I know we shouldn't feed our beloved cats human foods just because their digestive system and dietary needs are different than humans, but we just can't resist sneaking them a morsel from time to time ... right? Come on ... we know you do!
Snowball (girl) loves bread, and chips.
Dotsie (girl) loves white cheddar popcorn, tuna juice (not the meat), whiskas treat cups, and milk.
Casey (boy) loves Temptations catnip treats, white cheddar popcorn, and milk.
Button (boy) loves Temptations catnip treats, white cheddar popcorn, and tuna.
All of them will occasionally nipple at other things, but those are the staples they will also eat. The boys will also eat meat (chicken mostly).
Of course, they all hover around ice cream and yogurt, even though they won't eat them. Go figure.
Well, I think it depends on what human foods you are talking about, as for being bad for them. I have always given my cats bits of meat. I think the favorite around here is sliced deli turkey, preferably unsmoked. They also love canned tuna, though I tend to go light on taggart add most of it is full of sodium. My wife had a cat that loved the tuna water as well when we met. My mother has a cat that likes roasted garlic.
White cheddar popcorn though, that's odd
I can't remember which way it went ... chocolate is bad (potentially fatal) for dogs but alright for cats ... or vice versa ?
When Dot had her pyometria last August, I did some research and learned that too much dairy can mess with a cat's system. I forgot all the specifics now. But we now limit how much milk Dot gets (well, all the cats, but her especially). She was getting a dollar coin sized puddle every Sunday and Wednesday ... but now it's just every other Sunday.
Yeah, well, I think I have the oddest cats LOL. Tom's White Cheddar popcorn ... $1 at Walmart. My cats love it ... as do I (and it's good for my diabetes).
hehehe
I also read on some forum somewhere during my research that cats will eat whatever human food that contains whatever they intuitively need nutrition wise ... such as from leafy greens, meats, etc. I'm guessing our cat foods are not all cracked up at the say they are ??
My female Bengal cat loves pizza. I'll slip her a pepperoni with some cheese on it occasionally. She also loves ice cream and hot dogs. Actually, I think she'd eat most meat.
My male Tonkinese loves fruit, which isn't a bad thing. He's crazy for apples and oranges. He loves grapes, but I found out that grapes are toxic to cats, so he can't have them anymore. He'll eat meat too.
The only thing my DSH is interested in is cheese.
Huh, a cat that likes spicy pepperoni ... does she need a Tums chaser afterwards? *wink* Just kiddin' hehe
I did not know that about grapes. Thankfully, none of my cats favor them. They like their food cut up into tiny dainty chunks. *rolls eyes*
beyre, you crack me up! ;-)
She doesn't need a tums, but *I* sure do after anything spicy!!!
A funny story about her when she was just a wee li'l kitten: I was eating hot soup, and being the impolite girl that she is, she helped herself to a taste. She apparently was very angry at the soup as it must have burned her mouth because she whacked the bowl with her paw, hitting the spoon, & I got to wear some of the hot soup! Thank you very much - NOT!
I had a beloved cat (only lived 7 years before dying of kidney failure) who loved jello, marshmallows, pudding, anything sweet! She was wacky in a lot of ways.
I try not to give my cat a lot of "human" food, but occasionally I will slip him a small piece of meat when I am cooking, or I will put a bit of the gravy on his dry food. He also likes Doritos - though I don't purposely give them to him, if the kids are not paying attention, he will lick all the cheese off of the Doritos.
*chuckles* This has turned out to be a fun thread. I had some white cheddar popcorn last night and I got up to use the bathroom. I came back to Dotsie licking her chops and a few pieces on the table in front of her. The bowl wasn't tipped over or nothing. She just pawed a few pieces out of the bowl and onto the table top. Smart kitty.
It's a funny thing because one of our cats (Max) dislikes human food, except for a lick of butter on bread, but the other one (Batman) loves every single human food out there, mostly meat, dairy and bread.
Batman is absolutely adorable when he yearns for human food. Sneezing usually prevents him from being rude, but he's usually a good boy, except when I cook.
Sometimes, he is on the counter bothering me when I'm cutting up chicken and other times he is sitting on the top of the fridge watching me cook. He's a great guy, though.
In the end, we try to avoid giving Batman any human food because he should only be eating cat food (am I right?).
The dichotomy between the two cats is amazing: one yearns for cat food and the other yearns for human food.
I don't think clean, unsalted (or at least very lightly salted) meat, without much for chemicals can be bad for a cat. I've given it to cats my whole life, and I've pretty much adopted my mothers feeding strategy, and almost every cat either of us has ever cared for has lived to at least 14 years, a few over 20. I do go light on any dairy products, as too much seems to give some cats diarrhea. And I try to avoid odd human foods, junk foods, etc... Cats digestive systems and organs aren't really designed to handle processed grains, sugars, and the like. Allot of that can cause renal failure in most carnivorous animals, as the kidneys aren't designed to remove glucose from the blood.
I have never fed any of my cats, human food except mix the wet food with soft rice. However, it is interesting to read some of the comments here. Cheddar popcorn - hehe - my favourite but I don't think I'll share them with my cats!
My cats don't usually bother me when I am eating. Unless I am having fried salted fish. Then I have to give them their share first. Otherwise I won't have any peace to eat mine.
I love reading everyone's answers. It's amazing how different cat personalities are!
With one of my cats, she used to eat human food like mad, now she rarely does (except for bread, crackers, potato chips). Silly cat.
I can't remember where I heard it recently (within the last few months), but I heard that cats wanting human food means that they are missing something in their cat food diet that they need at the moment and are getting it from whatever human food they choose to eat at that time. *shrugs* Not sure how true that it.
(06-08-2012, 01:32 AM)beyre Wrote: [ -> ]I can't remember which way it went ... chocolate is bad (potentially fatal) for dogs but alright for cats ... or vice versa ?
Chocolate is actually bad for both dogs and cats, as well as birds. That makes me glad to be a human!
(Not that it's really good for us, either, but all things in moderation and all that).
I've always given my cats occasional bits of meat. They especially like ham, though I limit that due to the salt content. I used to have a cat who loved grapes, believe it or not! My bird gets bits of fruit and vegetable if he wants them, though he usually turns his beak up at them.
I remembered something ... the one girl, Snowie ... she'll get all excited (as with the other cats also) at the sound a tuna cans opening ... or even their wet cat food. But when you set it down for them to eat .. she will sniff and then walk away. I'm like - why get all excited if you are not going to eat any? She does this all the time. Monkey-see, monkey-do with her.
It's funny that you say your kitty loves cheddar popcorn, because mine is absolutely obsessed with cheddar flavored rice cakes. The thing is, she doesn't even eat the rice cake part... she just licks all of the cheese dust off of the chip, and then abandons it. I like giving it to her though, because it's a good treat -- it's really just powder, much more taste than substance, so I feel like it's not as bad for her as other human foods I could be giving her.
My cat basically loves anything salty, but she won't eat sweet food -- she doesn't even try. She likes bread, soup broth, butter, and as I recently discovered, tuna (though I should have known that)... I was making tuna salad the other day and I gave her a bit of the tuna straight out of the can, and she liked it so much that she literally started suckling my finger because the taste was still there.
I just discovered our tonk likes yellow rice and pulled pork! And strangely he ate the bites of rice before he ate the pork. We had another cat that loved coconut custard pie! And when I was little our cart liked soda. If she found a cup on a table she'd knock it over and lap it up. My mom named her pepsi!
My Bengal made me laugh last night. We were having hot dogs on the grill. She has really taken a huge liking to hot dogs this summer. So the hubby brought in the hot dogs and was eating his, but I decided I wanted to eat my salad first. So she came hurrying over to get some hot dog pieces, looked in my salad bowl and sniffed around a bit. She didn't like what was in there and looked a little perplexed while deep sniffing at the air - she KNEW there were hot dogs, but couldn't figure out WHERE! LOL!!!
My cat also likes hot dogs and kielbasa. The only non meat item she likes is cheese. It's interesting that some people's cats eat non meat things like popcorn. My cat is only interested in meat, so our side dishes are safe.
Yogurt and coffee. Yep my cat is weird and if I don't stay next to my Mug or my bowl of yogurt, all I can see is my cat's big Toochie , his head being inside the bowl/mug, enjoying his favorite food...
My Bengal will only eat meat on occasion. My DSH won't usually eat meat (I discovered he likes freshly cooked turkey last Thanksgiving though) or anything other than cheese. The Tonkinese eats fruit and meat. I've never had a cat that loves fruit before. He's crazy about apples and will even eat citrus fruit. All cats I've ever seen scrunch their noses up, shut their eyes tight and back away from citrus. Not my Tonk!
Oh yogurt - yes, my DSH likes yogurt too! I forgot about that! Coffee though? Now that is weird! My Tonk tries to get some lick off of the beer bottles though - bad kitty!
(07-19-2012, 08:47 AM)Laura Wrote: [ -> ]Yogurt and coffee. Yep my cat is weird and if I don't stay next to my Mug or my bowl of yogurt, all I can see is my cat's big Toochie , his head being inside the bowl/mug, enjoying his favorite food...
I'm a caffeine addict and drink a LOT of coffee so if your cat visited with me for a day, he would have quite a caffeine buzz and you would have to talk him down from the ceiling fan. Thank God my cat Dolores doesn't like coffee.
(07-20-2012, 01:49 PM)ACSAPA Wrote: [ -> ] (07-19-2012, 08:47 AM)Laura Wrote: [ -> ]Yogurt and coffee. Yep my cat is weird and if I don't stay next to my Mug or my bowl of yogurt, all I can see is my cat's big Toochie , his head being inside the bowl/mug, enjoying his favorite food...
I'm a caffeine addict and drink a LOT of coffee so if your cat visited with me for a day, he would have quite a caffeine buzz and you would have to talk him down from the ceiling fan. Thank God my cat Dolores doesn't like coffee.
If my bad tempered cat goes to your house and drinks too much coffee, I swear you will have to kip him for a week (until he falls from the ceiling by himself)
no I'm joking, coffee seems to make him happy, he would probably the nicest he has ever been
(07-01-2012, 12:41 AM)purplecapricorn Wrote: [ -> ]I just discovered our tonk likes yellow rice and pulled pork! And strangely he ate the bites of rice before he ate the pork. We had another cat that loved coconut custard pie! And when I was little our cart liked soda. If she found a cup on a table she'd knock it over and lap it up. My mom named her pepsi!
I've never heard of a cat that likes soda or coconut custard pie. That's so funny. I thought my cat was weird for liking cheese but you guys have some seriously gourmet cats with refined palates.
Awkward thing about my cat is if you give it rice - like, plain, cooked rice - she just loves it. I don't even know why. I mean, rice is tasteless - and she just loves to gobble it up.