Owners love to pamper and lavish their affection towards their pets when it comes to treats. However, one cannot give too much affection, and owners often start giving their pets too much food to eat out of love. In terms of cats as a pet, overeating can develop serious weight problems just like humans develop. Association for Pet Obesity Prevention performed a study and observed that 57% of cats are overweight or, in other words, obese.
In this, a ubiquitous question is raised regarding cat treats. Is it safe and healthy for little kitties? Which treat will be the best for our kitty? To clarify the owner’s doubts, here are some answers from cat experts.
How to Make Healthy Cat Treats?
Moderation is key: When it comes to cat treats, it is healthy to feed them to the owner’s furry friend, but the proportion matters. An excellent moderate proportion of the cat treat must be given to the cats. This will neither make the owner’s cat starve nor become obese because of treats.
Perfect dose: Experts have been recommending treats only make up 10% or less of the total calories a cat consumes. Most cat treats don’t add much of the nutritional value but only the calorie in the cat’s diet. The remaining 90% of the calorie in a cat’s diet must be obtained from healthy and high-quality cat food.
Here are a Few Treat Tips for a Healthy Cat:
- Moderation: Like humans, cats can also develop a taste with time. This sometimes motivates cats to avoid their food to get the goodies they love to eat. This is why experts highly recommend only serving the owner’s cat with treats two or three times a week.
- Avoid serving human food to cats: Owners often tend to fill their food out of love and affection. Food consumed by humans is made up of high nutritional values, which cats do not recommend. You can try serving small bites of human food to cats on any special occasion, but one must avoid it regularly.
- Avoid toxic foods: There are foods that humans love but can be harmful to their cats. These foods include grapes, alcohol, raisins, onions, salt, and tea. If the owner is confused about a treat with the safety of their cats, they must consult a vet.
- Ban begging: If the owner has a habit of rewarding the begging of their pet, it can be a dangerous habit in the long run.
- Give treats for fitness: Develop a habit of rewarding cats treats after physical and mental exercises. It can be fun for both the owner as well as the cat.
Conclusion
Not all the treats are bad; the only thing owners must take care of is the over-enthusiastic love and affection. It eventually leads to over-eating of the cat and often helps develop the cats’ lazy lifestyle. These habits, in the longer run, make the cats obese.