements contain fluoride, calcium and manganese, but it is not the presence of the element that is important, but its quantity and proportion. In tap water, depending on the region, the indicators of the above substances can vary greatly

The next common source of hidden salt is fish, especially dry, converted, smoked and salted fish. Frequent consumption of fresh fish can lead to urolithiasis, vitamin deficiency, imbalance of microelements, allergies, helminth damage, and a decrease in blood clotting factors. It’s scary to imagine what the consequences of constant consumption of smoked or salted fish will be.

Many owners are concerned that their pets like pickles and olives. Here the opinion of veterinarians is not so categorical. You can treat your cat to a piece of cucumber or a few olives, but not often. Moreover, washed olives help improve the quality of the coat and skin condition.

Salted lard is another delicacy that many purrs cannot resist. It is worth noting that this product is so two-faced that nutritionists are already tired of arguing whether it is beneficial or harmful. From a physiological point of view, it is known that fatty foods place a large load on the liver and gall bladder, and this load can be beneficial. For example, a sedentary cat may crave fatty foods due to stagnation of bile. It is worth understanding that a cat may want fresh lard, but in the absence of it, beg for a salty treat.

When salt poisoning occurs, a cat rapidly develops the following symptoms: apathy, lack of appetite, unsteady gait, cramps in the limbs, tics, vomiting, vomiting, polyuria, dehydration, sharp deterioration of vision up to complete blindness. Without qualified assistance, the animal quickly falls into lethargy and dies.

Salt and its role in metabolism

When analyzing the situation, it is worth turning to the natural living conditions of cats. The life of urban wild cats should not be taken into account; for the most part, they eat very poorly. Few people know, but due to fundamentally poor nutrition, street cats rarely live to be 5–6 years old, but that’s not the point now.

Let's think about what the ancestors of our pets ate? Meat, internal organs of animals, vegetation including roots. Can a wild cat catch a fish? Most likely yes, but eating it every day is clearly not. Is milk available to a wild cat? Definitely not. Can a feral cat get sausage, pickles, pickled or otherwise seasoned foods? Also no.

Salt is called white death (sugar, too, by the way), but this cliché is very exaggerated. The complete absence of salt in the diet is also no less deadly. Sugar (in the form of a quick carbohydrate, not a treat), like salt, plays an important role in metabolism. However, the main nuance of this understanding is that both salt and sugar are present in a cat’s natural diet and this amount is sufficient. Meat contains a very small amount of salt and carbohydrates, but the cat’s body is adapted to precisely the same doses of these substances. Excessively salty food will lead to leaching of minerals (the cat will drink more), metabolic disorders and health problems.

Every guide to feeding cats includes a ban on table treats. Any rule presupposes a balanced approach, that is, if you treat your pet from your plate, this is not fatal, but if you do this regularly, expect problems.

Wild and domestic cats cannot be compared for a number of reasons. The first of these is genetics. Not a single wild cat was deliberately bred, and purebred pets were selected and selected. A wild cat does not eat food from the store; it hunts organic game. Our pets receive processed, chilled or frozen foods, the natural composition of which is not completely preserved. The only exception is cats hunting mice, but even here everything is not so simple. Hunting within the city can lead not to enriching the body with salt, but to poisoning, viral or fungal disease.

Sodium chloride (salt) is a metabolic element without which cells cannot eat

Taking this fact into account, it is not entirely clear why cats should not eat salty foods. Cell walls allow salt and nutrients to pass through to displace potassium as waste products.

This is a complex, subtle and at the same time obvious mechanism. There is no salt, there is nothing to “squeeze” potassium out of the cells, we get intoxication and massive death of living tissues. Accidentally or intentionally, this fact is hushed up by modern experts and cat food manufacturers. All these subtleties are described in already yellowed reference books.

Another important role of salt in the body is digestion of food. That’s right, this is not a mistake, sodium chloride (and in significant quantities) is part of the gastric juice. The consequences of a lack of salt are obvious - incomplete absorption of food, metabolic disorders and (again) the development of a variety of ailments.

Natural cat food

Owners often panic because their cat stole a piece of salted fish, and on cat forums real verbal skirmishes sometimes flare up, caused by the fact that someone treated the cat with a spoonful of salted caviar or a piece of salted cheese... Is it true that this is so harmful for cats? salt and what to do if your cat has eaten something salty?

Can cats eat salt?

Let me start with the fact that if your cat has eaten salty food, you don’t need to grab your head, tear out your hair, give your cat an enema, shove tons of adsorbents into it and run to read what the Internet thinks about how long your cat has left to live. Cats can safely be given table salt as part of other foods. Table salt is not dangerous to their health, provided that the cat has unlimited access to clean drinking water. Even food for cats with kidney problems adds salt to increase fluid intake, since most cats are reluctant to drink on their own, and high fluid intake is especially important for cats with health problems. Therefore, cats can all the more be treated to salted cheese, salted fish, salted caviar, etc., if the cat shows interest in these products. They will not cause any harm if they are given as a treat and do not become a replacement for a full diet. Moreover, the addition of NaCl helps cats lower the concentration of urine, which helps dissolve, flush out, and prevent stones, both struvite and oxalate. Those. Contrary to the fears of owners, sodium chloride, on the contrary, helps fight stones, and does not increase the likelihood of their occurrence (1).

Some homemade diet recipes also intentionally add salt, sometimes iodized, since cats have a physiological need for the elements that make up table salt - both sodium and chlorine in certain quantities (according to the NRC this is 42 mg and 60 mg, respectively, per day per day). one average cat). Sodium performs a transport function between cell membranes and plays an important role in maintaining acid-base balance, osmotic pressure and a constant blood pH level. Chlorine, among other things, is important for normal digestion, as it participates in the formation of hydrochloric acid, which is the main component of the cat's gastric juice.

In nature, a cat always has enough salt, which it receives from its prey, since salt is part of the prey’s blood. Since the meat is bled before sale, there is less salt in it, but even this is enough to satisfy the cat's needs for Na and Cl. For comparison, the sodium content in 100 g of raw veal is 86 mg, beef kidney is 182 mg, and raw chicken is 77 mg. That is, even 100 g per day of any raw meat product will more than cover the minimum sodium requirements of any cat, so we still do not see the need and do not recommend adding salt to cat food on purpose. It is better to find frozen pork or beef blood on sale and add it.

Another amazing fact that is hard to believe is that cats can stay hydrated by consuming sea water... did you know? We heard, but refused to believe it, until it became too difficult to argue with a three-volume book on animal physiology. The harm of salt to cats (up to fairly high concentrations) is a myth. I will not go into details and consequences of this fact, except that do not be afraid to take your pet for long walks to the sea on a hot, fine day. He will be able to quench his thirst right on the shore without negative consequences for his health (2).

Many mammals can drink saline solutions up to certain concentrations. For example, a cat and a camel can maintain their hydration by consuming seawater; the same applies to the kangaroo rat. In humans, limiting the consumption of sea water is apparently not associated with the kidneys, but with its effect on the gastrointestinal tract and blood vessels. Mammalian kidneys are very well adapted to produce urine that is hyperosmotic to blood. The concentration of urine... of some mammals can be 20 times higher than the concentration of their plasma.

Some owners report that their outdoor cats find and enjoy licking natural licks—deposits of minerals and salts on the soil surface. However, salt licks are not usually offered to predators. Although cats may naturally lick soil rich in mineral salts, you should be careful with large pieces of salt. Especially with salt lamps. Uncontrolled access to lump salt can lead to poisoning, despite the fact that cats have a fairly high toxicity threshold. However, salt is not as toxic to cats as it is to other animals.

If you still have questions, you can contact us for a paid on-line consultation. To do this, write to us by email

Authors of the article: Veronika Kozyreva, Yulia Brovko Photo: Veronika Kozyreva

1. Increasing dietary sodium chloride promotes urine dilution and decreases struvite and calcium oxalate relative supersaturation in healthy dogs and cats — Yann Queau, Esther S. Bijsmans, Alexandre Feugier, Vincent C. Biourge, March 2020

2. Comparative physiology of animals in 3 volumes. Volume 1, 143-144 pp. Ed. prof. L. Prosser Year of publication: 1978 Publisher: Mir

Flour and bakery products on the cat menu

There are cats that happily eat pasta and all kinds of baked goods. Abuse of these products can cause a number of consequences of varying severity - from problems with stool and the development of obesity to intestinal inflammation and heart failure, so before sharing a bun or pie with an animal, you should think twice.

The seeds of plants from the legume family (such as peas, beans, lentils and others) are harmful - they are not digested in the cat’s body and lead to bloating. To ensure that your cat gets enough carbohydrates, it is best to include porridge in its diet. But not every porridge is suitable: for example, semolina, corn and millet porridge only create an extra burden on the digestive system and do not contain the necessary substances.

It is also not recommended to give cats instant cereals, which cause a sharp increase in blood sugar levels. Buckwheat and rice porridges, to which you can add meat and a small amount of olive oil, are best for a healthy diet.

I love pasta

Some cats love pasta and flour products and enjoy buns, pies, and spaghetti. However, such a diet can lead to serious health problems, from banal colitis and constipation to obesity, heart failure and other “charms”. Also, cats should not be given peas and beans (any legumes). But then, what can you feed your cat to satisfy its need for carbohydrates? Of course, porridges with the addition of meat and vegetable oils. Cereals that are safe for cats are rice and buckwheat, not steamed (instant cereals have a glycemic index that is almost twice as high). Cats should not have semolina, rolled oats, millet, or corn porridge - useless “ballast” and an excessive burden on the digestive system.

Why lard is bad for your cat's health

Many experienced cat owners know that their pet should not be fed pork or lard. This knowledge is “transmitted” to everyone who asks for advice, but not everyone can explain why lard is harmful to a cat’s health.

Not only lard, but pork in general, has received the most undeservedly bad reputation among animal feed products. In fact, pig meat and pork fat are often included in high-quality industrial feeds, so its complete exclusion from the diet is not always necessary or reasonable.

Pork is not the optimal choice for feeding - that's a fact. The simplest and most basic explanation is that feral cats do not prey on feral pigs. Natural prey for cats are small rodents and birds, and for large wild cats - artiodactyl herbivores. That is, for domestic cats, the optimal meat ingredient in the diet is rabbit, poultry or beef.

Despite the “far-fetched” idea about the dangers of pork and lard, there are still some serious risks when including it in a cat’s diet:

Trichinosis is a parasitic disease that originates from raw pork. Unlike most common worms, these parasites “settle” in the liver and can quietly harm a cat for many years. Trichinosis is very dangerous for your pet's health! The longer the worms live and multiply in the liver, the more serious the damage. The liver is one of the organs that recovers quickly, but trichinosis can lead to irreversible damage.

Increased fat content - pork is considered too fatty meat to be included in the diet of pets. Lard can only be used as a supplement that is recommended by a veterinarian. However, lean pork, which contains a minimal amount of fat, can be included in the pet's diet in heat-treated form.

Allergies - there are no official statistics, but the practical experience of veterinarians shows that about 30% of cats suffer from an allergy to pork. Symptoms of an allergic reaction include skin itching, hyperactive mucous membranes, the appearance of an unpleasant odor from fur and skin, and indigestion. If one or more allergy symptoms appear, pork, including offal, must be excluded from the cat's diet.

Other foods prohibited for cats

To maintain your pet’s health, it is extremely important to exclude other foods prohibited for cats from the diet:

• Products containing sugar or its substitutes, xylitol (chewing gum, some sweets), flour or yeast, caffeine, cocoa, any stimulants (sweets, tea, coffee, chocolate), marinades, salt, spices.
• Bones, pure fat, skin, especially poultry.
• Palm oil.
• Grapes, raisins, juicy and sweet fruits.
• Soy, mushrooms.
• Corn and semolina.
• Raw, freshwater, dry, salted fish.
• Smoked products, including sausages, balyki, fish.
• Expired products.
• Leftovers from the table.
• Dog food.

Many veterinarians and experienced owners recommend eliminating grains from a cat's diet. The fact is that the cat’s body synthesizes enough carbohydrates to nourish the nervous system. The rest of the body's systems receive energy from proteins. Cereals are included in a pet’s diet only if there is a lack of energy. For example, young, active and rapidly growing cats include rice and buckwheat in their diet. If the cat is gaining weight or has become less active, grains should be excluded from the diet.

Why cats should not be given fish in large quantities

If you think that the animal’s stomach will easily digest what you put in its bowl by carefully removing the bones or mashing them - when boiling blue whiting or pollock - you are mistaken. Our pets digest this kind of food with great difficulty. And the body of a domesticated animal is not adapted to the composition of fish. Here's an example: the majority of seals fed by their owners to a diet of river and sea creatures develop urolithiasis (UCD).

The fact that a pet enthusiastically devours boiled or fried carp, silver carp or gudgeon does not mean that such food will be good for it. The consequences of monotonous and improper feeding are as follows:

Fish contains a large amount of salts. They affect the functioning of the kidneys - over time, an important organ fails, and you have to take the animal to the veterinarian to begin treatment. Neutered cats are most susceptible to the harmful effects of salt. And magnesium and phosphorus become the very building materials on which stones are formed.

Can feeding fish worsen a cat's health? Certainly. Let's start with the fact that together with it you can introduce worms into your pet's body, which will then have to be expelled by carrying out mandatory deworming. Another horror story for owners that continues to be relevant to this day is opisthorchiasis. This is the name for prolonged helminthiasis, during which the liver, pancreas, and gall bladder are damaged. That's why cats can't eat raw fish - even if they insist on asking for it.

If you feed your pet fish every day, be prepared for him to develop hypovitaminosis. The reason for its occurrence is the action of the enzyme thiaminase. It destroys vitamin B1, leads to impaired absorption of iron, and then to anemia. Due to prolonged feeding of natural and “natural” foods for cats, our four-legged friends suffer from a lack of vitamins E and K (necessary for normal blood clotting). As a result of disruption of the synthesis of the latter, any bleeding (even the slightest) can lead to a disappointing outcome.

Why can't cats be fed fish? After all, it contains iodine, which is so useful! Yes, but not in the quantities in which it enters the body of animals that consume this product every day

The consequence of the accumulation of an important element is the development of hyperthyroidism, and with it dysfunction of the thyroid gland, the occurrence of heart and vascular diseases

And finally, one more argument: fish protein is a strong allergen. If you haven't noticed any unpleasant symptoms yet, you're in luck. However, those who have already taken their animal to the clinic and were forced to follow the treatment rules by putting the cat on a strict diet will no longer want to feed their pet only fish.

Here are just a few possible scenarios that could happen in reality if you don’t stop feeding your animal natural products that are harmful to it. And here are additional arguments that lovers of nutrition as close to natural as possible forget about.

Age 30-90 days

As with any child, the time has come for a cat baby to introduce complementary foods. Just don’t pour everything into your kitten’s bowl at once. Try one thing first. Then watch the baby for a couple of days. Does the stool remain normal? Is the kitten cheerful, playful, and eats with appetite? So feel free to continue the experiment. At the slightest sign of depression or change in stool to a liquid state, stop giving complementary foods. Or replace the product with another one.

What to feed a kitten at this age:

• raw meat (veal, chicken, horse meat, beef)
• fermented milk products (cottage cheese, fermented baked milk, kefir)
• porridge (buckwheat, oatmeal, millet)
• boiled vegetables (carrots, zucchini)
• boiled and raw egg yolks (chicken, quail)
• offal (liver, lung, heart)

The last two items are a rare delicacy, and not a permanent part of the menu. Because they are too difficult for the kitten’s still weak intestines to tolerate.

The general cooking rules are very simple:

1. Raw meat is thoroughly frozen, then scraped or ground in a meat grinder.
2. The same is done with offal.
3. Boiled meat is ground in a meat grinder and diluted with a small amount of broth until it becomes mushy.
4. Boiled yolk or cottage cheese is passed through a garlic press and diluted with low-fat kefir.
5. Porridge is cooked in water or diluted milk. Sugar and salt are not added.
6. Vegetables are boiled in water and ground into a paste. Or cut into very small cubes.

In principle, it will be easier for those who have cooked for their child. Because the menu is very similar, the preparation is also the same. The question arises: why grind? Because the kitten’s jaw apparatus is fully formed only by 3 months. Until this time, hard and large pieces of food are contraindicated.

Advice. Use a grater and garlic press. They are much easier to clean than a blender or meat grinder. And not everyone will agree to take out and assemble the unit for the sake of 30 g of food.

Natural menu for cats for every day

Each cat requires its own personal approach based on its individual characteristics. Therefore, the owner can change the menu a little, adapting to the pet. For the full functioning of the body of an adult cat, two properly balanced meals a day are enough.

Morning

: upon waking up, the cat will happily eat something not very heavy. This could be cottage cheese with yolk, yogurt with cereals, or liquid milk porridge.

For a cat's morning meal, you can't find anything better!

Dinner

: fermented baked milk or fortified treats from a pet store are suitable as feeding.

Evening

: Before going to bed, your cat needs to have a good meal. Meat porridge or meat with added vegetables are suitable for this. Alternatively, you can simply give boiled chopped meat.

A few days ahead

Cat food can be prepared several days ahead and placed in the refrigerator for storage. This is very convenient if you work and return home late. Upon returning home, you just need to get the cat food, warm it up and feed your pet

Cabbage soup and porridge are our food

Many owners use the remains of their meals as food for cats - this should not be done under any circumstances. Our food is over-salted, over-spiced and overcooked. Cats should not eat fried, smoked, sausages or any canned vegetables or fruits - such food is harmful even to humans, and the body of pets is much more sensitive. Mushrooms are a completely unnatural food for cats; their bodies do not have enzymes to break down mushrooms into their components (the cat cannot digest them). In addition, a cat can be seriously poisoned even by mushrooms that are edible to humans. It is extremely dangerous to offer your cat alcohol and coffee! There are known cases of cats dying after eating a small piece of lard, a pickled tomato, or a fried cutlet. Don't risk your pet's health!

What's for dessert?

Most cats are indifferent to sweets, not perceiving them as a food product. However, there are also people with a sweet tooth who love ice cream, candies, chocolate, cakes and pastries. The owner must remember that any sweets cause great harm to the cat! Such delights lead to disruption of the digestive system, diseases of internal organs, and diabetes. Chocolate is completely toxic to cats; eating it can lead to heart rhythm disturbances and even death. Any cakes are an unnecessary burden on the liver. By the way, fruits also contain too much sugar, so you should not treat your gourmet to bananas, pears and apples, melon, or watermelon. Some fruits, especially exotic ones, are dangerous for cats - avocado, persimmon, mango and pineapple. Grapes and raisins cause intoxication. The cat is unable to digest nuts, which, in addition to being useless, are also dangerous because they can provoke a severe allergic reaction, including swelling and respiratory arrest.

Why are fish dishes contraindicated for neutered pets?

In castrated animals, which, unlike sterilized ones, have lost their ovaries or testes, the hormonal system and metabolism change. After the procedure to deprive them of reproductive function, they automatically fall into the risk group for kidney and endocrine diseases. The components found in fish negatively affect the functioning of the relevant organs, so eating fish by cats after castration is not recommended.

The absorption of elements contained in these products is inhibited, and a tendency to accumulate them develops. Accumulating in the body of castrated animals, they lead to the appearance of stones in the organs of the urinary system. Despite the enormous health benefits for cats, fish dishes should be offered to them extremely rarely.

Castration imposes additional restrictions on the nutrition of representatives of this family, especially on those foods that can provoke the formation of stones in the organs of the urinary system. This point should be taken into account when deciding to get a kitten and accustoming it to natural food.

Food for sterilized cats and neutered cats

Sterilized cat suffering from obesity due to malnutrition

After sterilization, a cat loses interest in animals of the opposite sex and is replaced by a lost interest in food. Therefore, very often sterilized animals become obese.

, so try not to overfeed your pet.

If you decide to feed your pet homemade food yourself, then remember that the basis of the diet, just like with ordinary cats, should be meat food. Suitable meat products include beef, chicken, chicken hearts, livers or gizzards.

In this case, it is better to give up fish completely.

In addition, sterilized cats should be given cereals, vegetables and various fermented milk products. But it is better to avoid fish completely, since fish contains phosphorus and magnesium, which are harmful to sterilized animals.

Thus, the diet of sterilized and unsterilized cats is similar

. The only difference will be the fish. Veterinarians advise buying special vitamins for sterilized pets. They contain all the necessary microelements for such animals.

Vegetable diet

Homemade cat food should include some vegetables. Fiber promotes the proper functioning of the digestive organs, the removal of toxins and the maintenance of the intestines and stomach in tone. In addition, vegetables contain vitamins necessary for the health of your pet. However, an excess of vegetables in the diet leads to diseases of the digestive tract: gastritis, colitis, stomach and intestinal ulcers. Vegetables should be added to food 3-4 times a week, raw or stewed: carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, cauliflower. You should not offer your cat tomatoes, onions and garlic, eggplants (toxic to cats!), white cabbage and broccoli, or potatoes. If your cat greedily eats plant foods, try replacing vegetables with herbs (sprouted grains, cat grass). Occasionally, young leaves of dandelion, mint, and chamomile flowers can be added to the salad (only those freshly picked in the countryside; under no circumstances should you feed your cat herbs growing in the city).

Children, drink milk - you will be healthy

Homemade food for cats must include fermented milk products: kefir, cottage cheese, yogurt or fermented baked milk 1-2 times a week (you can add a boiled egg and a few drops of vegetable oil to the cottage cheese). But only kittens digest milk - adult cats drink it out of habit, without receiving any benefit. If your pet digests lactose normally, you can treat your cat to cow's milk at room temperature 1-3 times a week, in small portions. It’s hardly worth offering a mustachioed gourmand yoghurts; they contain sweeteners, flavors and dyes (even “natural” colorless ones). Cream and sour cream, even low-fat ones, cause enormous harm to the liver - these products should be completely excluded from the diet.

Is fish a natural food for cats?

To please the pet, the owner is ready to feed it even what a cat cannot be fed in principle: “Let him eat. She loves fish! My cat is smart and won’t eat anything that’s harmful.” The “fashion” for feeding cats fish arose for a simple reason - in most countries, fish is cheaper than meat. In nature, cats do not eat fish or seafood at all. Fish contains too many minerals and protein for a cat to regularly consume it without harm to its health. An excess of fish in the diet leads to urolithiasis and vitamin K deficiency.

You can feed your cat fish, but not more than 1-2 times a week. The fish must be sea fish, without bones and entrails, and must be boiled (5 minutes in boiling water). It is not recommended to feed your cat fish that live in fresh water - the risk of infection with helminths is too high.

Meat and offal

The most important thing to remember is that you should not feed your cat raw meat unless the owner is a farmer. Meat sold on Russian markets is pumped with antibiotics, hormones and in 70% of cases infected with helminths. In addition, the causative agents of deadly diseases that can be found in meat remain active for weeks even after freezing. Healthy food for cats is chicken, beef and veal meat. Sometimes - rabbit meat, game. Never any fatty trimmings, pork (even “lean”). Liver is a favorite product for many cats, but you shouldn’t give in to “persuasions.” Boiled liver can cause difficulty in bowel movements, while raw liver, on the contrary, can cause diarrhea. But the heart, kidneys, lungs, and stomach must be included in the cat’s diet. But only low-fat ones.

Method of preparing meat and offal:

First, we cut the meat into pieces (such that it is convenient for the cat to chew them, but not swallow them whole), and then lower them into boiling water for 5-7 minutes. Prolonged cooking reduces the value of the product.

What kind of fish can you feed your cat and how often: what is best to give?

Does this mean that the animal is not allowed to do absolutely anything? You should not think that one of his many joys has been lost for your pet - you can give tender boiled meat, but only in small quantities. Below we provide recommendations from veterinarians regarding everything caught or purchased on the market:

River fish should not be given due to the high risk of injury to the pharynx and esophagus and helminthic infestation.

You can feed sea creatures by first heat-treating them - by boiling and separating the meat from the skeleton, finely chopping it and adding it to porridge or mashed vegetables. Don't forget to remove all the bones. The best option would be to buy fillet. Such a delicacy is permissible extremely rarely - no more than a small portion once a week.

If you are afraid that in this situation your pet will be deprived of useful fish oil, buy special supplements or vitamin complexes designed specifically for tailed fidgets - for example, Nutricoat or Brewers Yeast. With them, all the necessary substances will enter the animal’s body, helping to maintain vigor and excellent health.

So, we figured out what kind of fish can be given to cats - sea fish, thoroughly boiled, lean, boneless and, preferably, fresh. And the basic rule has been repeated more than once: you cannot indulge your pet’s wishes every day - switching to an incorrect and monotonous diet can end in failure. The list of unpleasant consequences of feeding a cat capelin, halibut or a piece of salmon includes the development of urolithiasis, hypovitaminosis, hyperthyroidism, infection with worms, injuries to the esophagus and internal bleeding due to damage to the intestines by sharp bones. Be attentive to the health of your animal and do not offer it potentially dangerous products.

Can cats eat fish with bones: sharp and dangerous?

photo from website: siberiantimes.com

Bones are the reason for many visits to the veterinarian:

• They can damage the larynx while the pet chews the meat.

• Passing through the esophagus, sharp fragments scratch its walls and provoke serious injuries and bleeding.

• Once in the animal's intestines, an acute foreign body leads to the onset of an inflammatory process, sepsis or perforation.

Such consequences are not just another exaggeration, but a warning for those who include exclusively pollock, blue whiting, and perch in their pet’s diet, and then complain about their pet: they don’t eat other food at all. Alas, our smaller brothers quickly get used to this menu and demand it again and again. They have no idea how dangerous their favorite treat is in large quantities.