Regardless of having strict control over your diet, you cannot say no to some lip-smacking delicacies like cheese puffs. The flavor of cheese and the texture of the baked flour melts in your mouth and make you long for more. While you know that cheese puffs are unhealthy, you convince yourself to work out an hour extra at the gym after consuming them.
Your cat may watch you with its trademark curiosity when you eat cheese puffs. More than the taste of the dish itself, your cat is attracted to the newness of it. It might literally jump over you to take a nibble of the puff. This can worry you at times. You may have many questions in your mind, such as, “can cats eat cheese puffs”, “are cheese puffs toxic to cats”, “can cheese puffs kill cats” and so on.
If you have these questions floating in your mind, you have come to the right place. Here, we tell you all you need to know about cats eating cheese puffs, and when you need to worry. To give you the answer to these questions in brief – Cats can eat cheese puffs, but they shouldn’t. Cheese puffs don’t provide any nutritional value or health benefits for cats. So, here is a bit more information you should know about cats eating cheese puffs.
Are cats attracted to cheese puffs?
The good thing is that cats are not attracted to cheese puffs at all. They are only curious to know what these snacks taste like. You may notice some cats lick away the remnants of the cheese puffs from the wrapper. If the cheese puffs are a little saltier, they may be slightly interested in nibbling them. However, cases, where cats have excitedly come back for a second helping of cheese puffs, are almost non-existent.
Are cheese puffs good for cats?
No, cheese puffs are definitely not good for cats. They are made from cheese, salt and processed flour – all of which are toxic ingredients for felines. If cats bite off a small bit of cheese puffs, you don’t have to be alarmed. However, please ensure that you don’t expose your cats to too much cheese puffs. Cheese puffs may not kill your cats, but they cause a lot of health issues, if ingested in large quantities.
Why are cheese puffs bad for cats?
All the ingredients used in cheese puffs are bad for cats. When cats consume a lot of cheese puffs, they can complain of issues like vomiting, diarrhea, stomach-related issues, etc. In severe cases, over-consumption of cheese puffs can also lead to liver damage, kidney damage and obesity.
Cheese powder
The first and obvious ingredient of cheese puffs is cheese powder. Even if fresh cheese is used to make cheese puffs (most of the time, they use processed cheese for making this dish, which makes it more toxic), it can be dangerous for cats if the felines consume a big chunk of cheese puffs.
This is because most adult cats (those above 2 months old) are lactose intolerant. This means, they are intolerant to the compound called lactose that is present in milk and other dairy products. The bodies of adult cats don’t have the capacity for lactose. Therefore, eating a large number of cheese puffs leads to vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal discomfort for felines.
Salt
Salt is one of the most commonly used ingredients used in your kitchen. However, did you know that this simple ingredient can prove to be highly toxic for cats? You may be surprised to know that too much salt consumption leads to a condition known as salt toxicity or sodium poisoning in felines. This leads to swelling of the legs, imbalance in movement, lethargy, kidney damage, problems in the urinary bladder, heart attacks and very high blood pressure. Hence, it would help if you kept cats as far as possible from salty foods. Cheese puffs are definitely a no-no for cats, because of the high salt content in this dish.
Junk food
As you all know, cheese puff is only junk food with no nutritional value whatsoever. The cheese, salt, flour and other processed ingredients used in this snack help in nothing but increasing the cat’s weight. A worrying fact is that it is very difficult for a cat to lose weight once it puts on. As humans, we do several things like walking, running, working out in the gym, diet control, and other techniques to lose weight. However, these things don’t work with cats.
So, it is very important for you to watch your cat’s weight very carefully. More than half of the adult cats in this world are obese. Feline obesity is a serious problem, and can lead to severe health issues, if not treated at the right time. Just like humans, cats tend to suffer from pain in the joints when they put on weight. This can lead to painful ailments like arthritis. Obesity in cats also causes lethargy, imbalance in movements, diabetes, heart diseases and failure of vital, internal organs.
Should cats stay away from cheese puffs completely?
Yes, absolutely! Cheese puffs are unhealthy snacks filled with toxic ingredients that do no good to cats. So there is no question of feeding them a little bit now and then. If they nibble on a small quantity of puffs occasionally, you don’t have to worry. The good thing is that cats are not very much attracted to cheese puffs; therefore, they don’t come back running for another lick of this dish. It is a prudent decision to keep your furry friends away from this unhealthy snack, to keep them healthy and active throughout their lifespan.
Final Word
Feline obesity is quite a serious issue today. So, it would help if you refrained from feeding any weight-gaining foods to cats. Cheese puffs rank quite high on this list because of the unhealthy and toxic ingredients like cheese powder and salt. While your cat should be okay if it licks a very small quantity of cheese puffs, please ensure that it doesn’t eat too much of this snack. The salt and cheese powder can disrupt your cat’s digestive tract and internal organs, if you don’t take enough care.