Should You Feed Vegetables to Your Cat? By The Blog Dog on August 09 @ 7:34AM

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Are you vegetarian or vegan who has a cat? Are you wondering if you can feed your cat the food you eat? Although you may be tempted to get your cat to follow a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, it is not a good idea. Cats and other felines are carnivores, while humans are omnivores. What it means is that you can survive solely on a plant-based diet, but your cat cannot. Does it mean, then, that you should never feed vegetables to your cat?

The simple answer is, yes, you can feed vegetables to your cat. You may be surprised to know that even in the wild, cats eat grass and leaves at times. There are a number of reasons cats eat plants.

• To get certain vitamins and minerals that can be better absorbed from plants than from meat
• To get hairballs to move easily through their digestive system or, alternatively, to vomit trapped hairballs
• To increase the amount of fiber and roughage in their diet

If you have a pet cat who keeps looking for plants to chew on around the house, you can check with your vet and start including small amount of vegetables in your cat’s diet. Here are a few reasons you may want to include vegetables in your cat’s daily diet:

• If your cat is overweight, you can reduce the amount of meat you feed your cat and replace it with a small amount of vegetables instead.
• You can get cat treats that are made from vegetable derivatives and extracts to reduce the amount of calories your cat consumes by way of treats.
• If your cat has bowel problems, adding a few vegetables will increase the amount of roughage in your cat’s diet can help ease bowel movements.

If your cat has a habit of chewing, ensure that they cannot access plants in the house unless these plants are safe for cats. Most flowering and houseplants are toxic to cats. Read on to know which vegetables and plants are safe for your cat to consume.

You should avoid seeds of all kinds when serving vegetables to your cat, as seeds can be toxic for cats. You should ensure that you wash vegetables thoroughly, especially if you serving them raw to your cat. These are a few vegetables that are safe for your cat to consume:

• Spinach and lettuce leaves
• Catnip
• Carrots
• Sweet corn
• Broccoli
• Zucchini

Please check with your vet on how to feed your cats vegetables and how much is too much. You can either give the vegetables separately or mix it in your cat’s wet food during regular feeding times.