Human foods that's great for cats?

I have read that "human foods", like peanut butter and slightly blackened toast, are great for a cat's fur. =) So.. does anyone know any other human cat foods?

Interesting. Never heard of either of those. But cats are carnivores... all they really need is meat. Obviously most of us feed them tidbits of this and that... I have one kitty that just loves a piece of a Cheeto. But that's what he gets - one little nibble.

But I think cutting a little slice of whatever meat you're preparing for yourself and feeding it to them before you've cooked it is probably one of the best treats there is for them!

Some people do use olive oil for skin issues; some use RAW (meaning virgin, cold pressed from coconut meat, not the dried chopra that most coconut oil comes from) coconut oil for allergy problems (and it makes their coats look great!). But I really don't think you should feed them enough peanut butter or toast that it would affect their coat quality!

Just wanted to add... I'm sure it would be the peanut oil in peanut butter that would be "good" for a cat's coat. I can't imagine what would be good for a cat's coat in toast. Either way, you're better off giving them a little lick of butter as a treat, I think.

I have to say, I got a chuckle out of the PB and toast. I am sure it IS the peanut oil - but I don't think I would want to give peanut butter to my cat's. My dog's love it in their Kong toy's though. I would try Salmon oil for your cat's coat. That is better because that comes directly from a meat source. I have one cat that will eat ANYTHING :lol3: People, dog or cat, just anything. Wendall - he is like a dog . He will take whatever WE are eating directly from out hand's without a thought at all. Funny boy - :heart3: I am sure Wendall would LOVE peanut butter and toast.....

Haha thanks guys for the suggestions.  I never tried toast, but my prior kitty absolutely LOVED peanut butter. Wherever we were eating some peanut butter crackers, she would meow and meow (well "meow", it wasn't really a sound. She always opened her mouth and either a squeak or nothing at all came out. She could get away with so much with me. (jumping on counter, etc.) I could never get mad at a squeaking cat. ) because she wanted wanted some so bad.  I never could tell a difference on her coat though... We would commonly feed Kitty a tidbit of anything she was interested in. She loved corn... oh and that juice from vienna sausage cans. This is a wierd question, but can a cat get salmonella from raw meat?  

Well, now, that's a very interesting question, and one that's been subject to great debate on this site. :lol3:

The answer is yes, cats can get salmonella. BUT, that needs to be qualified from three perspecitves:

1) The problem of salmonella exists in kibble
2) The prevalence of salmonella and other pathogens in human grade meat, and
3) The ability of a cat to contract illness as a results of ingesting contaminated kibble or meat

1) problem of salmonella exists in kibble.

Many commercial dry food recalls have been due to salmonella. Here's a list of pet food recalls since 2009 as hosted at the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association). Not all of them have the reason for the recall listed in the title, but a quick perusal of the list and it's clear - salmonella is the primary reason for recalls. That's why "safe handling" procedures are recommended by the CDC for handling cat kibble:
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/SalmonellaDryPetFood/

Preparation Tips

Washing hands is the most important step to prevent illness. Wash your hands for 20 seconds with water and soap right after handling pet food and treats, and especially before preparing, serving or eating food, drinks or preparing baby bottles.

Preferably, people should feed their pet in areas other than the kitchen.

Wash pet food bowls, dishes and scooping utensils with soap and hot water regularly. Avoid washing these items in the kitchen sink or bathtubs to prevent cross-contamination. In households where there is no alternative, the sink area should be adequately sanitized after these items have been cleaned and removed.

Infants should not be bathed in kitchen sinks because of the risk of cross-contamination.

Do not use the pet’s feeding bowl as a scooping utensil – use a clean, dedicated scoop, spoon, or cup.

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2) Prevalence of salmonella in our human meat supplies has fallen over the past decade: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/science/progress_report_salmonella_testing/index.asp

According to the USDA:

In calendar year 2010, FSIS analyzed 29,734 verification samples across eight meat and poultry product classes with the following percent positive rate of Salmonella per product class: broilers (6.7%), market hog (2.4%), cow/bull (0.5%), steer/heifer (0.1%), ground beef (2.2%), ground chicken (18.8%), ground turkey (10.2%) and turkey (4.6%).

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As it is typically the outside of the meat that may have a problem, the CDC has established safe-handling procedures for prepping/preparing meat for human consumption... so if you wash the outside of your meat, as you would before you cook it, wash your hands the the prep utensils and area, there shouldn't be any problem feeding raw meat to your cat. In fact - many people feed their cats an all raw diet (which would include bones and organs, mimicing the profile of prey they would eat in the wild). Thus the Raw Feeding subforum.

3) The real source of debate is not whether there is salmonella contamination of our cat food or our human meat - but the extent to which it impacts our cats. If your cat has been on antibiotics, all the "good" flora in their gut is wiped out, and this definitely makes them susceptible to pathogens like salmonella. :nod: (Which is why people feeding raw ought to cook the meat while their cat is on antibiotics - or at least sear the outside, and put their cats on a probiotic, to help re-establish the good gut flora). But normal, healthy cats SEEM (there are no studies) to be able to handle some exposure to salmonella with no adverse effects. Cats are carnivores, and have a very simple digestive systems. The theory is that the very acidic environment of the stomach destroys most pathogens/bacteria they ingest, as with their natural diet (mice, small rodents, rabbits, bugs, small reptiles, etc) they are exposed to these pathogens. Here is anecdotal evidence in support of that theory: http://www.peterdobias.com/community/2012/01/2664/

According to the vet (responding to criticism of another vet about feeding cats a raw diet):

When it comes to bacteria, I have not seen one single client to have reported salmonelosis when feeding raw meat. I have also come to accept that dogs and cats are naturally resistant to intestinal pathogens and that they are not humans. Cats often eat mice that are frequent carriers of salmonella and other bacteriae without any ill effect and lets be real, dogs sniff and eat worse things than a piece of raw meat.

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That said, no doubt about it, cats can get sick from salmonella or other pathogens. It APPEARS more common (no studies to support this) from eating contaminated kibble, because the LOAD is so unnatural. It is very rarely deadly - that would be if contracted by an already sick (health compromised) cat. Symptoms are usually mild: vomiting or diarrhea. Far less common are a fever and severe vomiting and/or diarrhea.

Hope that helps you make an informed decision.

Back to peanut butter, my Vet suggested I give Sven his pills disguised in p/b, but mainly because it would make him lick and lick at it (from the roof of his mouth), and therefore he would have to swallow his pill.  That's the only time I have ever heard of giving  cat p/b.  Toast?  Never heard of giving bread to a cat and cannot imagine how it could be of any dietary assistance.

I recently had to change the wet food I was feeding my cats. They have refused to eat anything (Blue Buffalo, Maxcat, Merricks wet ANTHING). For days, they weren't getting any wet.

Then we realized that they were showing a lot of interest in the canned chicken (we get it from BJs and use it for chicken salad). In addition, I had used chicken baby food in the past to help bring ferals around and everyone loved it as a treat. So I thought, hmm, maybe a combination?

Success! everyone likes it. I use just a dollop of the baby food - the canned chicken is packed in water and is a little dry, so the baby food is sort of like gravy, which they all love. It's a little more work but that's OK. I was using Fancy Feast grilled chicken, so this isn't anymore expensive, either. The other wet foods I mentioned we up to double the cost, so I am happy with that!

And the bonus is, so far, the occasional vomiting has stopped. That is what originally started us on this food changing adventure.

That was.. THE MOST EPIC ANSWERS EVER! lol. Thanks LDG, mrsgreenjeens, and ondine.  Ya'll use some very smart methods.    I never thought of using baby food. Did you know Gerber baby food is put in plastic containers now? Sorry that's random. It just kind of shocked me. lol. I don't get how salmonella can even be in kibble if the kibble has been cooked to like 500 degrees. It seems like that would kill the samonella. Just my odd brain thinking again. =P My vet told told my dad, when my cat needed to take a pill, to prise open the mouth, and stick it down the mouth with pencil eraser. I just stuck the pill in a treat and gave it to the cat. The my cat would spit put the treat. She learned that if she just spits out the treat, then I'll stick the pill in another! Cats are smart.  She finally decided to be nice and swallow the pill, after like 5 treats.  My dad tried the same with my dog. I'm like dad, it's a dog. Just hold your hand out. He did and Shadow ate it. lol gotta love the mutts. =)

Human food useful for cats?  Youghurt is good, at least OK, but probably good.  Goat milk is good (can be used as kitten milk too).

Cheese of most sorts.  Cheese in tubs is liked by many cats.  Although I suspect it shouldnt be more than a treat - there are many additions and salts...

Olive oil of good quality contains much E-vitamine - and thus is very useful in many situations, if the cat likes these fatty oils.

Olive oil is also useful externally, if they get sore paws...

Yellow of the eggs, (="yolk"), preferably raw, is excellent.  The problem is, in many countries salomonella on eggs is common... You can wash of the worst with boiling / boiling and soapy water,  but it is not 100% safe anyway.  As said above, healthy cats are not at all so sensitive to salmonella as humans, but who wants to risk - especielly if the cat is sick or nursing kittens.

Tuna conserves are ok, as treat.  If you give more often, you must add some extra E-vitamine in some appropriate way.

If the cat wants, she can surely nibble on most fruits and groceries... cant harm as long as washed.

Interesting about this peanut butter/ oil. I shall look up what it can contains.  Some nice fats and proteins, sure. Not so good as animal-sourced, but surely better than nothing.  Probably also E-vitamine it too...   And if the cat prefer peanut butter before  olive oils so...  

LDG said:

That said, no doubt about it, cats can get sick from salmonella

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These cases I had heard about, where when there was a salomonella epidemy in birds. Them cats taking and eating prob. several of sick, heavy infested birds. Them being sick, they become of course an extra easy prey to cats...

But healthy cats are apparently more or less immune to salomonella in "common doses"...  Good.

The remaining question is to see, what the not so healthy cats, and nursing moms manage.  Do we dare give them raw yolk?  there are ways to wash off the worst from the outside, but some eggs are contaminated inside too...
 

My cats are so picky they hate most human foods just stick to their own food the problem with processed things is that there is so much salt in them nowadays.Floss is partial to some ham off the bone from the butchers at the farm where we go to though.x

Thanks for the suggestions and reasons stefan and ruthy.  I'm kind of amazed by how much members here take time out of what they are doing and answer questions. Several people are probably going "Well duh, that's what we're supposed to do." right now, but why I'm amazed is like at androidforums.com, there's always like 55,000 active members on, yet A LOT of people's questions go unanswered. This site is a lot smaller, but a lot more people have answered questions. It's nice having your questions answered.  I wouldn't give a nursing or sick kitty egg yolk if it meant he or she might get salmonella. I don't want vet bills. =P I agree, it seems like salt is in everything these days. Wait.. is salt really bad for cats? I didn't know that..

 Wait.. is salt really bad for cats? I didn't know that..

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 A little salt of different ions is necessary. And commercial cat foods are salted.  In raw food it is in the blood and body fluids and the whole meat itself...

  It is the too much we dont want.  Or at least, we want to choose from where we get the additional salts.
 

Aristotle said:

Thanks for the suggestions and reasons stefan and ruthy.  I'm kind of amazed by how much members here take time out of what they are doing and answer questions. Several people are probably going "Well duh, that's what we're supposed to do." right now, but why I'm amazed is like at androidforums.com, there's always like 55,000 active members on, yet A LOT of people's questions go unanswered. This site is a lot smaller, but a lot more people have answered questions. It's nice having your questions answered.  I wouldn't give a nursing or sick kitty egg yolk if it meant he or she might get salmonella. I don't want vet bills. =P I agree, it seems like salt is in everything these days. Wait.. is salt really bad for cats? I didn't know that..

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So glad you are happy with the site and the promptness of answering questions. WE DO TRY :lol3:.... I would not ever add additional salt to any of my cat's food. There is salt added to commercially made cat food though.

Thank you stefan and feravr. I didn't know salt was in cat food. Ha, learn something everyday. =) Seems like I would remember seeing it in the list of ingredients.

Interesting discussion.

In truth, there is no good reason to give a cat anything that doesn't come from another animal. No matter how nutritious that product may be for humans, cats can't properly digest it and will not derive the same benefits... and might run into some digestive upsets.

If you want your cat to have more fat - to manage dandruff, improve fur condition or whatever - feed pieces of dark chicken or turkey meats, little bites of chicken skin, or chunks of pork loin meat. All of them are fatty and will be thoroughly and efficiently digested and used by the cat. Leave the olive oil on the shelf.

Most cats, as they transition from kittenhood to adulthood, naturally become lactose-intolerant, so dairy foods should be avoided or fed sparingly as treats.

There are, actually, studies on cats and salmonella. Cats have to be very sick or already seriously compromised for salmonella to effect them even in the smallest degree. Here's a quote from one such study that makes a statement and then references another study, "Healthy adult cats appear to have high immunological resistance to the development of clinical salmonellosis. In one study, experimental infection of healthy cats required inoculation of infectious organisms in numbers far exceeding those likely encountered in natural infection."

I worry less about my cats getting sick from food-borne pathogens in their raw-meat diet than I do stubbing my toe on any given day.

As for salt, cats have a very low dietary need for it. It's in cat food mostly as a flavor enhancer, and too much salt - even when sourced from raw blood - isn't healthy. Hearts are a great source of taurine, but can't be fed every day because of their high sodium content. Even blood has to be fed sparingly - no pouring out the bloody juices from a freshly opened pack of hearts and pouring it on a plate... it will nearly always result in vomiting.

In sum - source your cat's non-commercial foods and treats from other animals, and feed in moderation.

Best regards.

AC

Very informative and to the point!  Thanks for your thorough answer AC.

I do put bone powder to every raw meat bowl they get, to balance out effect of meat burning consuming calcium. In nature they get calcium from bones of what they hunt.

It is rather cost effective and they eat it up without knowing it is in there.

Now commercial calcium pills then, those one I have found have had over 90% ash in them, ash is used in many cat foods too and it is ash that makes urinary issues too, most important is perhaps try to avoid ash, there are other names that they call ash, but it is ash as ash is in fireplace too, why anyone would feed that?

Many cat treats seem to have lot of ash too.

I have one cat that eats bread, he steals it from me at times, also he eats cardboard boxes too as well as newspapers, but I doubt those being any good for him.

Also they try to steal my tuna sandwiches, lot of paw reaching when I'm eating such, but tuna is also bad for cat, I think it was taurine that got destroyed by tuna, small amount rarely is still ok.

Cheese is probably ok with small amounts, but lot of cats are lactose sensitives so milk and cheese is bad for them.

Fish generally is only once in a week thing.

Any wheat, rice, vegetables are such that they are impossible to use as food for them, small amount of fiber is good for digestation, but in nature they get most of those in stomatch of what they hunt, so amount should be really small.

As they digestation system is so different from ours it is quite little foods that can be given so that it would be perfect match for what they need.

Raw chicken with bones and all is great, especially chicken wings if one can get those, here salmonella is not an issue, of course varies country by country.

One of my cats is also such that he tries to steal my pizza too, if I'm not careful he comes and bites from other end as I'm biting from other end, surely not suitable food for cat, but he is bit pf eating everything kind of cat and can does hit and run attacks too.

JTbo said:

Now commercial calcium pills then, those one I have found have had over 90% ash in them, ash is used in many cat foods too and it is ash that makes urinary issues too, most important is perhaps try to avoid ash, there are other names that they call ash, but it is ash as ash is in fireplace too, why anyone would feed that?

Many cat treats seem to have lot of ash too.
 

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The 'ash' on a label is referring to what is left after the item has been burned. Minerals (calcium, phosphorus, etc) don't burn so the ash content of something is an indicator of the amount of minerals it contains. That is why a calcium pill has such a high ash content, it is almost all mineral.