Many cats love the taste of peanut butter, and many vets recommend its use in order to help pills go down.
But is it something that belongs in your cat’s daily menu, or is it toxic to them like other human foods are?
It’s not very fun playing the guessing game with what you feed your cat, and trial and error can lead to a mess if you cat has a bad reaction. It’s also not good for their internal system if you are giving them things to eat when not sure of the outcome.
Can I Give My Cat Peanut Butter? Not Recommended
There’s nothing in peanuts or peanut butter that cats need, so there’s is absolutely no reason to give it to them. Some cats have been known to get an upset stomach from peanut butter, and other cats are fine. But why risk it? Since there is nothing in it that is missing from your cat’s normal diet, there’s no reason to supplement their cat food with filler.
Cats as Animals
Part of domesticating a cat is that it becomes more and more like a human. But the fact is that they are still an animal, no matter how cute they are, or how much personality they show. When a cat is really smart, or funny, you tend to think of them more like they’re a person, and they might need things like peanut butter or other treats to make them happy.
But if your cat still has its claws then behind that cute face is a predator just waiting for a chance to chase down a bird or other varmit. They never lose that killer instinct, and that is actually what gets them to chase their favorite toy.
So when you give them things that don’t occur naturally out in the wild, you are really sending their digestive system a curve ball. Peanut butter is a man-made substance that smashes up peanuts, releasing their oils and making it like putty. Cats may look cute or funny when they get some stuck to the roof of their mouths and they try to lick it off, but after the fun is over now their stomach has to try to digest it.
Cat Food and Water
None of us would like to live with just a food and water dish filled with the same thing every day, but we’re not cats. They don’t live to eat like many people do, and for them food is just something they consume to get the energy they need to sleep all day.
Disrupting their normal eating cycle can have ill effects on both their mood and their physical health. You may find yourself going to the vet often in the future, not realizing that it was all the times you gave your cat table scraps and other human-based treats that they couldn’t process.
Even though a cat’s digestive system is faster than a human’s, they can still have the same problems of diarrhea, constipation, and indigestion, it just happens on a smaller time scale.
Things can still accumulate in their system, which leads to a lessening of their immune system, and will eventually show itself in other seemingly unrelated diseases.
What Cats Really Need
Cats are relying on you, the owner, to make all of the decisions as to what goes into their bodies. Sometimes it’s hard, because we love our cats and want them to be happy. If you are someone that enjoys food, you may find that you’re transferring this to your cat. Cats don’t enjoy food the same way people do. They aren’t able to pontificate on how well something tastes, or the vastness in its flavor, they just consume it.
Cats need a loving home, a dish of water, and another for food. Most cats will police themselves and only eat enough food to get them through the day. If you have a cat that is eating too much, or likes pretty much every sort of food you let them try, it’s best to restrict their intake to one specific type of cat food, and don’t deviate from it, or they might refuse to eat anything but people food.
My cat loves peanut butter so much he stuck his head in the jar when I had my back turned.
My cat will not eat treats at all. I have tried at least a dozen variations and she will not eat any. She is an orange tabby female and is 8 years old, in otherwise excellent health. My other two cats will eat any and all treats.
My Ista likes peanut butter, and I often make myself PBJ sandwiches. After making the sandwich, I generally put the butterknife with some PB left on it on the floor, on a paper towel, and she goes after it. I only use pure PB that I buy at Trader Joe’s, whose ingredients are “Peanuts, peanut oil”, and that’s it: no sugar, no salt, and so on.
I’ve never given my cat peanut butter, but it’s great that everyone else’s cat likes them!