Oatmeal is a healthy and nutritious meal for almost everyone – including your cat!
Oats have a lot of nutritional benefits for your kitty. They’re a good source of fiber, and antioxidants, plus they have a ton of vitamin E, B, zinc, and iron). A small amount of oatmeal can be a healthy treat for your precious feline if you want to spoil your kitty.
If you want to know more about what type of oatmeal is safe for your cat and what ingredients you should avoid adding to their breakfast, then you’re in luck. We’ve listed everything you need to know about how to serve up a delicious bowl of oatmeal for your favorite kitty.
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What Should You Feed Your Cat?
What Kind Of Oatmeal Can Cats Eat?
Oats are fantastic for cats and contain a lot of health benefits for them. Some dry cat food even include oats as an ingredient. This is one of the ways that you can introduce oats into your cat’s diet.
However, if you want to give your kitty oatmeal as an occasional treat, there are a few other ways to prepare it for them.
It’s fine to give your cat raw oats. While raw oats aren’t the ideal choice to feed your cat, it won’t do them any harm, and they will still reap the health benefits. Alternatively, you can grind raw oats and add them to wet cat food as a sprinkle.
Because raw oats can be quite dry, don’t be surprised if your cat turns its nose up at it. Dry, raw oats may not be that appealing to their palate. (Or mine.) If your cat isn’t keen on eating raw oats, you can also serve them a tasty dish of cooked oats.
While you can cook any type of oats for your cat, rolled oats may be more to your kitty’s taste. Steel-cut oats are usually firmer and harder to digest for your furry friend. Rolled oats are much softer, easier to digest, and have a creamier texture that your cat will probably love.
Can Cats Eat Quaker Oats?
Yup, your fuzzy fur baby can eat Quaker Oats. But if you’re using this brand of oats to treat your kitty every once in a while, there are some important facts to remember.
First of all, you should only feed your cat plain Quaker Oats. Oatmeal with flavoring, additives, and fruit can harm your cat’s health, so it’s best to steer clear of these varieties. Most flavored instant oatmeal also contains sugar and sweetener, which can make your cat sick.
Cats can’t digest sugar and sweetener in the same way that humans can. Your cat also can’t detect the sweet taste in food, believe it or not, so — unlike us — they couldn’t care less whether their oatmeal is “Peaches n Cream” flavor or not.
Even the “low sugar” Quaker Oats varieties aren’t a good idea, since they contain non-nutritive sweeteners like Stevia. While consuming Stevia isn’t fatal for your pet, it can lead to an upset stomach.
Other oatmeal brands that offer flavored or sweetened varieties may also use sweeteners like Xylitol, a natural sugar alcohol found in plants.
According to Sunnyview Animal Care Center, Xylitol is extremely toxic to cats. Even a very small amount of a very small amount of Xylitol can cause a sudden release of insulin resulting in low blood sugar-a condition known as hypoglycemia. This can cause liver failure, seizures, or even a coma.
But again, it’s fine to feed your cat any natural, unsweetened oatmeal.
Is Oatmeal Good For Cats’ Skin?
Not only can your cat eat oats, there are also tons of ways that they can benefit from the occasional bowl of oatmeal. Oats are one of the healthiest foods that your cat – and you – can eat.
- Oats contain plenty of zinc, which will give your cat a gorgeous, thick coat with a beautiful, healthy sheen. It can also improve their coat’s appearance by soothing itchy skin. Oatmeal can help your cat to stop scratching at irritated skin, which will stop them from matting up their fur.
- Oatmeal is also a good source of iron. Most cat owners aren’t aware that their precious kitties are highly susceptible to anemia! Enjoying a tasty bowl of oatmeal can help introduce more iron into your cat’s diet, which can help keep anemia symptoms at bay. It can also help to ease symptoms that your cat may already have.
- Oatmeal contains calcium, which is good for your cat’s teeth and bones. Oats are also a natural anti-inflammatory, so they can help to ease aches and pains in your aging cat’s joints. Aging cats and young kittens can also benefit from oatmeal.
- Oatmeal also has tons of vitamin B6. This vitamin helps to break food down into amino acids. Amino acids are the body’s building blocks and help with bodily processes and functions vital to your cat’s health.
- The manganese found in oats can also help control cholesterol in chunkier cats. It can help to aid digestion in cats with digestive issues. Although oatmeal is highly beneficial, you should only give it to your cat in limited amounts.
- A cat’s diet consists mainly of protein; your cat needs all of this protein to stay happy and healthy. I was surprised to discover that oatmeal is a fairly good source of protein. One cup.of cooked oatmeal has 6 grams of protein.However, it also contains carbohydrates. So you don’t want to replace your cat’s diet with oatmeal or else it can negatively impact your cat’s health.
How Do You Make Oatmeal For Cats?
As much as you may want to give your cat a delicious, creamy bowl of sugary oatmeal, just the way you like it, you need to be careful about what you put into it. It’s important to remember that you need to avoid adding extra ingredients like salt, sugar, butter, and milk.
Although your cat can tolerate small amounts of salt in its diet, it’s best not to add any additional salt to its food. Depending on the amount of salt your cat ingests, they cat can become dehydrated and display increased thirst and lethargy symptoms. If your cat consumes too much salt, it can lead to salt poisoning since it is toxic in large quantities.
It’s also a good idea to avoid brown sugar when serving oatmeal to your feline friend. Your cat can’t taste sweetness in food, so there is little point in adding it to their meal. Your cat also can’t process or digest sugar the same way that humans can.
You should also leave out the milk and butter when making oatmeal for your cat. Adult cats can have digestive issues when consuming too much dairy. They can also be lactose intolerant, which can cause diarrhea and vomiting if your cat consumes too much.
So now that you know what to avoid when making your pet a delicious bowl of oatmeal let’s get into how to make this tasty treat.
If you want to make a bowl of oatmeal as a meal replacement for your cat, you can start by boiling two liquid ounces of water. Once the water is boiling, you need to add 1/8th of a cup of oats to your water.
Stir the oatmeal occasionally and let it cook for around 25 minutes or until it’s soft. Then let it cool off and serve it to your cat. Just remember to give your cat oatmeal as an occasional treat and not as an everyday meal replacement.
Oat Tea
Alternatively, if you want to enhance your cat’s diet with the health benefits of oatmeal, you can try making oat tea! You can make oat tea by adding a cup of warm water to a tablespoon of raw oats. Leave the oats to steep in the water for around 20 minutes, then drain the water into a mug or container. Once the liquid has cooled, you can let your cat drink it or add it to their dry kibble.
Cat Grass with Oats
You can also give your cats the health benefits of oats by growing some cat grass.
Yes, despite the fact that cats are obligate carnivores, they like to munch on grass. It turns out that there is a type of grass (typically made of oats, barley, rye, and/or wheat) that looks like the grass in your front lawn, but instead is a grass designed just for cats, with antioxidants, chlorophyll, vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
You can quickly get your cat a nice patch of cat grass with these cat grass seeds that sprout within two weeks. You don’t need anything fancy to set it up — just soil and a plastic bin from the Dollar Store works just fine.
Cat grass is also a great solution for people whose cats insist on eating their house plants.
Is Rice Or Oatmeal Better For Cats?
Oatmeal makes a fantastic addition to your cat’s diet. It has tons of health benefits, and your cat will appreciate having variety in their diet. But can you feed your cat rice? And does it have the same benefits that oatmeal has?
Your cat can definitely eat rice — but it has no nutritional value for your cat. So if you choose to share some of your rice with your precious pet, it’s important not to give them too much. Although they may enjoy having a small amount of rice as a treat, you should only give it to them occasionally.
Rice is high in starch and carbohydrates. Because your cat’s diet is comprised mainly of protein, they shouldn’t be given carb-rich foods too often. A lot of carbohydrates can lead to weight gain (In humans as well as cats, I’m real sorry to say.) It can also raise your cat’s blood glucose, which can lead to feline diabetes and other health complications.
Can Cats Eat Oatmeal With Almond Milk?
Since your cat can’t – or shouldn’t – have too much cow’s milk in their diet, you may be wondering if you can use a dairy alternative to spruce up their oatmeal. Although you can use nut-based milk to add more taste to your cat’s meal, you should only give it to them in limited quantities.
In addition to limiting the amount of almond milk you give your cat, make sure that it doesn’t contain any additives, flavorings, sugar, or sweeteners, which could make your kitty sick.
Can Cats Eat Oatmeal With Sugar?
It may seem harmless to add a sprinkling of sugar onto the top of their oatmeal (after all, if you’re anything like me, that how you enjoy your oatmeal), but you may be causing your cat harm by doing so.
Cats can’t process or digest sugar the same way that you can. And even though you may enjoy the rich sweetness that sugar adds to your breakfast, it doesn’t mean you should feed it to your cats.
Plus, as I mentioned earlier, our cats aren’t even able to taste sweetness in their food. So even though you may think that you’re making their oatmeal even tastier, adding sugar to your cat’s food won’t make a bit of difference to them.
It’s best to avoid giving sugar to your cats in general. Even though it isn’t poisonous to cats (so it’s not a huge deal if they get a small lick), too much sugar can lead to elevated blood sugar levels and obesity. Of course we all want to keep our cats in good health so that they live a long and happy life, so it’s a really good idea to lay off sugar-heavy foods. (That probably goes for us as well as our cats.)
Can Cats Eat Oatmeal With Cinnamon?
Much like sugar and sweeteners, cinnamon is not toxic to your cat in small doses. However, your cat’s digestive system isn’t designed to process cinnamon. Although smaller quantities may not cause your cat to fall ill, cinnamon can build up in your cat’s system. Because their bodies can’t break it down, it stores in your cat’s digestive system and will accumulate over time.
Copious amounts of cinnamon can be extremely toxic and harmful to cats. So if you frequently give your cat a small amount of cinnamon, it may lead to toxicity after a long period. Similarly, your cat should stay away from excessive quantities of cinnamon.
If your cat has an accumulation of cinnamon enzymes in its body or has ingested too much at once, they can have health complications such as vomiting and diarrhea. It can also cause hacking or continual coughing, difficulty breathing, and an irregular heart rate. If you notice these symptoms, you should contact your local veterinarian immediately.
Although your cat may accidentally ingest a little cinnamon now and again, it’s important not to add it to their food. These symptoms can lead to organ damage and even failure when left untreated. It’s best to play it safe and give your cat plain oatmeal with no extra toppings or ingredients.
Can Cats Eat Oatmeal Cookies?
So if cats can eat oatmeal, they can have oatmeal cookies, right?
Well, the answer to this question is slightly more complicated than you may have guessed.
While your cat can eat oatmeal, they can’t have pre-made oatmeal cookies. Oatmeal cookies from the grocery store are usually laced with delicious ingredients like sugar, sweeteners, cinnamon, and other additives that make them a tasty snack for us humans — but these yummy ingredients are not good for your cats.
We’ve already gone over most of the harm that some of these ingredients can cause. So, to avoid your cat having an upset tummy or other complications, it’s best to keep their paws out of the cookie jar.
You can, however, make homemade oatmeal cookies for your cat. Just remember to avoid any ingredients that are unsafe or toxic to cats.
Petsmont has a recipe for oatmeal bars just for dogs and cats. It includes raw Manuka honey, rolled oats, and coconut oil (which helps give your cat a shiny coat).
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