Can Cats Eat Spinach?

Cats and Raw Spinach

Needless to say, spinach is a healthy vegetable for humans. But does it mean that it is healthy for your cat as well? Are there nutritional benefits that your cat stands to gain from eating spinach? Can cats eat spinach?

The answer is yes. Cats can eat spinach. You just need to ensure that you feed it in portions and that the spinach is washed before begin fed to the cat. Even as you feed your cat on the spinach, remember to do so in moderation. Cats are carnivorous animals and mostly thrive on meat. Vegetables and fruits should as such be given as healthy treats in place of cookies and biscuits. Do not be tempted to make spinach your cat’s main diet. Doing so will lead to the development of health issues.

It is important to note that if your cat is suffering from kidney or urinary problems, or it has a highly sensitive digestive system, you should avoid feeding it spinach. This is because the leaves feature oxalates which could potentially lead to bladder stones developing in the urinary tract of your feline.

More About Spinach

Spinach is a vegetable. Its roots are traced back to Persia. It spread throughout Europe and the rest of the world in the 12^th century. Aside from being low in cholesterol, spinach also comes with other nutritional benefits. It is rich in minerals and vitamins. Spinach are rich in vitamin E, vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin C and vitamin K. in addition to these, it also contains manganese, calcium, iron, potassium and magnesium. It contains a moderate amount of fibre.

As above mentioned, spinach also is rich in oxalate.

Now, to humans, spinach is a healthy food source. But can this be said for cats? Since their digestive system is different from that of humans, can they reap the benefits humans do from spinach?

Benefits of Spinach to Cats

We have already answered the question, can cats eat spinach. Now let’s have a look at some of the benefits (if any), that cats stand to obtain from spinach.

Healthy Body

For humans, one of the main health benefits is reducing the blood pressure, maintaining healthy bones, reducing inflammation and improving the body’s control of glucose in diabetic individuals. In addition to these, it works to help lower chances of developing cancer and asthma. Being a healthy vegetable, it does not come as a shock that you may want to share it with your feline in the hope that it extracts the same health benefits.

If you are contemplating feeding your cat on spinach, you can go ahead and do so without the worry of developing bad side effects. Just like it is great for humans, spinach is also great for your cat too.

Minerals and Vitamins

The minerals and vitamins in the spinach will help to control the movement of stool in your cat’s body. It also will help to protect your cat’s digestive system from inflammation. The nutrients will work to give your feline’s immune system a major boost and reduce the ageing effects. In the event your cat is adding weight in a shocking rate and is headed to being overweight or obese, adding some spinach to the diet will help it remain lean (maintain a healthy weight).

The health benefits of spinach are numerous. But aside from that, replacing other sugary snacks like cookies for spinach translates into a healthier diet. But with all these, you should not be carried away or be tempted to make spinach the main part of your cat’s diet. Remember it needs meat to survive.

Risks of Eating Spinach for Cats

Evidently, feeding your cat on some spinach once in a while is great and healthy. There isn’t great risk involved in that. If anything, spinach in small amounts is safe for your cat.

Considerable Levels of Oxalate

That said, it is important to point out that the leaves do feature considerable levels of oxalate. These are believed to contribute to bladder stones and kidney problems especially if your feline suffers from urinary tract infections often.

Deficiencies of Iron and Calcium

In addition to this, a high amount of oxalic acid can lead to deficiencies of iron and calcium. But for this to happen, a large amount of spinach has to be consumed. But then again, if your cat suffers from kidney and urinary tract problems, keep spinach away from it.

Allergies

Another important factor to point out pertains to allergies. If this will be your first time feeding your cat some spinach, you should start with a small amount and then monitor its reactions to it. Be keen to detect any allergic reactions like diarrhoea and vomiting. If your cat experiences any problems with its digestive system, it is important that you stop feeding it spinach. But if no side effects are detected, by all means proceed to include spinach in its diet.

How Much Spinach is Safe?

In the event you catch your cat enjoying its spinach, you should not panic. While it is advisable that you feed your feline a small amount of spinach, there is truly no restriction to the amount it can eat. But this is in no way a green light to overfeed it with spinach.

That said, spinach makes for a perfect cat treat though it is not a replacement for the normal meal.

Do Cats love spinach?

Loving spinach and it being safe for your cat to consume are two different things. Ideally, cats are particular about food. Being carnivorous animals, there are high chances that they could care less about vegetables. However, once in a while, cats love to experiment with different foods they find unfamiliar. If you have several cats, you must have noticed that they each have their personalities, likes and dislikes. So whether your cat loves spinach is an unpredictable answer.

If you want to know if your cat loves spinach, the only way you can be sure is to offer it some and watch its reaction.