On the face of it, this sounds like a question with a very simple answer. Some of you might even be calling it ridiculous in your head. However, know this. The food that we eat is not necessarily compatible with that of your pet’s digestive system. Humans, when they are outpouring affection for their pets, tend to share food with them. An approach is hardly laudable as it can have serious detrimental effects on your pets’ health. The good boys and good girls will gobble up anything you present them with; they are too polite to refuse the offer. However, you must be wise. Sugar is one thing that we humans seem to can’t live without. Feeding it to cats, however, is an altogether different matter. It is also the topic of our today’s discussion. Can cats eat sugar is the query under focus!
The simple answer
The short answer is yes, cats can eat sugar. However, you need to know a bit more about this affair before you run off to the nearest confectionery. While the affirmative statement means that eating sugar poses no immediate threat to your cats’ life, it would be still best to avoid it. This is because of the detrimental effects consuming sugar can have on your cats’ health. However, yes, it is not a choking hazard or too sharp in terms of toxicity. In the upcoming passages, we discuss the background story that will help you understand the matter in a much better way.
It does not even taste sweet to a cat
We admire the fact that you want your cat to have a sweet tooth, we even find it adorable. However, there is just a little problem with that. Your cat cannot taste sweetness. Yes, we can relate to the look of stunned disbelief on your face right now. It comes as a startling piece of news to many people that their beloved pet cannot tell the difference between sweet and sour. Hence, the primary reason that you wanted to share sugar with your cat because boy it deserves something sweet stands discarded. Now does that mean that your cat will not eat anything sweet that is within access? Of course not.
You see, cats have a simple code of life. They are going to put their paws and claws, anywhere they can. We bet you a tenner that the moment you offer your cat anything sweet, for example, chocolate, it is going to gobble it up anyway. Your cat ate that piece of chocolate, not because of the element of sweetness, but rather, because of some other ingredient found in it. We think the point has been made clear satisfactorily enough.
Diabetes is no joke, even for cats
If you are a good friend with a cat, you will already know that cats can develop the condition of diabetes as well. For some people, it is hard to believe, just like the fact that cats cannot taste sweetness. Now for those of you who do believe, you can understand why feeding sugar to a diabetic cat s not such a great idea after all. Just as sugar is toxic to a diabetic human being, it can prove fatally toxic to your pet cat as well, if it suffers from diabetes.
Ok, so we think that this point has been made clear enough. However, we feel that we must tell you about the insulin shots, in case your cat suffers from diabetes. Once your cat has eaten the meal, you can give it an insulin shot. This will help in regulating the overall metabolic processes going inside your cats’ bodies. Fatal conditions like liver damage can be averted this way.
Not all sugars are bad for your cat
Before we scare you with all the detrimental effects of sugar poisoning, we must clarify something. Not all sugars are bad for your cat. Some types of sugars are essential for your pet cat. However, the white poison is certainly off the menu for your cat. Yes, table sugar can cause more harm than good. Hence, sugars from the table must be omitted from your cats’ diet. You must be wondering, which sugars are OK for your cat. Well, the sugars that your cat gets from its protein meals or food are the most important ones for its health. Why these and not the table sugar? Well, these kinds of sugar can be metabolized easily by your pet. Besides, the energy content of these sugars is higher than the table sugar. Hence, these sugars are much better than white poison. However, it is hardly the reason for you to increase their proportion in your cats’ meal.
Why sugar is not good in the long-term either
Well, we have shown you why eating sugar is not good for a diabetic cat. We will also discuss its impact on oral health in the upcoming lines. However, as we said in the beginning, eat sugar is not a healthy habit for your cat, considering the long-term implications. In these lines, we explain why. The white poison that we normally consume has hardly any nutritional benefits. This is the primary reason why humans should avoid table sugar in daily life, let alone feed it to your cat. However, if you do that, you must be prepared for the consequences as well. We are talking about the cat, of course!
Well, firstly, obesity is going to be a major bother if your cat is consuming a lot of sugar. Too much sugar can make your cat obese in a matter of weeks. The result is too tragic to imagine, the once agile and active pet turned into a fat, lazy monster. The implications are all interlinked that ultimately reduces the life span of your beloved cat. Diabetes can develop thanks to obesity, as can certain other conditions like weak bones and a few types of tumors and cancers. Are you sure you still want to pursue sugar poisoning?
Cats can have cavities too!
Is it not amazing, the similarity between humans and cats, regarding the problems associated with the consumption of sugar? Cat oral health and sugar have been studied quite comprehensively, but still, there are many contradictory opinions about the topic. However, it has been shown that if your cat has a lot of sugar in its diet, it can develop cavities. This is especially true for those cats whose owners simply seem to forget the bit about brushing their cats’ teeth. The ultimate result of this nearly criminal negligence is, of course, a multitude of oral infections.
Conclusion
Well, the limitations of time and space force us to wrap up this debate here. We wish we could go on, the topic is an extensive one and demands a thorough analysis of all the factors involved. Nevertheless, we hope that you learned something, if not everything, from this discussion. Cats can eat sugar, but they will not know it is sugar. In addition, the amount must be minimal to moderate, nothing more than that. Otherwise, too much sugar can have a drastic impact on your pets’ health. They cannot taste it anyway, so why take the risk at all.