What cereals can be given to cats?
Not all types of cereals are approved for consumption by cats, so before creating a diet, you need to figure out which cereals can be given to cats and which cannot? Among those useful for the cat's body are oatmeal, rice, buckwheat and barley groats.
Not all cereals can be given to cats
Cats are very capricious animals and it will be quite difficult to force them to eat porridge, so you still need to figure out how to lure the animal to such an unusual dish for them.
Buckwheat
The owner, before creating a diet for his pet, wonders whether a cat can eat buckwheat at all and will he eat it? It contains many components necessary for the body: proteins, carbohydrates, fiber, which can be converted into energy, as well as iron and calcium. Buckwheat porridge is especially important for a cat, because it contributes to its full development.
Must remember! For a kitten, porridge is prepared with milk with the addition of a small piece of butter, and for an adult animal - with broth.
Rice
Is it possible to give buckwheat to kittens and cats have figured it out, but what about rice cereal? The question is very serious, because it takes a lot of time to digest rice, but its benefits for the animal’s body are very great. Cereals contain many useful substances, but experts recommend introducing unpolished rice into the diet; it is more beneficial than regular rice.
Rice porridge must be prepared in vegetable broth, and when feeding an animal, mixed with meat or vegetables.
Rice porridge is very healthy for cats
Oatmeal
Oatmeal must be included in the diet. It is well absorbed by the body and cleanses the intestines. In addition, rolled oats are useful for both small kittens and adults. It contains many vitamins and mineral salts.
Some owners prefer to mix oatmeal with ready-made liquid food, but this should not be done. It is better to combine it with pieces of boiled meat, such as chicken, or with vegetables.
Advice! It is recommended to cook porridge for kittens in milk or steam it.
Barley porridge
This category includes pearl barley porridge and egg, which contain the most vitamins D, E, A, B and PP, as well as such important elements as iron, selenium, potassium, strontium, copper and manganese. Cats should be given barley and barley no more than 2 times a week and only if there is no gluten intolerance. Barley porridge is important for kittens for bone growth, and for adults it is necessary for the proper functioning of the digestive tract.
Porridges prohibited for cats
What kind of porridge can be given to kittens and adult cats, and how many times a day is already clear. But what cereals are prohibited? First of all, it is necessary to exclude instant cereals. They contain a large amount of sugar, which is harmful to the cat's stomach, and some types of cereals are simply not absorbed by the body.
Corn grits
What cereals can be given to dogs: is it possible to give porridge?
It does not cause much harm, because it contains many vitamins and beneficial elements, but it should not be abused. Corn porridge contributes to constipation and flatulence, and problems with the pet’s health may arise due to the fact that it is poorly absorbed by the body.
Semolina
Semolina porridge for cats, prepared with milk, according to most owners, is simply necessary for the younger generation. But this opinion is erroneous, because according to the latest research, semolina is pure starch and there is nothing useful in its composition.
Important! Semolina contains gluten, which is difficult for the stomach to process and takes a very long time to digest.
Millet porridge
Although it is considered useful with a large content of necessary elements, there are more disadvantages in its use than advantages. Millet porridge is poorly digested and often leads to bloating in kittens and adult cats. It is forbidden to give millet to those cats that are intolerant to gluten, and it is present in the cereal.
Millet is a forbidden porridge
Pea porridge
Just like corn grits, peas are not digestible by the animal’s body. You won’t be able to get anything other than vegetable sugar from peas. In most cases, pea porridge leads to constipation and flatulence.
Is there any benefit
Rice for cats is one of the few grains that is painlessly digested and absorbed. And it can really help relieve your pet's gastrointestinal upset. Dry food and foods high in starch, as well as foods rich in carbohydrates, are not suitable for cats. They won’t help, and will even cause constipation or worsen intestinal upset.
According to the Merck Veterinary Manual (USA), rice in cat food is a natural product that is beneficial for digestion.
A variety of cereals should be included in your cat’s diet. For example, the cereal from which they can be cooked contains many useful components, minerals and vitamins. Cereal supplies the body with:
Frequency of feeding the animal with cereals
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After you have figured out which grains can be given to cats and which cannot, you need to understand how often it is given to your pet. If you do not adhere to certain dietary rules, then even the most harmless porridge can create many problems for the body.
Here's what you need to know:
- Porridge is allowed to be given no more than twice a week. This will be enough to take the required amount of vitamins and beneficial microelements from the cereals.
- If the animal is bottle-fed, it is prohibited to give cereal and dry food at the same time. The minimum gap between meals should be at least 6 hours.
- You cannot suddenly switch an animal from one type of food to another; this must be done gradually and in small portions.
- If you need to switch your cat to diet food for health reasons, then you should add meat, fish and vegetables to the porridge to saturate the natural food with nutrients.
- Pregnant and lactating cats need to boil porridge with milk as much as possible. This makes them easier and faster to digest.
- Milk porridge should not be given to kittens after one year. They need to be switched to porridge with meat, fish or vegetables.
- There should be the largest amount of offal in the diet, a little less porridge, it is also important to include greens, fats and vitamins.
- It is forbidden to put various seasonings in porridge, only salt in small quantities.
Proper nutrition is the key to a healthy pet
Precautions and possible harm
Cats are predators. For normal functioning, they require a large amount of protein, and need very little carbohydrates. Rice puts a strain on the pancreas and liver, and if consumed in excess, causes disruption in the functioning of these organs.
An excess of grains in the body leads to a lack of nutrients and deterioration of the pet’s health. The cat will grow old faster and die.
If there is too much rice in a kitten's diet, it will grow up underdeveloped, weak, and sickly.
In addition, animals that regularly consume porridge suffer from a lack of essential amino acids. Some veterinarians consider rice to be an empty product, useless for cats.
Cats eat grains to fill their empty stomachs. Due to a lack of nutrients, the animal may eat too much, trying to replenish the reserves of necessary micro- and macroelements. Because of this, weight gain and obesity are observed.
Cooking porridge
In addition to finding out what kind of porridge can be given to cats, you also need to figure out how to prepare it correctly? It is recommended to cook it in meat broth for as long as possible so that it is thoroughly boiled. It is important to consider the proportions so that the porridge is not thick, but more viscous.
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When cooking cereals, it is forbidden to add spices or sugar; you can only add a little salt. Cats still cannot distinguish the taste of spices, and they only bring harm to the animal’s body.
Advice! It is recommended to mix porridge with fish or meat. But fish should be given no more than twice a week. It is advisable to choose boneless and non-greasy.
Below are several simple and healthy recipes for making porridge for cats of different breeds, including Scottish.
Porridge with vegetables
For cooking you can use rice, buckwheat or pearl barley. You will also need 1 boiled carrot and finely chopped chicken meat. All ingredients are thoroughly mixed and served to your pet.
Rice porridge with salmon
Boil the rice until cooked and has a sticky consistency. Add some finely chopped fish and hard-boiled eggs to the porridge.
Rice porridge with salmon
Porridge with broccoli and chicken
You can use any cereal. Boil it in chicken broth until tender. Separately, steam the broccoli and then chop it. Mix all ingredients well.
Beef liver porridge
Boil the cereal until tender, add a pinch of green peas, a few pieces of boiled meat and a little vegetable oil. The animal will definitely appreciate the prepared dish.
If you follow these recipes, you can quickly accustom your pet to proper and healthy food, rich in vitamins and microelements.
The dangers of raw rice
Why should only boiled rice go into a cat’s bowl? In fact, this requirement is connected not only with the taste of boiled grain. Eating raw rice may cause certain problems:
If such symptoms persist for 24 hours, then the pet needs emergency veterinary care.
It’s not for nothing that rice is so popular all over the world. Its benefits have been proven, and many industrial feed manufacturers include the product in their diets. The same can be done by the owner who feeds the pet with natural products. The main thing is to observe moderation and not forget about the peculiarities of preparing cereals.
Food for spayed or neutered cats
This category of animals is prohibited from feeding cereals that can cause obesity. These include corn, barley, semolina and wheat. Their consumption can also contribute to the development of urolithiasis.
Also, after surgery, cats and kittens are prohibited from eating fish and adding it to porridge. It is allowed to add boiled lean meat, such as chicken.
Important! Proper nutrition of castrated and sterilized cats will help avoid negative consequences and health problems.
How to choose the right menu
Since cats are predatory animals, they need to be fed accordingly. More than half of their diet should be meat. It could be turkey, chicken, beef. It is better to boil and twist the meat. Raw meat should not be fed to avoid the possibility of helminth infection. If you think that your cat is still a predator and should receive raw meat in its diet, then it can and should be frozen before consumption. Then defrost and, already defrosted, add it to your pussy’s menu.
Age at which kittens are allowed to eat porridge
It is allowed to introduce porridge into the diet of kittens from one month, and this should be done gradually and in small portions. It is recommended to give dairy products only up to a year, after which the pet should be switched to full adult food.
It is recommended to give milk porridge to pregnant cats to saturate the body with calcium, the supply of which is very important during this period.
Adult cats and male cats need to cook cereals in water or broth.
Feeding kittens with cereals
Compatibility of porridge with ready-made food
Experts prohibit mixing natural food and feed, because it is harmful to the health of pets. Since cats do not have very developed taste buds, they do not distinguish taste well, and constant changes in food can cause digestive upset.
If a kitten has been fed industrial food since birth, it is not recommended to switch it to cereal, because the food also contains a lot of useful vitamins and microelements necessary for health. And adding cereals to your diet can lead to severe gastrointestinal upset.
Is it possible to give porridge along with meat?
This not only can be done, but also necessary. It is recommended to add meat to buckwheat, rice and barley porridge. They also add a small piece of butter, either vegetable or butter.
As for oatmeal, it is recommended to mix it with vegetables, for example, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, beets, zucchini and others.
Mixing porridge and fish
You can and should mix porridge with fish, but you should take into account some recommendations:
- give fish in small portions and no more than once a week;
- You should give preference to mentai, hake, salmon or halibut;
- It is forbidden to give raw fish, but only boiled fish, this way all harmful microorganisms are killed;
- it is necessary to carefully separate the fish from the bone;
- There is no need to salt the fish during cooking.
Thus, if all recommendations are followed, the animal will receive a maximum of vitamins and beneficial microelements necessary for proper and healthy nutrition.
Correct selection of diet
- Surely every cat owner knows that his pet, due to its natural characteristics, is classified as a predatory mammal. This is true even when it comes to domesticated pets. The basis of the basic diet is fish and meat, about 60% and even more are allocated to them. Preference is given to beef, turkey, chicken and other low-fat varieties.
- It is forbidden to treat your pet to a raw meat product. It must be scalded, or even better, boiled. It would also be a good idea to grind it into minced meat or finely chop it. If the animal does not like boiled food, then the meat is first thoroughly frozen, then defrosted and scalded with boiling water. This partially eliminates the possibility of helminth infection.
