Can Cats Eat Dog Food?

Can cats eat dog food? Here is the short answer, from a cat who has personally supervised many dogs at dinner time: a stolen mouthful will not hurt a healthy adult cat, but dog food served as regular meals is dangerous. It lacks taurine, vitamin A and a fatty acid called arachidonic acid, and we cats cannot make those ourselves. Feed us dog food for months and our hearts and eyes start to fail.

I am Paws Hemingway. I have seen things. Mostly the inside of the labrador’s bowl next door, which smells of false promises. Let me explain why his dinner is not my dinner, what to do if your cat has been raiding it, and how to keep the peace in a two-bowl household.

Can cats eat dog food safely?

One cheeky mouthful: yes, relax. A meal or two in an emergency: also fine for a healthy adult cat. As a regular part of the diet: no. This is the bit humans get wrong when the budget is tight or the cat food runs out on a Sunday.

Dog food is built for dogs. That sounds obvious, but the difference is not marketing. It is chemistry. Dog food does not have to contain the nutrients cats cannot make for themselves, so a cat living on it is slowly running out of the things its heart and eyes need.

The advice from RSPCA Australia’s Knowledgebase is blunt: never feed dog food to your cat, because it will be deficient in taurine.

Why cat food and dog food are so different

Cats are obligate carnivores

Dogs are omnivores. They can live on meat, vegetables and whatever falls off the bench. Cats are obligate carnivores, which means meat is not a preference; it is a requirement. Our bodies expect certain nutrients to arrive ready-made in our food, so we never evolved the machinery to make them ourselves.

The taurine problem

Taurine is an amino acid that keeps a cat’s heart muscle pumping properly and the retinas at the back of the eyes working. Dogs make their own taurine, so dog food is not required to contain extra. Cat food is. That one difference is the main reason the labrador can thrive on his beige biscuits and I cannot.

Dog food also falls short on vitamin A, arachidonic acid and overall protein. Cats burn protein just to keep the lights on, so our food has to be richer in it.

My cat ate dog food. What should I do?

Nothing dramatic. If a healthy adult cat cleaned out the dog’s bowl, the worst you are likely to see is a mildly upset tummy and a dog with trust issues. Offer fresh water, serve normal cat food at the next meal, and keep an eye out for vomiting or diarrhoea that lasts more than a day.

Be more careful if the food thief is a kitten, a pregnant or nursing cat, or a cat with a health condition such as kidney disease. If that describes your cat and they ate a lot, ring your vet for advice. It is a quick call and cheap peace of mind.

Can cats eat dog food in an emergency?

Yes. If the shops are shut and the cat food cupboard is bare, a meal or two of dog food will not harm a healthy adult cat. Think of it as a bad motel: survivable for a night, not a place to live.

A better emergency option is plain cooked chicken with no bones, onion, garlic or seasoning. We cover that properly in can cats eat chicken. Either way, get proper cat food back in the bowl within a day or two.

What you must not do is stretch cat food with dog food to save money, week after week. That is how deficiencies happen. Quietly, and then all at once.

What happens if a cat eats dog food every day?

This is where it turns serious. A cat fed mostly dog food slowly runs short of taurine and vitamin A, and the damage lands in two places cats can least afford:

• The heart. Taurine deficiency can cause dilated cardiomyopathy, where the heart muscle becomes weak and stretched and cannot pump properly.
• The eyes. The cells in the retina degenerate, and once they are gone they do not grow back. That can mean permanent vision loss.

The cruel part is the timeline. The deficiency builds over months, and the early signs are subtle: a quieter cat, a duller coat, hesitation in dim light. By the time it is obvious, some of the damage may be permanent. Vets can often help a heart problem caught early, but lost retina cells stay lost.

Can kittens eat dog food?

An even firmer no. Kittens are building eyes, hearts and brains at speed, so their nutritional needs are higher than an adult cat’s. A stolen nibble is nothing to panic about, but dog food should never be a meal for a kitten, not even in a pinch if you can possibly avoid it. Kittens need kitten food until they are around twelve months old.

How to stop your cat eating the dog’s food

Speaking as a professional bowl inspector, we do it because it is there. Remove the opportunity and the habit dies:

• Feed the cat and dog in separate rooms with the door closed.
• Serve meals at set times instead of leaving food out all day, and lift the bowls once everyone is done.
• Feed your cat somewhere the dog cannot reach. A bench or a tall cat tree works; we love the high ground anyway.
• For a determined thief in either direction, a microchip feeder only opens for the pet it belongs to. [affiliate link: microchip pet feeder]

And if you are ever unsure whether something else in the kitchen is safe for your cat, run it through our Food Checker tool before it goes in the bowl.

When should you see a vet?

If dog food has been a regular part of your cat’s diet for weeks or months, book a check-up even if your cat seems fine. Taurine deficiency hides well, and a vet can catch it before it costs a heart or an eye.

See a vet promptly if you notice laboured or rapid breathing, weakness or wobbliness, sudden reluctance to jump, bumping into things in dim light, or pupils that stay wide all the time.

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