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Your cat is your baby. But if you recently brought a human bundle of joy home, you may be tempted to share some nutritious baby food with your feline friend. Can your cat safely consume baby food? It depends. While cats can eat meat-based baby food, ones that contain veggies could be potentially harmful and even lethal.
Here’s everything you should consider before dishing out a bowl of baby food to your kitty.
Can Cats Eat Baby Food?
While cats are natural carnivores, even in the wild, they eat trace amounts of vegetables from the stomach contents of their prey to obtain essential vitamins. Also, eating whole prey with the bones contains minerals not found in the meat alone. Domesticated housecats acquire their daily dose of nutrients through their diet of commercial cat food.
While you can treat your cat to small portions of meat-based baby food every once in a while, it should never be used as a substitute for cat kibble. Baby food lacks enough taurine for cats, which will lead to malnutrition if cats are only fed baby food as their daily diet.
If you have a sick or senior cat that can’t comfortably consume regular cat food, you can feed her small helpings of meat-based baby food. However, wet cat food is always the healthier option.
Is Baby Food Bad for Cats?
Babies are extremely fragile little creatures. That’s why most baby foods are crafted with sensitive stomachs in mind. But just because a baby can safely eat baby food doesn’t mean you should be feeding it to your cat.
This is especially true if the baby food contains any onion or garlic powder, which is common with some brands. These two ingredients are extremely toxic to cats.
- Garlic
- Onion
- Salt
- Veggies of any kind
- Fruits of any kind (except for infrequent pumpkin as it promotes gut motility)
- Added sweeteners or sugars
- Dairy
- Canola oil or vegetable oil
When looking for baby food to feed to your cat, always choose meat-based baby food with no seasonings. A teaspoon of turkey-, chicken-, or lamb-flavored baby food makes a tempting treat for kitties.
When Is It Okay to Feed a Cat Baby Food?
- They suffer from a reduced appetite because of a disease, such as liver disease, CKD, and cancer
- They’re elderly and have periodontal issues or a painful mouth
- They’ve had their teeth extracted and can’t eat firm cat kibble
- They have temporary digestive sensitivity
- They’re feral cats that you want to entice into a humane trap
You can also offer healthy cats a small helping of meat-based baby food as the occasional treat. However, baby food should never make up a large portion of your kitty’s daily diet.
If you’re curious about what’s safe for cats to eat or have general questions about your feline’s nutrition or diet, it is recommended you speak to your vet.
If you need to speak with a vet but can’t get to one, head over to PangoVet. It’s an online service where you can talk to a vet online and get the personalized advice you need for your pet — all at an affordable price!
How Long Can a Cat Eat Baby Food?
A cat can consume baby food as its main meal for only about 2 to 3 days. After that, you’ll need to slowly start transitioning them back to normal cat kibble or wet cat food.
Baby food doesn’t contain taurine. This is a vital amino acid that cats can only get from commercial kibble, raw meat, supplements, or wet cat food.
Baby Food Alternatives for Cats
- Kitten food
- Raw or boiled chicken
- Egg yolks
Remember, these options should never replace your cat’s normal kibble or wet cat food.
Learning about what your cat can and cannot eat is a crucial part of keeping them happy and healthy! Choosing a bowl to serve cat-friendly foods in is another important decision pet owners face. Satisfy the specific needs of your cat with the innovative design of the Hepper NomNom Cat Bowl. Learn why it’s our (and our cats!) favorite food and water dish here. At Catster, we’ve admired Hepper for many years and decided to take a controlling ownership interest so that we could benefit from the outstanding designs of this cool cat company!
The Bottom Line on Baby Food for Cats
A small helping of meat-based baby food that doesn’t contain any additives is perfectly okay to feed your cat. It may even be helpful for elderly or ill cats that can’t consume normal kibble.
Never feed your kitty baby food that contains garlic or onion; it can be fatal. Also, never use baby food as a substitute for your pet’s regular cat food for prolonged periods. However, your cat can enjoy a small spoonful of meat-based baby food! She’ll love the full flavor and yummy aroma!
See Also:
- Do Cats Like Baby Talk? What Science Says
- Best Foods for Cats with Feline Leukemia – Reviews & Top Picks
Featured Image Credit: MapleHorizons, Pixabay
My cat had an undiagnosed diaphragmatic hernia. For her entire 27 years she ate only Gerber's baby food, the meat varieties. She was fine except for that hernia which eventually killed her in her 27th year. Despite having the hernia, she never was really sick, so the hernia was never discovered. We all just thought she was a picky eater, and the baby food was the only thing she could handle. In her, 24th year, a new vet gave her a distemper shot without informing me. She was an indoor cat, and at that age, I would never have subjected her to a distemper shot. She almost died from that shot and had to be hospitalized. That's when they discovered the hernia, because they had to take x-rays. She never weighed more than 5 pounds, but with that shot she went down to 3 pounds. She survived that and lived for another three years. Needless to say, I never went back to that vet. All that to say, some extraordinary cats can survive only on baby food. Notably she wouldn't go near Beechnut baby food. It had to be Gerber's
Hi Dierdra, thanks for sharing your story, such a shame you did not put your cat on the Guinness Record because the current one did not make it to the 27th birthday! Impressive, and indeed, your cat was extraordinary.