5,104 answers about cats
Cats keep their people guessing — why the 3 a.m. zoomies, what belongs in the bowl, when a vet visit can’t wait. This page gathers the cat library of KinsLe Answers in one place, organized by topic from feeding and litter to behavior, health and senior care. Every answer is original, written by KinsLe, and tied to a real KinsLe feature.
410 answers in Feeding & Nutrition — page 13 of 18
Yes, in a small amount: zucchini is one of the gentler vegetables for cats, served plain, lightly cooked, and chopped small. It is mild, watery, and low in calories, which is why some owners use a little as meal bulk for cats who always seem hungry. Keep that bulk modest, though, so the watery extra never crowds out…
Yes, in a small amount: plain cooked turnip, soft and mashed or chopped small, is generally safe for cats. Turnip is starchy and can cause gas in larger amounts, so a spoonful is the right scale, and raw turnip is too firm to serve comfortably. Keep that spoonful unseasoned and occasional, set against the meat-based…
Yes, only as a few plain cooked kernels, and never on the cob. A corn cob is a serious blockage hazard if a cat chews and swallows pieces of it, so kernels should be cut off and the cob put straight out of reach. Offer those few kernels as an occasional extra beside the usual complete food, then check the litter tray…
Radish is best avoided for cats. Its peppery bite can irritate a cat's mouth and stomach, and a cat who eats much of it may drool, vomit, or go off food for a while. Radish offers no benefit that a cat's own complete food does not already provide, so the salad vegetable can stay in the human bowl without the cat…
Quinoa is best limited to a tiny taste of plain, well-rinsed, cooked quinoa, and most cats do not need it at all. Rinsing before cooking removes the grain's bitter natural coating, and even then quinoa is a starchy food that offers an obligate carnivore little. Serve nothing seasoned or lifted from a salad, where…
Yes, in a small amount: plain pumpkin puree is generally safe for cats and is a well-known gentle source of fibre. The key word is plain; use pure pumpkin with nothing added, and never pumpkin pie filling, which carries sugar and spices a cat should not eat. A teaspoon mixed into food is a typical serving scale, and…
No, plums should be kept away from cats. The pit contains cyanide-related compounds and is a choking and blockage risk, and plum flesh is sugary enough to upset a small stomach even without the pit. There is no nutritional reason for an obligate carnivore to eat plum, so keep the fruit bowl out of reach and offer a…
Yes, if the broth is genuinely plain: no onion, no garlic, and low or no added salt, checked on the label or known from how it was made. Onion and garlic damage a cat's red blood cells, and straining a broth cooked with them does not make it safe, so any broth with unknown ingredients is a no. A spoonful or two over…
Yes, one tiny piece of fresh pineapple is an occasional taste most cats can try, and many will refuse it anyway. Cut away all skin and the hard core, serve fresh fruit only, and never offer canned pineapple, which sits in syrup and adds sugar a cat does not need. Pineapple is acidic, so a single small cube is the…
Yes, a few peas are fine for most cats as an occasional extra, not a meal. Offer them plain, thawed from frozen or lightly cooked until soft, then crushed or mashed flat so a whole round pea does not roll away or get gulped down, and never offer the pod, which is fibrous and awkward to chew. Peas add a little fibre…
Pasta is not recommended as a cat treat, and the answer leans negative, because a small piece of plain cooked pasta is unlikely to harm a healthy cat, yet it delivers starch and calories with no nutritional need behind them, so there is no good reason to offer it. Sauces are the real hazard, and pasta served with a…
Yes, in a small amount, provided the parsnip is cooked until soft and served plain, so peel and wash the root, cook it with nothing added, and offer about a spoonful of the soft flesh, mashed or cut small. Raw parsnip is too hard and fibrous for a cat to manage, and roast parsnip from a family tray usually carries…
Yes, in a very small amount, provided only ripe flesh is served, so choose a papaya that is ripe and soft, remove the skin and every seed, and offer a single small cube of the orange flesh as an occasional treat. Seeds and skin must never be served, and unripe papaya should be kept away entirely, because its milky sap…
Only as a teaspoon-scale taste, and only plain kefir, if your cat tolerates dairy, because fermentation lowers the lactose compared with milk, yet kefir is still dairy, so a cat who reacts to lactose can still end up with loose stool or gas. Serve about a teaspoon of plain, unsweetened kefir on its own, never a…
Only in tiny cooked amounts, and many cats can skip kale altogether, so serve a small piece of kale cooked plainly and chopped finely, never a raw leaf or a kale smoothie, and keep servings rare rather than routine. Cats with a urinary or kidney history should not be offered kale until you ask the vet first, because…
Honey is not recommended for cats, and the answer leans firmly negative, because it is concentrated sugar with no nutritional value for a meat-eating cat, and that sugar works against healthy teeth and weight while the sticky texture coats the mouth and fur. Raw honey deserves extra caution and should not be offered…
Yes, in a small amount, because green peas are a familiar ingredient in cat foods and suit most cats as a minor extra, provided they are served thawed or lightly cooked and lightly crushed for smaller mouths. Offer a few peas at a time, shelled from the pod, plain and without butter, salt or sauces, remembering that…
Yes, in a tiny amount, provided the pepper is a mild green bell pepper prepared plainly, washed with the seeds and stem removed and a small piece chopped finely, because cats handle pepper as a curiosity rather than a food they need. Expect indifference, since the grassy, slightly bitter taste holds little appeal for…
Check in order, starting with the food itself: open a fresh bag, because stored food can go stale, and check whether the bowl, its spot, or the routine changed. Next, consider the mouth, since sore teeth or gums are a common hidden reason a cat walks away from food it liked for years, and an older cat's fading sense…
Only with caution, and only in small amounts, because goat milk still contains lactose, and having less lactose than cow's milk does not make it lactose-free. Many adult cats therefore digest it poorly and end up with loose stool or gas. It also adds calories without supplying anything a complete diet lacks and should…
Yes, provided the minnows are a plain, single-ingredient pet treat with nothing added, because whole small fish suit a cat's natural diet and freeze-drying keeps that simple profile without cooking oils or coatings. Offer one or two at a time as a treat, introduce them on their own, and store the packet dry and sealed…
Treat figs as a caution item and keep them off the regular treat list, because fig sap and fruit can irritate a cat's mouth, skin and stomach, producing drooling, pawing at the mouth or stomach upset, and the sugar in the fruit serves a meat-eating cat no purpose. Ripe flesh in small amounts at most is the outer limit…
Yes, in a small amount: plain cooked sweet potato, mashed or cubed small, is generally safe for cats. A spoonful brings gentle fibre and is sometimes mixed into food for that reason, but it must be served completely plain, with no sugar, spice, or marshmallow-style toppings. Cooking matters here, because raw sweet…
Yes, in a small amount, provided the rabbit is plain cooked meat only, served skinless with any fat trimmed away, because rabbit is lean and suits a meat-eating cat well, but its fine bones demand careful deboning and cooked bones must never be offered, since small rabbit bones splinter readily. Cook the meat through…
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