It’s well known that conscious nutritional management by cat owners prevents and reduces risks of feline diseases by boosting immune systems. Despite the many dietary options for cats, many owners have always queried continuously with their peers and vets ‘can cats eat bread’? This is indeed a substantial question as bread is a common edible household item and owners always feel compelled to share with their furry companions.
To most cat lovers, the ideal nutrition proportions for cats is 50% fat, 40 % protein, and about 3 % carbohydrate. In better context, of the 250 calories/day that experts recommend for your cat, carbs should not be more than 20 calories. Also remember, your vet will insist that the 20 calories should be appropriately cooked carbohydrates for better digestibility. Gosh! So with bread traditionally being a high-carb food, we now see why many pet owners would ask whether it is right for cats or not.
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What Do Nutritionists Say?
Most vets would readily tell you it’s alright to treat your cat to bread as long it’s a small piece occasionally. All this should be fine, as long as it’s still following recommended weight and diet guidelines. Generally, feline nutrition specialists will justifiably tell you that feeding your cats on a carbohydrate high diets isn’t smart. This is because cats have higher requirements for protein and fat.
Nutritionists understand that at times, high carbs lead to direct fat deposition. Consequently, this could lead to obesity and diabetes. So their probable recommendation would be to stick to the tinned cat food which has the sufficient 200-250 calories/day. To get their perspective, let’s delve deeper into feline dietary requirements to understand this cautious assertion by most vet nutritionists.
Bread’s Nutritional Composition
The main bread ingredients have traditionally been wheat flour, yeast, sugar, milk, eggs, and salt. These ingredients, mainly wheat, help add to its classification as a ‘high-carb’ food along with cereal, dairy milk, and rice. Wheat has a high carbohydrate content of about 83%, and that figure speaks for itself despite its 8% fiber due to bran.
Also, nutritionists consider bread to be fattening and specifically target it in restrictive diets. Let’s not forget that bread contains reasonable amounts of sugar and salt. As you probably already know, these are part of the blacklist foods for felines. Some types of bread contain preservatives and chemicals which could cause unexpected reactions. It’s notable that it lacks in the vitamin taurine, which cats can’t produce. The deficiency of this vitamin leads to tooth problems and hair loss.
That said, certain bread types have good nutritional value. However, particular caution is made against savory pieces of bread. Bread is specially flavored with onion and garlic. When it comes to the health of your cat, tasty bread is a big no-no. We have classified salt, onions, and garlic as harmful foods to cats. This is in addition to chocolate, tea leaves, raisins, and alcoholic beverages.
Cat Nutritional Requirements And How This Plays Out About Bread
Perhaps understanding cat nutritional requirements will make the case clear. Feline dietary requirements vary with age, with our classifications being kitten (<1 yr), adult (1-7 yrs) and senior (> 7 yrs). Diet requirements are sensitive to the impact of aging on physiology and metabolism of most feline species.
Kittens: These require more protein and have higher energy needs than adults, so kitten foods are higher in fat. That means 4 months old should be fed a minimum of three times a day. Baby kittens also require 2.1 times more protein than adults per kg of body weight. Additionally, kittens need about 5 times more Phosphorus and Calcium than adults. This diet helps them build strong bones and immune systems capable of fighting infection.
Adults: Adults need a diet of highly-digestible proteins with a balance of fibers to support a healthy digestive tract. Adults can be fed at least twice a day. Since most adults also feed on rats and smaller animals, their protein, amino, and fatty acids requirements are catered for.
Senior: Referred to the geriatric years, senior cats diets require meals for prevention of diseases associated with aging. This involves proteins and minerals with good levels of sodium and phosphorus to support healthy vital organ function. Seniors risk diabetes mellitus. Therefore, you should reduce the levels of carbohydrate and fat, and ensure more protein and dietary fiber.
Special Diets: Pregnant queens and lactating females require additional nutritional requirements. The same can be said for highly active cats and sickly senior cats. Both categories need increased amounts of lean protein, fat with essential amino acids to compensate for their reduction in digestibility.
So Why Against Carbs?
It’s noteworthy that carbohydrates don’t help to stimulate increased dietary enzyme production, secretion, or activity of cats. Vets also cite that cats have a significantly lower ability to digest and metabolize carbohydrates.
What doesn’t help is cats being prone to becoming ‘fat,’ and when a cat becomes overweight, it’s a fight to lose weight. And remember bread is 80% carb.
Cat Obesity, Why a Big deal?
Considered a form of malnutrition, about 35% of adult cats are either overweight or obese. Obesity makes cat prone to multiple diseases such as diabetes mellitus and urinary tract disease.
Obesity also tends to promote insulin resistance. So large quantities of bread consumed can lead to increased intake of carbs and later possibly feline obesity and diabetes.
Feline Diabetes
Diabetes mellitus is a big deal for all felines as it can lead to the death of your pet. This is why it’s imperative that weight control measures are applied by companion cat owners. Measures to reduce dietary carbohydrates and increase dietary protein can improve the rate of remission, and allow a reduction in the insulin dose. Maintaining your cat at an appropriate weight can help alleviate diabetes and its effects.
According to Dr. Allison Wara, D.V.M, you should use dietary fiber to help manage obesity in cats. She cites that dietary fiber sources like Bran, soybean, cellulose, help improve glycemic control in cats and aid in the control of diabetes mellitus. Notable is the fact that high-fiber diets can also help alleviate the risks of constipation.
Conclusion
Technicalities aside, the biggest concern is for a feline diet to contain digestible lean proteins and fats with minimal carbs. This allows your cat to develop a robust immune system and maintain an ideal weight to curb diabetes which will increase life expectancy.
Yes, most bread isn’t totally dangerous to cats, and they can have the occasional treat without fatal side effects. There really is no specific rule of thumb to a quantity to give. However, it would be wiser to keep to recommended diets.
Otherwise, if careless, consumption of uncooked bread/dough may lead to a range of health complications. Some of these include; body weakness, appetite loss, pale gums, and sudden behavioral change. If any of the symptoms appear, go to your nearest vet for advice.
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