One of the joys that a pet keeper would love is to minimize the costs of keeping them. The best way to keep these costs down, especially foods are by sharing them. A perfect example is when a dog can eat cat food and vice versa. However, limitations are bound to happen when it comes to cross-feeding. Many questions are bound to go across one’s mind before doing cross-feeding. Before you do that, you should ask yourself questions such as:
- Can a cat eat dog food?
- Is it safe and healthy to eat these foods?
- What are the side effects of eating a dog’s meals?
To get the answer to the above question, peruse through the article. It will provide you with much-needed information.
So can I feed my cat with dog food?
To understand whether a cat can be fed with dog food or not, it is important to understand its dietary needs. The dietary needs of the two are significantly different and do not match each other. Cats being carnivorous need more meat than the dogs to survive. It also derives essential nutrients from the meat. Dogs, on the other hand, can largely survive without eating meat for a long time. It can derive all the required nutrients from its normal meals.
Dog food is usually laced with sugar. Cats do not love, nor does it consume sugar. This partly explains the reason as to why a cat may not consume dog food.
Cat food is always presented in small sizes as compared to dog food. Dogs in nature bite huge chunks which is impossibility to the cat. Cats have smaller stomachs as compared to the dogs, this also explains why it may be impossible to feed it.
After going through these factors amongst many others, we can now comfortably say that you cannot feed dog food to the cat.
Is it advisable to feed the dog food to the cat?
It is not advisable to feed the cat with the dog food. It may pose serious challenges or even fatalities. Except in some rare cases, it may not be the best option to do the feeding. In case you accidentally give the dog food to the cat, you may need to contact your vet immediately. Cat’s digestive system is a bit slow and may not manage to digest the complex dog food if ingested.
Can the dog food hurt the cat after consumption?
With a slow introduction of the cat to the dog food, it may eventually eat it little by little without harm. It is not however recommended because of the special dietary needs of the cat. It may not explicitly harm your cat unless you start feeding it with large chunks from the onset. If you are not sure of how to introduce the dog food to the cat, always seek the services of the vet. You can also seek the help of a fellow friend who has a better experience in cross-feeding the animals. It is worth to note that the cat needs a lot of proteins that can be found in its food. Cat’s food has been specially formulated to provide these essential nutrients to the cat. These proteins are not mostly available in the dog food. Regular feeding of the cat with the dog food will eventually make your cat malnourished and unhealthy.
Also read does your cat love you?
What other alternative foods can a cat feed on?
In the absence of cat food, you can still feed it with human foods. Not all human foods, however, are recommended to be fed to the cat. Some of the common human foods that a cat can eat comfortably are:
- Meat.
- Eggs.
- Whole grains.
- Vegetables.
- Cheese.
- Fish and some few more.
There is some human food that is harmful to cats. They include items such as processed foods, fatty foods amongst some few others. Even with those foods that the cat can eat comfortably, it should always be given with moderation.
Conclusion
To ensure that your cat is always healthy and safe, feed it with the designated cat food. The only time that you should substitute the cat food with other food is when you run short of cat food. You can also try it when you want to substitute when you want to diversify the kind of meals that a cat can eat. Since we have seen that it is not good to feed your cat with the dog food, always try to keep a stock of its meal in your fridge. Enjoy feeding your cat, won’t you?