Can cats eat crackers? You might have had this thought if your kitty begs when you grab a box of crackers from a kitchen cabinet for a quick and handy snack. If humans can eat crackers, can cats safely eat them too?
There is no short yes or no answer as to whether cats can eat crackers. Technically, most crackers might not necessarily be toxic to your cat or cause a major medical issue. But due to the higher levels of salt and fats in many processed crackers, they don’t really offer any health or nutritional benefits to your cat.
As always, you must ask your regular vet before sharing any human food with your beloved feline, including crackers. Here’s what you need to know about crackers and cats.
When Are Crackers Okay For Cats To Eat?
If you find that your cat shows an interest in a certain brand of crackers, the first thing you’ll want to do is look at the ingredients closely. This is to make sure that there are no extra added ingredients, especially garlic and spices, that could be toxic to your cat.
The fewer ingredients the better, and definitely do not feed your cat any crackers that are marketed as being on the spicier side.
Secondly, make sure that your cat only gets to sneak in one or two very small crackers. You might even want to break the crackers up for your cat too.
When Are Crackers Bad For Cats?
While the majority of ingredients that go into making crackers might not technically make your cat sick, there just isn’t enough nutritional value in crackers to make them a food that you should regularly feed to your cat.
First of all, many crackers have very high sodium and fat levels, both of which are not appropriate for a balanced diet for any cat.
Secondly, crackers are mostly carbohydrates, and as obligate carnivores, cats need a diet that is high in protein. If you feed your cat too many crackers, you could bring about a case of feline obesity, which in turn can result in many other damaging medical conditions.
Finally, it’s important to remember that feeding too much of any human food to a cat could eventually cause the feline to start rejecting their cat food in favor of human snacks. This could bring about other meal-based problems and complications further down the road.
So while you most likely won’t need to panic if you catch your cat sneaking in a tiny bite of a cracker, it’s not really a food you should consider feeding to any feline.
Does your cat ever try to get a bite of your crackers? Do you share any healthier human snacks with your cat? Tell us all about it in the comments section below!
