A cat eating a chicken seems like something you might seen in the wild, but is this something that you can recreate in your home?
Compared to any vegetable or fruits you might think about giving them, raw chicken is not the worst thing they could have. You don’t want to get into a habit of giving them table scraps or cooking scraps, or anything else really unless it’s a cat treat that you got from the store. Cats have a tendency to get finicky if you start giving them foods that they prefer over their cat foods. Other cats won’t veer away from their cat food and you’ll have a tough time getting them to eat anything else. It’s all about the cat.
That being said, if you’re cat is begging for some of the chicken you’re eating, it’s best to avoid giving them any. If you are in the process of cooking chicken and have some raw bits left, you might consider letting them have some. But that that point it’s your choice, there is no great benefit in giving them any.
Can I Give My Cat Chicken? Answer: Raw, Now and Then
If you do decide to give your cat chicken, give it to them uncooked, and only a bit of it as a treat, not as a meal replacement. Your cat needs the balanced diet that they get from the cat food you feed them. Save the human food for us humans and give them the specially formulated stuff that you buy specifically for them. If you cut out all supplementing and put that extra savings into a high quality cat food, it’s better off for everyone involved.
Cat Treats Work Better
If you are thinking of giving them some chicken as a treat, you would be better off giving them a specially formulated cat treat instead. Many cats go nuts for catnip, and this would be better than giving them chicken. It’s all about keeping consistency with their diet as well. Their body should be pretty used to getting what it needs from the cat food, and any anomaly can send things into tizzy and make it hard for them to process.
In the Wild
If all humans were removed from the Earth today and your cat had to start making it on its own in the wild, some of the first things they’d probably be able to catch and eat would be a bird. That’s why it’s not the worst thing that you could give your cat, but their digestive system would have to get used to this new diet, and it wouldn’t be pretty to watch them try to pass it out the other end, and they might throw up a few times before they got used to it. You don’t want to replicate that in your home, so it’s best to just keep things on an even keel with their regular cat food.
It’s So Mundane
Feeding your cat the same thing every day can get really boring, and watching them eat it can make you wonder if they long for new taste sensations. But the trade off is that they get fed every day without having to do anything. Sure, their diet would be varied out in the wild due to the opportunistic way that they hunt, but they would have to go hungry for a few days in between their hunting missions, so there’s a little give and take going on here, and it’s not something you need to concern yourself with.
The need for variety in the diet is a human trait, and one that we’ve only developed because of our hunting and gathering ways of old. It might be said that we could get by on the same foods for every meal, every single day, but we don’t like that idea because we’re used to eating a variety of foods, and also because we view eating as one of the essential human experiences, and we don’t want to deprive ourselves of taste sensations, even if certain foods might not be the best thing for us.
So just keep your cat well fed and nourished with their own brand of food and skip the chicken.