Cats are simultaneously the most loveable and grumpy pets one can own.
While dogs usually get a reputation for having a personality, one might argue that cats have even more of a personality than a dog.
That said, if you’re looking to own a cat for the first time or you just want to spice your current cat’s life up a bit, you may wonder what to feed them for breakfast.
After all, the right nutrition is vital for a cat’s health and longevity.
Here are some things that cats like to eat for breakfast.
What Do Cats Like To Eat For Breakfast?
1. Eggs
While you may enjoy a good plate of eggs for breakfast, so does your cat.
Whether it’s the flavor, smell, or combination, some cats love a good egg in the morning.
You can cook and feed your cat your own eggs, but if you let your cat outside, it shouldn’t be too surprising if they try to find some eggs of their own.
Cats hunt birds, and there are sometimes eggs in the nest, too.
They’re happy to eat those eggs raw, but you might want to cook some eggs for your cat to satisfy their needs instead.
That said, eggs are quite healthy for cats.
The reason cats can eat eggs is that they’re carnivores.
Their bodies metabolize the nutrients found in the meat that they eat better than if they were eating plants.
What Are The Benefits Of A Cat Eating Eggs For Breakfast?
If you’re still on the fence as to whether you should be feeding your cat eggs in the morning, it’s helpful to know its benefits.
According to the website, Prrrs & Wags, some of the benefits of eating an egg include:
- Increased animal protein
- Amino acid intake
- Access to taurine
- Free of carbohydrates
- Rich in vitamins
- Thiamine access
- Iron access
- Zinc access
- Selenium access
- Biotin access
Eggs have all of these nutrients in them, and your cat takes them in when eating the eggs.
A. Protein
Animal protein is important for a cat because it ensures that their bodies can digest it with ease.
If you feed cats plants, their bodies have a harder time digesting the food.
That might lead to digestive problems later.
By feeding the cat what its body is best at digesting, you can make it healthier.
Amino acids are a vital part of health.
They help build proteins which, in turn, help build cells and a myriad of other things like hair and muscle.
An egg has 10 essential amino acids in it.
Cats require 11 amino acids for their health, so an egg in the morning already takes care of most of their needs.
B. Taurine
Taurine is another important nutrient for cats.
If you don’t feed a cat some eggs, you usually end up feeding them sort of kibble.
The kibble usually has taurine added to it as a supplement.
That’s because taurine helps keep a cat’s heart and eyes healthy.
Cats are unable to make taurine on their own, so they need to get it from somewhere else.
Since eggs do possess taurine, it’s the best way to introduce it to your cat’s body.
C. Vitamins
Eggs also contain several vitamins.
Some of the vitamins you can find in them include:
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin B12
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin E
All these vitamins help cats by improving their bone health, nervous system, and hair, and even help prevent cell damage.
D. Selenium
Selenium is another helpful nutrient found in eggs.
It plays an important role as an antioxidant.
This helps keep your cat’s cells healthy by reducing the chances of free radical damage.
As a result, your cat reduces their chances of getting cancer.
E. Biotin
Finally, biotin is also very helpful for your cat.
Not only does it improve their hair’s sheen, but it also helps support digestive health and supports their adrenal glands and thyroid.
How Do You Feed Eggs To A Cat?
While feeding your cat eggs is a great choice to make, it’s also worth knowing how to serve it to them and how many they should eat.
You should never serve an egg to a cat raw.
It has the chance of having e.coli or salmonella in it.
Both of these diseases can make your cat extremely ill.
Instead, you’ll want to prepare the egg as you would normally for yourself.
However, you don’t want to use butter to cook it.
You should also leave out any type of seasoning, especially salt.
You also shouldn’t feed your cat an entire egg.
They only need a quarter of an egg to get the full benefits of it without adding too many calories to their body.
To do so, you can cut the egg into a quarter, then cut the egg up even further and add it to their dish.
Because some cats are picky, it’s worth mixing it with their regular food to introduce it to them.
Once you feed a cat an egg, you should wait a week or two before making another one for them.
By preparing and serving your cat eggs this way, you can help boost their health without overdoing it.
2. Oatmeal
If you like eating a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, you may wonder if your cat will, too.
Oatmeal is a bit of an acquired taste, so it may take a few attempts to get your cat to try and enjoy it.
However, oatmeal is another great breakfast option for cats.
That’s because oatmeal has tons of vitamins and nutrients in it that can be good for your cat, too.
Keep in mind that oatmeal is essentially a bowl of whole grains.
Since cats are carnivores, their bodies prefer more protein than carbohydrates.
Oatmeal has a good amount of protein, but it also has a good amount of carbohydrates.
You’ll want to keep that in mind when serving your cat oatmeal to ensure you don’t overload them.
Otherwise, you could give them digestive problems.
What Are The Benefits Of Feeding A Cat Oatmeal For Breakfast?
While you may know the health benefits of oatmeal for the human body, you may not be sure how it affects cats.
According to PetMD, oatmeal has several healthy nutrients in them.
These nutrients include:
- Protein
- Fat
- Amino Acids
- Fiber
- Antioxidants
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin B
- Zinc
- Iron
- Selenium
- Linoleic acid
Protein is great for your cat since it gives them energy and helps them build strong muscles.
It also improves the quality of their hair.
Fat is also in oatmeal, which is helpful for cats.
Not only does it give them energy, but some of the fat also contains amino acids.
Since these are the building blocks of protein, it helps a cat grow muscle easier and promotes healthy cell growth.
Fiber is another important part of oatmeal.
In humans and cats, it can help reinforce digestion.
Of course, if a cat eats too much fiber, it can actually impede its digestion.
Oatmeal also has a large number of antioxidants in it.
These help to remove free radicals that are floating around in a cat’s body.
By removing the free radicals, your cat is less likely to sustain damage to its cells and remain cancer-free.
Iron is an essential part of a cat’s health since it determines how well its blood circulates through its body.
Without a good amount of iron, your cat may appear lethargic and even gain weight.
Oatmeal can give them the iron they need to stay energetic and healthy.
Finally, one of the antioxidants that oatmeal has is linoleic acid.
This antioxidant also helps improve your cat’s liver health along with its skin and hair.
How Do You Feed Oatmeal To A Cat?
If you want to try and give your cat oatmeal, you’ll want to be careful about portion size.
Too much oatmeal can make them have digestive problems.
It’s a better idea to feed only a little bit to them and even to mix it with their normal food.
If you want to feed them a small bowl of oatmeal, that’s also acceptable.
However, you shouldn’t serve it with milk.
Instead, you’ll want to serve it in water.
According to Purina, many cats are actually lactose intolerant.
Once a cat grows into an adult, they lose the enzyme that enables them to break down lactose into the nutrients that it needs.
When a cat lacking this enzyme eats milk or dairy, it will experience digestive discomfort.
It may even become ill.
Because of that, it’s better to feed your cat oatmeal in water rather than milk.
Oatmeal is also very filling.
To ensure your cat still gets a balanced diet each day, you’ll want to feed a small amount to your cat.
You may even consider just giving it to them as a small snack in the morning.
By serving the oatmeal in water and keeping its portion size small, your cat will love the healthy benefits found in oatmeal for breakfast.
3. Canned Wet Cat Food
Purina Friskies Wet Cat Food, Shreds With Ocean Whitefish & Tuna in Sauce - (Pack of 24) 5.5 oz. Cans
The best kind of breakfast you can give to your cat is their normal canned cat food.
Wet cat food is a great breakfast because it has some hydration to it.
After sleeping through the night, unless your cat is prone to nocturnal hunting, your cat will likely wake up thirsty.
That said, some cats don’t drink water until they absolutely need to.
You can help them stay hydrated by giving them canned cat food.
Cats tend to enjoy canned food because it’s smellier and has a bit more flavor than kibble.
If you have a picky cat, canned food may be a bit more difficult since you can’t leave it out like you can dry kibble.
That said, serving your cat canned cat food is a great way to start their day.
What Are The Benefits Of A Cat Eating Canned Cat Food For Breakfast?
According to Purina, there are several benefits of serving your cat canned cat food for breakfast.
One of the biggest benefits is hydration.
Cats have a difficult time drinking from bowls because they generally don’t enjoy drinking from still or standing water.
That’s because their instincts warn them that standing water usually means it might have bacteria or parasites in it.
Instead, cats prefer to drink from a fountain or a faucet.
Cats also don’t drink that well since they feel vulnerable while drinking.
They may only drink a bit to quench their thirst but not enough to fully hydrate their bodies.
Feeding them canned cat food is ideal because it’s usually 80% water.
This ensures that the cat is getting plenty of hydration first thing in the morning.
Canned cat food also has a ton of protein in it.
This ensures that cats can have a healthy amount of muscle throughout their life.
Like humans, cats start to lose muscle as they age.
Part of the reason is that they’re not the most active mammals.
Since they’re not using their muscles, they lose them.
By giving them canned wet food, you can ensure that they’re getting the protein they need at the start of the day to help their muscles grow or keep from shrinking throughout the day.
Finally, wet canned food is also easy for cats to digest.
It has all the nutrients and minerals that dry cat food does, but it’s presented in a way that’s a bit easier for cats to digest.
This ensures that their digestive system remains healthy.
Feeding cats wet canned food is ideal for breakfast since it gives them all the nutrients they need to start the day off right without anything extra.
How Do You Feed Wet Canned Cat Food To A Cat?
Feeding your cat wet canned food isn’t as easy as opening it up and putting it in their bowl.
You have to make the meal enticing to your cat.
To do so, one of the first things you should do is warm up the food a little in the microwave, or by immersing the can in a bowl of hot water.
You don’t want to cook the food.
You’re only looking to bring it to room temperature or very slightly warmer.
That’s because cats don’t like cold food.
According to a report from Newsweek, cats prefer their food to be reminiscent of fresh prey.
Felines aren’t scavengers, so they prefer to hunt their prey and eat it right after.
Warm canned food seems fresher to them.
You’ll also want to invest in high-quality canned food to ensure you’re giving your cat canned food that actually contains meat.
A lot of low-quality canned food often contains non-meat products or fillers.
If your cat doesn’t touch the food, you should throw it out rather than put it back into the fridge.
That’s because canned food has a higher chance of spoiling and making your cat ill if you try to feed it to them again later.
4. Dry Cat Food
Purina Friskies Dry Cat Food, Seafood Sensations - 22 lb. Bag
If you’re tight on money and want to have food out for your cat after breakfast, you might want to feed them dry cat food for breakfast.
Cats don’t always enjoy kibble because it doesn’t smell great and it doesn’t always have a lot of flavor.
It also doesn’t feel like fresh prey to them.
That said, it is a great pick for giving them a healthy start to the day.
One of the reasons dry cat food is ideal for cats is that it tends to have more minerals and vitamins than wet canned food.
That’s because, according to PetMD, dry cat food only has 10% water in it while wet canned food has 80% water in it.
The rest of the content in dry cat food is protein, minerals, fat, and vitamins.
Since dry cat food is usually less expensive and stores for longer, it’s a better option for those with smaller budgets.
What Are The Benefits Of A Cat Eating Dry Cat Food For Breakfast?
The biggest benefit of a cat eating dry cat food for breakfast is that they can get most of their vitamins and minerals for the day in a single meal.
Because the dry food has tons of vitamins and minerals in it, your cat is getting those into its body whether it eats the entire bowl or a little.
Kibble food is also easy for cats to digest, so it might help support their digestive health.
Finally, some of the more expensive types of dry cat food come with probiotics.
These can also help support your cat’s digestive health.
How Do You Feed Dry Cat Food To A Cat?
Feeding dry cat food to a cat is easy.
You’ll need to first make sure that you’re not feeding them too much.
This comes down to how much your cat eats in a day.
If they eat anything in front of them, you’ll want to ensure that you’re only giving them an appropriate amount for that morning’s meal.
Otherwise, your cat might start to gain weight.
While you can keep your cat’s food in its bowl if it doesn’t eat it, it’s a better idea to toss it at the end of the day if they haven’t finished it.
This ensures that they’re not eating stale kibble or kibble that has some bacteria growing on it.
Conclusion
Eggs, oatmeal, wet cat food, and dry cat food are all great meals for a cat’s breakfast.
When it comes to eggs and oatmeal, you’ll only want to feed your cat a small amount every few weeks.
Wet cat and dry cat food are both great for breakfast since each has all the minerals and vitamins that a cat needs to start their day off right.
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