Your cat may be looking like they’re keen to try some molasses, but should you let them? A cat makes a very loving, if complicated pet.
Knowing what to feed it can be tricky.
Unfortunately, this means that most if not all processed foods are considered unsafe for both cats and dogs. This however does not stop some pet owners from feeding their pets scraps from their table – whether it is safe for them to eat or not.
This leads to many visits to the local veterinarian as the pet’s health becomes much worse.
Anyone who wishes for their pets to be as healthy as they can possibly be is in for a rough time, as there is plenty to watch out for.
A cat is a complicated animal due to its simple digestive system, and it is very easy to make a big mistake regarding what it is fed. A good example would be molasses.
This kind of honey, which comes from the sugar cane is generally considered very healthy to people and can even heal certain ailments.
Can I Give My Cat Molasses? Answer: No
While molasses is generally considered a healthy type of sugar, the opposite is true when it comes to cats.
Cats are capable of producing insulin, which means that they can break down sugar – but they were not meant to break sugars down the way humans can. Cats are able to tolerate sugars like molasses, but only very small amounts.
What it boils down to: this kind of sugar is considered unsafe for cats.
What makes this more complicated is the fact that cats love the taste of sugar, almost the same way humans do. They will lap the molasses up as quickly as you can feed it to them, which can mean very bad news.
Sugar Tolerance of Cats Compared to Humans
When compared to other kinds of foods that are toxic to cats such as chocolate or garlic and chives, sugar is not nearly as lethal.
This is due to the fact that unlike those foods, cats can break down simple sugars very much like humans can. The difference lies in how much sugar it can break down. The body of a cat was not made to take the processed food and sugars a human being can.
Due to the complicated digestive system of the human body, it is able to break down sugars in levels far beyond what a cat can.
What this means is that even a little bit of sugar can be unhealthy for your furry feline and must be avoided whenever possible.
All Sugars are Equally Harmful
Molasses isn’t the only kind of sugar you need to watch out for when it comes to what is unsafe for your cat to eat.
There are plenty of different kinds of sugar, which are equally harmful (if not more so) to your pet. This includes sugars such as corn sweetener, beet sugar, brown sugar, sucrose, maple syrup, honey, and barley malt among other things.
While there are varying degrees of harm depending on the sugar, these are all considered unsafe for your cat. No one is stopping anyone from feeding their cat these kinds of sugars if they wish, but the consequences can be severe if habits are formed.
Consequences of Too Much Sugar
If a person consumes too much sugar over the course of many years, diabetes mellitus is likely to develop.
This can be a completely debilitating disease affecting a person’s insulin production, which can be very expensive to treat and could have been completely avoided had the person not consumed so much sugar. The same thing can happen to your cat – though it can happen much quicker.
If a cat consumes too much sugar it will inevitably develop diabetes mellitus.
While it might not seem completely unsafe to some pet owners, the sugar tolerance of a cat is far below the tolerance of a person. This means that it can only take a habit of being fed sugary treats over a few weeks for cats to begin to show effects of developing diabetes – and perhaps much worse.
Help your cat stay healthy by avoiding sugars as much as possible and making sure that it gets the proper nutrition it deserves.
Princess is not eating. She suffered severe constipation and had to be evacuated twice earlier this year. The vet gave her medication but she has lost her hearty appetite. I have been feeding her via a dropper. What can be done?
Our Maine Coon cat has a redundant colon (an extra loop) and consequently gets plugged up easily. Our vet has him on lactulose (basically the lactose that people with milk sensitivities have to avoid because it causes diarrhea etc). It helps him tremendously.
Usually he will be off feed if he is or is getting constipated or if he strains in the litter pan. Maybe your cat is feeling bloated or constipated and doesn’t want to eat because it makes her feel worse. Try the lactulose. It’s a liquid that we give our cat by syringe to his mouth once a day (about 2-3cc depending on your cat’s weight).
Try meat (or apple), Gerber baby food to replenish a hearty appetite and ease digestion. I am a feline fan and owner, with a kitty who seemed just like your Princess until I fed her Gerber baby food (started with chicken and then beef) for a week, one tablespoon, 3xday. And I recently read applesauce apple (baby food), is good for cats too (Vit. A, C, and antioxidants).
My cat just tried a few grams of molasses from the dinner table. Is is safe?
Cane molasses is the 9th ingredient in a relatively new and seemingly reputable commercial canned cat food. I can provide the manufacturer but I trust it would not make any difference. Can you tell me why cane molasses would be in canned cat food (other than to entice the cat to eat it) and confirm that this is not a good thing, based on what you have written above? My cat seems to love this cat food, but I do not want to do any harm to her. Thank you!
I just read your this article looking up molasses for a cat out of curiosity. A little bit of molasses, quarter of a teaspoon even a half a teaspoon is not going to hurt your cat in fact it will give it much needed b vitamins plus iron. Cats need iron. If you have an anemic cat you can give it a half a teaspoon molasses a day. Molasses does not have as much sugar as corn syrup does if you look at all of the vitamins out there for cats, nutri-cal, the hairball remedies, they all have corn syrup, and what is corn syrup? it is pure sugar. I have given rehabilitating cats molasses with no problems at all. Just as with everything you don’t overdo it I would not give them more than a half a teaspoon a week.