Do Cats Eat Vegetables?

Hello,

I sometimes feed my kitten boiled zucchini with chicken to ease her alimentary canal. What is your say on the topic of vegetables? Thanks.

- Heidi 

Cats are obligate (true) carnivores so they require a diet that is mostly meat. High protein, low carbohydrate. Generally, if your cat is experiencing digestive issues, we would recommend plain canned pumpkin such as Libby's to be added to their normal food. NOT pie filling as it contains spices. Pumpkin is a good source of fiber and helps to regulate moisture in the colon. Most cats also like it. 

What is your kitten eating now? Is he/she eating dry food? wet food? Both? If he/she is on a dry only diet, I'd suggest adding some wet food to that as cats do not have a high thirst drive by nature and therefore get most of their water intake from the food they eat. Obviously, dry food does not provide this. Water in the diet aids digestion. You can help your kitten drink more water if that is needed with the use of a fountain.

Zucchini is a squash, and is very similar to the kind of squash used in canned pumpkin. So that should be fine as long as you keep it to a small amount and not too often. Sometimes a cat needs a little fiber to ease things along but in general they aren't meant to eat plant materials.

What is her normal diet? Squash and chicken is meant to be an occasional meal, so hopefully her regular diet is more balanced.

She eats mostly meat (mackerel, sardines (once a week), chicken, minced meat, meat in general, cheese, yoghurt, and the occasional zucchini when she has constipation). She never ate dry food. I am against dry food, in general. Sometimes I add rice with the minced meat to add carbohydrates. She is 6 months old. I find her defecation is a bit slower than usual so I want to add zucchini to her diet. Thank you. I'd like to add I live in Egypt, so some of your recommendations I could not follow (such as the pumpkin seeds).

Make sure her diet is balanced. It sounds like she may not be getting enough calcium right now (unless she also gets the bones. But only raw bones, cooked bones splinter!). If you check out the raw and homecooked feeding subforum, you can get good advice about how to properly balance a cat diet.

Aren't raw bones a bit risky? Parasites and bacteria may set up shop in raw meat.

Is the meat you are giving her cooked or raw? You have to be careful that if she's eating a home made diet that she's getting all the nutrients she needs (calcium, taurine which drops to almost nothing in cooked food which is why manufacturers add it to their canned foods). Would you be happy giving her just a little canned food in addition to the home made as well as making sure her home made is balanced just to be sure? Cats can get very sick if they are deficient which a lot of them become on home made food (not all, you may have done all necessary research in which case fantastic )

Heidi Bedwani said:

 
She eats mostly meat (mackerel, sardines (once a week), chicken, minced meat, meat in general, cheese, yoghurt, and the occasional zucchini when she has constipation). She never ate dry food. I am against dry food, in general. Sometimes I add rice with the minced meat to add carbohydrates. She is 6 months old. I find her defecation is a bit slower than usual so I want to add zucchini to her diet. Thank you. I'd like to add I live in Egypt, so some of your recommendations I could not follow (such as the pumpkin seeds).

Click to expand...

Is this raw or cooked? The diet you are feeding doesn't seem like a complete balanced diet for a cat. It's likely missing some essential nutrients a cat needs. Please see these for how to make a balanced raw and home cooked diet:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/263955/helpful-resources-raw-home-cooked-cat-food-forum

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264154/raw-feeding-resources

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264153/home-cooked-cat-food-resources

Some of the recipes listed in the links above may have ingredients you can find in Egypt.