Two of the most common pets kept by their owners are cats and goldfish. It’s a common misconception that if you leave a cat alone with a goldfish, the fish will make a tasty meal.
You may be wondering if your cat can safely consume goldfish if you’ve ever had to stop it from devouring your aquatic pet.
You should take precautions to keep your cat from eating goldfish. Is there anything you can do if you find out your cat has devoured a goldfish? If you’re wondering what to do if your cat eats a goldfish, this article should help.
Can Cats Eat Goldfish?
Although it is not advisable, your cat can technically eat goldfish. Domestic cats are descended from desert cats, which would not naturally have access to fish. However, some wildcats, such as tigers and fishing cats, do eat fish as part of their natural diet.
While fish is a popular choice for cat food due to their affinity for the taste, it is not essential to a cat’s diet.
However, many species of fish can be a healthy part of a domestic cat’s diet. Many vitamins and minerals, as well as healthy fats and lean protein can be found in fish.
There are some additional nutrients your cat can get from eating a whole fish, including the organs and bones, but the bones present a choking and intestinal impaction risk.
What’s in Goldfish Crackers?
Goldfish crackers, with their bright colors and fishy design, certainly stand out. However, as was previously mentioned, they provide no nutritional value. Your cat will not benefit in any way from the ingredients.
Cats are attracted not only to the shape and color, but also to the smell. What, though, is in these munchies? The first is that Goldfish crackers are made with a lot of wheat flour. Yeast, salt, spices, cheddar cheese, milk, sunflower oil, and other additives are also included.
The list of ingredients alone is eye-opening. Even for humans, they provide no nutritional value and are best used as a snack. The quantity of salt in a bag is the next thing to observe. Feline digestive systems are known to be negatively affected by high-salt diets.
Goldfish crackers, weighing in at 55 per bag, have 250 grams of salt. Overfeeding your pet is a bad idea. No more than 0.021 grams of salt per day should be given to a cat.
These crackers are baked, but they still have a lot of oil on them. Cats are also particularly sensitive to a wide variety of spices and additives. Some cat foods do have fats in them, but these are much better than the cooking oils that are bad for cats.
Finally, think about the yeast. If you have a pet cat or dog, do you know if he or she has any food allergies? Some people do, and yeast is a prime example.
You should probably ask your vet before giving your cats any Goldfish crackers. As you’ll see in the following section, bringing an unresponsive pet to the animal hospital is a real possibility.
Are Goldfish Good for Cats?
Goldfish have a lot of healthy nutrients, but cats shouldn’t eat them for a few reasons.
- There are a lot of tiny bones in a whole fish. These bones, if ingested, pose serious health risks, including suffocation, perforation, and rupture of the intestines. These are life-threatening conditions that often necessitate invasive and potentially life-threatening surgical procedures for treatment.
- Disease and infection are possibilities. It’s not uncommon for goldfish tanks to be less than sterile. Parasites, bacteria, and fungi that can be passed from cats to humans could result from this. Having your cat eat raw fish, which can spread diseases like salmonella, is an added problem if your cat decides to help itself to a goldfish from the bowl.
- A lack of the B vitamin thiamine. Thiaminase, an enzyme that degrades thiamine, is found in many fish species, including goldfish. Thiamine deficiency can cause neurological disease in cats if they eat a diet high in raw fish.
What Should I Do If My Cat Eats a Goldfish?
If your cat accidentally eats one goldfish, the risk to your cat is low and you probably won’t need to take any action. However, if you have any doubts or concerns about your cat’s health, consulting with the vet is always the best course of action.
Talk to your vet if you’re worried about your cat after he or she ate a goldfish. They are experts on feline medicine and should have useful advice for you.
Keep an eye out for signs of illness like lethargy, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and inappetence in your cat for a few days; the vet may want to see your cat or prescribe preventative treatment for infections.
Can Eating Goldfish Crackers Kill Cats?
As you can see, Goldfish crackers have a long list of components. Cats with food allergies should avoid these products. Gluten intolerance and yeast reactions are two common causes of allergic reactions.
If you feed your cat a Goldfish cracker and then observe them closely, you may be able to tell if they have any sort of food allergy.
Stop giving them the crackers if you see a behavioral shift, including increased sneezing, flatulence, vomiting, and scratching, and take them to the vet if the problem persists.
Even if your cat isn’t allergic to any of the ingredients in the crackers, that doesn’t mean you should feed them the entire bag. Still, no cat should ever snack on these. Because of its shape and form, it may suffocate your pet while they are eating.
Dry Goldfish crackers can cause a cat to suffocate if they aren’t chewed thoroughly. Therefore, after finishing your snack, put the bag away. Keep an eye out for the cat, but try not to freak out.
Alternative Human Food and Snacks Safe for Cats to Consume
Is it true that there are no longer any foods or snacks that you can share with your feline friends now that Goldfish crackers have been eliminated? No. You can enjoy a wide variety of human-made snacks and meals together.
For the cat’s sake, you could try feeding it some rice without any seasoning. Cats with stomach issues can benefit from eating rice. Fiber-rich oatmeal is great to share, but not the same bowl. Finally, a cooked egg once in a while is a superior protein choice.
But what if your feline friend has an upset stomach? Amazingly, food allergies can be triggered by high-quality human snacks and cat food. Is there a way out of this?
The Right Food for Felines with Sensitive Stomachs
Sometimes cats develop food sensitivities or outright allergies, to the point where not even meat is safe to eat. It’s important to keep an eye on your cat’s diet because, like humans, they can develop food intolerances. This suggests that food allergies are not caused by Goldfish crackers.
Cats can develop stomach sensitivity and pain when they eat certain foods. So, try not to make frequent meal substitutions.
Instead, you should plan out and adhere to a nutritious diet for your feline companions. Then, observe the feline’s reaction. See a veterinarian as soon as possible if the problem persists.
Acute and chronic stomach conditions are common in cats, just as they are in other animals. The only way to tell them apart is with a proper diagnosis. It’s easy to ignore the early warning signs of a chronic illness until it’s more severe and requires a more restrictive diet to manage.
After a diagnosis of a sensitive stomach, cats need special food made with all natural ingredients. Such fare includes carbohydrates rich in fiber, proteins of the highest quality, and healthy oils.
Human snacks, such as Goldfish crackers and anything else that can do more harm, must be eradicated. Cats should never be fed human food, especially chocolate.
Human Food Poisonous to Cats
Some human foods can poison your cats, but Goldfish crackers aren’t one of them. When consumed by cats, scallions, onions, garlic, and shallots cause hemolytic anemia. Your pet will become listless and have dark-colored urine due to the effect these foods have on his or her red blood cells.
Grapes and raisins are the next worst offenders, as they can cause renal failure and eventually death in cats. Within 24 hours, symptoms begin to appear, the most prominent of which is vomiting. As soon as you discover it, head straight to the nearest animal hospital.
Keep in mind that alcohol has a devastating effect on your cat’s digestive system and should be kept out of reach at all times. Cats can’t metabolize alcohol, so it gets recycled throughout the animal’s system. Even a small amount of ethanol can cause fatal poisoning in a pet. As a result, you should avoid anything containing alcohol or even traces of alcohol, as doing so can have the same negative effects.
In Conclusion
Cats should not be fed goldfish as part of their regular diet. Too much could go wrong, endangering your cat.
You should feed your cat a healthier fish alternative that doesn’t contain bones and is less likely to spread disease. Better fish options include cooked salmon or sardines, but only if consumed in moderation.
You should never feed your cat raw fish because it poses a health risk from salmonella and other parasites.
Cats have unique dietary requirements, so it’s best to stick to foods made expressly for them. Although fish is not a normal part of a cat’s diet, a healthy diet may include it.
The movement of your goldfish in its tank may entice some cats because of their affinity for fishy flavors.
Keep your goldfish and other aquatic pets in a secure, out-of-reach area from your cat at all times. You can protect both your cat and your fish from each other in this way.