It’s an odd question, but we’ve been asked it and we feel like we should answer it. So, can cats eat pizza? Is there anything in a pizza that can harm them or even kill them? Well, there are a lot of things to take into consideration here, so let’s get to it.
Can Cats Eat Pizza
Small amounts of pizza probably won’t kill your cat or do serious damage. But cats can not eat pizza because there is so much here that can do them harm. In small amounts they are consuming something that is unhealthy. I mean, pizza is bad for you as well, but it’s even more unhealthy for your cat.
In large amounts, it may actually do some serious harm. That’s because there are often ingredients included in pizza that are toxic to cats, ingredients that at best will cause stomach upset and diarrhea, and at worst will essentially poison them.
Let’s take a look at those ingredients to show you why you shouldn’t feed pizza to your cats.
Why Pizza is Bad for Cats
There should be no garlic or onions in a cat’s diet. They are incredibly toxic for them and can do serious damage when consumed in large amounts at once and when eaten in small amounts over an extended period of time. The problem with pizza is that these are fairly common ingredients.
Even if you don’t have garlic or onion on a pizza, you may still have garlic sauce on or near and if you’re ordering from a pizzeria, there will probably be some garlic bread nearby as well. It’s not just those ingredients either and the pizza itself can cause problems.
As we have already discussed, dairy is not good for cats and there is a lot of cheese on pizza. Fat isn’t healthy either and when you consider that a cat’s diet should be mainly protein, and that pizza is all carbs and fat, then it’s easy to see why pizza is so bad for cats. It’s even worse for kittens as well, as they are smaller and can therefore tolerate less.
How Much Pizza to Feed a Cat
There is a simple answer to this question and it’s none. Don’t feed your cat pizza. Okay, personally, I’m going to admit picking a little dough and giving it to one of my cats who happens to have an obsession with warm bread. But we’re taking about very small amounts and I try to do it as little as possible, because I know it’s not good for him, even though he loves it.
I also make sure to avoid the toppings. There is too much fat, salt and sugar. Too much risk of garlic and onion being present. And that even applies to the meat that you can find on pizza. A lot of cheap pizzas used cheap meats that are not always what they seem (even tuna, although you’d have to be pretty disturbed to order fish on pizza). And even the real ones use cured meats that are heavy on nitrates.
So, nothing in pizza is good for your cat. To make it clear the question of can cats eat pizza can be answered with a resounding: no!