Found this one online while browsing for what cats shouldn’t eat. However I feel like this area is quite controversial and opinionated. Also feels like half the websites are written by AI and riddled with ads. So if anyone has a good source as to what cats should avoid then let me know.

Anyways, I found this nice illustration, but wanted to hear with you peeps whether you have any experience regarding these food items.

Also what’s your take on milk/sour milk for cats? My previous cat loved it so much, and she aged until she was 17 years old, and never seemed to have a problem with it. Also asked the vet at the time and she said it was OK. However every other website I visit tell to never give milk(dairy) to cats. So which is it? Does it just depend on the cat?

  • Kacarott@feddit.deEnglish
    111·
    10 months ago

    I’m not sure the sugar argument holds, plenty of animals naturally eat foods with sugar, and do not brush their teeth. Of course they don’t eat nearly as much sugar as a typical human, but that doesn’t mean that sugar should always be avoided.

    For cats specifically though I am not sure, maybe all sugar is bad, but I don’t think it’s because of teeth brushing.

    • FermiEstimate@lemmy.world
      6·
      10 months ago

      It’s worth noting that cats are unlikely to be able to perceive sweet tastes. So while sugar is not toxic to cats, there’s not really any benefit to letting them have it, even as a treat.

      On a related note, there’s a hypothesis that the mutation that caused them to lose the ability to taste sweet things in cat ancestors is what led to them becoming obligate carnivores, which is kind of interesting.

        • FermiEstimate@lemmy.world
          2·
          10 months ago

          Heh, I knew a cat that would go through a pan of unseasoned cauliflower if you weren’t careful. Maybe every cat is born knowing something they have no clear way of understanding, like how tasteless things are food or how to move in four dimensions or what electronics are.

          More seriously, the article I linked to suggests cats can taste things we can’t, so that’s a possibility.

          • xkforce@lemmy.world
            2·
            10 months ago

            It could also be she was just a different sort of cat. She had 7 toe beans per foot and was a blue eyed tortois shell. So her liking cantaloupe was probably the least weird thing about her

      • Nakedmole@lemmy.world
        1·
        10 months ago

        I heard and read several times now that cats can not taste sweetness and that sugar is bad for cats. At the same time most low to medium priced cat foods have added sugar. I find it confusing and wonder why manufacturers do that.

        • Perfide@reddthat.com
          2·
          10 months ago

          It’s filler. They can’t taste it, and it’s nutritionally void for them, but it’s still calories, and sugar is cheap.

          Edit:spelling

        • ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world
          21·
          10 months ago

          Because manufacturers only care about making something that’s just not poisonous enough to kill your pets.

          Hell some of them don’t even care about that when it comes to flea meds