Can Cats Eat Vegetables?

It’s common knowledge that cats are primarily meat eaters. They are in fact obligate carnivores, which means that they depend on the nutrients found in meats for the majority of their diet.

Cats do need some of the nutrition from in vegetables however. You may have noticed their food mixes contain vegetable proteins and minerals to make up this part of their diet.

So, can cats eat vegetables and do they need some veggies to balance out their whole diet?

Interestingly even looking at wild cats that hunt for their own live prey, they get some vegetable matter in their diets through eating what their prey had in their stomachs.

Cats are able to eat a small amount of vegetables in their diet, and in fact, it can help overweight cats to reduce the fat and protein in their diets and replace it with healthy veg.

Table of Contents

Which Vegetables Are OK for Cats to Eat?

Remember that vegetables are to be given to cats is small amounts as treats of snacks. Also don’t be surprised if they aren’t interested in eating them.

These vegetables as fine for cats to eat in small amounts:

Peas
Cucumber
Broccoli
Carrots
Green Beans
Butternut squash
Asparagus
Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie!)

How to Get Your Cat to Eat Vegetables

It shouldn’t be something you try to force on your cats, but there are some ways to serve and prepare vegetables that will make it a lot more likely to eat them.

Always bake or steam the veggies so they are softer, then chop them up into small pieces. It’s not like meat where our cat will need or want to pull at vegetables with their teeth, so make it easy to eat.

Also, try offering the veg on its own outside of a mealtime to see if they want to snack. Not all cats will be interested if this is the case with your kitty that’s fine. You tried, move on to cat foods with plant-based proteins.