Have a Cat Eating Lettuce issue? As human beings, we enjoy the delicious taste of our leafy salad, especially the main ingredients of lettuce. There’s this day that one of my friends told me that her cat was eating leafy vegetables. I was surprised back then because all I knew was that cats only eat meat. I have asked myself can cats eat lettuce?
My friend’s mother once explained to me too that her cat loves to eat some of her lettuce from the salad. I asked her if it was real, can cats eat lettuce? Well, she really proved to me that her cat can eat lettuce, it ate it with me.
Scientifically speaking, can a cat eat lettuce? Can this nutritious plant help our lovely little creature?
Nutrients from Lettuce
The lettuce we love to eat is rich in many nutrients needed in our body. This leafy green vegetable is considered to be low-calorie making them a storehouse of many phytonutrients that possess health-promoting and disease-prevention properties.
This delicious leafy vegetable is also rich in vitamin K which has a good role in bone metabolism, increasing our bones’ mass by promoting osteoblastic activity. In addition, this vegetable contains a good amount of Vitamin C and folate. Lastly, lettuce contains healthy amounts of minerals like iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium which are essential to our metabolism.
Now we know what are the health benefits we can gain from lettuce, the question is, can cats eat lettuce? Is it safe for our little feline to eat lettuce?
Cat Eating Lettuce Questions
If you’re wondering if lettuce is safe for your little friend, well, YES it is safe to give lettuce to your cat. If you’re planning to add some fiber nutrients to your cat’s diet, lettuce is one of the most okay and YES-leafy vegetables to add.
How much lettuce to feed your cat?
Our lovely cats are born as carnivores. Our cute feline friends will need meat now and then to survive. Meat alone is not enough to sustain the nutrients needed by our cat’s body. Our cat can eat a sufficient amount of vegetables sometimes mixed with their meaty food.
In case you’re thinking of converting your cat to veganism or vegetarianism, there are stories that cats that are converted and nearly die due to lack of nutrients. Better keep your cat with proper food and nutrients.
Benefits of Lettuce to cats
- Help maintain the weight of your cat
As mentioned earlier, lettuce is a low-calorie leafy food. If your cat needs to lose some weight, adding lettuce to its diet is helpful.
- It helped in hydrating your cat.
Lettuce has a high water content which is good for cats that are eating dry food.
- Lettuce can help your kitty stay regular.
As mentioned earlier, lettuce is a good source of fiber. Fiber helps humans to have a proper digestion that helps them have regular. Our cats also received the same benefits.
- Your cat may benefit from all the nutrients and vitamins from lettuce.
Lettuce again is rich in Vitamin K, Vitamin A, folate, and a lot more that is very essential to its nutritional diet.
- It keeps your cat away from vomiting.
If you have observed your cat vomits when they try your houseplants. Unlike the houseplants when lettuce is given, it doesn’t upset their tummy.
How to feed lettuce to your cat?
Naturally, our cats are carnivores, they need meat in order to survive. Getting the proper nutrients from vegetables is something that we can add to their diet. But, how can we make our cat eat the nutritious lettuce that can provide it with healthy nutrients?
If you place lettuce in front of your cat, it won’t eat it or touch it. Maybe some cats will play it but not eat it. Here are some simple ways that you can in order to introduce lettuce to their food:
- Some cats are picky and you need to present first to them the food to gain interest in trying it. If your cat is like this, you may do the following:
- Tear lettuce into small pieces, about the size of an inch.
- You may also cut the lettuce into strips like blades of grass.
Once you have torn the lettuce to the desired size, talk to your cat let it smell, and try to test if it will interest him.
- If the presentation method of food didn’t work. Try adding the lettuce stripes to your cat’s meal. At least your cat will see it as part of its food.
- If the addition of lettuce still doesn’t work, you may try a different variety of lettuce.
- Feeding your cat to be healthy is really an exciting activity. It challenges you to be creative. If your strategies from the above didn’t work, you may try to roll your rewards with lettuce. Make it a fun play and learning with your kitty and reward it with this nutritious food.
You may not completely switch your cat to completely eating leafy green vegetables, this is because they need other nutrients from other foods. You may include lettuce here now and then so that your cat’s appetite is more excited to try and eat more food. If any of the strategies from the above didn’t work for your cat, maybe it’s time not to feed your cat with lettuce. Your cat may still receive the nutrients it needs from other foods you give to it.
Have you tried feeding your cat with lettuce? How did it go? Did your cat enjoy it? Do you give it as a snack or do you give it as part of its food? Do you think your cat will like it once you introduce lettuce to his diet? How did lettuce benefit your cat? Which strategy made lettuce appealing to your cat? Always keep your kitties healthy and always consult your vet when something is wrong.
