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Will the occasional cat food hurt?

Alana

Well-known member
I have two cats and Bella. Bella is nine weeks and she has just recovered from Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis. Today she snuck a couple of cat food pellets (I feed them Royal Canin fit cat and Bella is gradually being introduced to Royal Canin Junior along with her chicken and rice) I fought with her to get them out and then moved the cat bowl out of reach. My question is, if she does end up eating a few cat pellets every now and then will it be okay?
 
I don't think it will do any harm whatsoever. The only time I would be anxious would be if Bella was fed long term on a diet of cat food as the vitamin and mineral requirements are very different for each species.
 
Sonny is a complete piggy and will try to eat what ever he can find. He gobbles up his food in record seconds, which is why we usually use a treat dispenser to feed him. Anyways, we usually have our cat Nico's food on a little table, but someone needed to borrow the table so we put Nico's food in another room and closed the door. Sonny opened the door, ran to the bowl and ate every last kernel of food before we could get to him. I couldn't believe how quickly it all happened! But Sonny had no ill effects, I just don't want him to do it again because he doesn't need anymore food! :lol:

I'm not sure how or if the cat food would affect Bella's Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis.....
 
No. not an issue, and dogs tend to like cat food because it is smellier and also higher in protein. But you do't want them to eat it instead of their own food all the time, as cat food is not nutritionally optimal for dogs, and too high a protein level can cause behaviour and diet issues for some dogs. I use cat food pellets as treats for training all the time as they are so nice and small and the dogs love them. You def need to put cat food up high well out of reach of a dog. Cavaliers in particular will eat anything they can access and therefore cannot be free fed or left in a room where there's food for other pets available.

It's actually more of a problem if cats insist on eating dog food. Dog food lacks some specific nutrients cats must have for good health.

The higher protein levels etc could affect gastroenteritis but a few kibbles are not likely to do much now that she is into recovery. :)
 
My Westie has been on cat food for twelve years and it was advised by the vet. He told me a dog can have cat food for life but a cat can go blind if on dog food long term .
 
My vet commented that Nalu's bladder infections could have been a result of her sneaking cat food.
 
I use cat food pellets as treats for training all the time as they are so nice and small and the dogs love them. You def need to put cat food up high well out of reach of a dog.

Thank you Karlin,

I used this today and she responds really well when training with cat food!
 
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