Can Cats Eat Noodles? Is It Healthy? (All You Need To Know)

Noodles are a popular cuisine for most people. They’re delicious, oriental, and flavorful. So while everyone loves noodles. Can cats eat noodles?

Knowing what to feed your cat, even if it’s a treat, is necessary. Cats do not digest food as humans do. And mimicking their natural diet and help them mature healthily is important.

1. What You Should Know Before Reading On

Noodles are made from a variety of ingredients. Such as multi-grain, zucchini, potatoes, or plain flour. Being a comfort food, a lot of people confuse noodles with spaghetti which is Italian. While noodles are Asian and are available in many stores in the form of instant noodles as well.

This brings us back to whether noodles are safe for cats or not. The answer is not as simple as YES or NO. Some types of noodles contain ingredients that may be toxic for your feline. Multi-grain noodles can be considered as cat treats. Once you boil them in water without adding salt or any other condiment.

2. Can Cats Eat Noodles – Is it healthy?

Multi-grain noodles do contain carbohydrates. In fact, they contain the healthy sources of carbs which is sufficient for a human diet. But for feline, there are no such health benefits of carbohydrates.

Having said that, feline are carnivores. So their diet is not omnivores when a healthy dose of starch and carbs are necessary. If you feed your plenty of carbohydrate-laden noodles can make your cat obese.

This is because a cat’s healthy diet contains more protein and fewer carbohydrates. This is because the cat’s ancestors have been consuming meat which is rich in protein. Protein for cats has many benefits. It helps in muscle growth, immunity, and energy.

Carbohydrates, on the other hand, is hard to break down in a cat’s body. Human’s a biologically-equipped with an enzyme, amylase. This enzyme helps break down carbs in the body. This is not true for cats when they consume foods with starch and carbohydrates.

# Health Effects Of Low Or High Carbohydrate Diet:

From an evolutionary standpoint, a low-carbohydrate diet for a cat is essential. The natural feeding habitat for feline breeds is small prey such as birds and rodents. Such animals contain high protein and low carbohydrates and less fat.

This is good for cat’s metabolic processes including nutrient absorption in the body. A low-carb diet can give your feline an energy boost. To keep them active, playful, and chirpy as cats should be.

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Since cats do not contain amylase, digestion issues aren’t kept at bay. Especially when metabolizing carbohydrates. Cats can experience vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation. Lastly, excess carbohydrate in their diet can also lead to high blood pressure issues.

A high-carbohydrate diet can lead to indigestion and metabolic diseases. This could cause weight gain, thyroid problems, and other diseases.

So sticking to a low-carbohydrate diet for your cat is essential. This brings us to another important question.

# Does Cat Food Contain Carbohydrates?

A typical can of cat food contains 1.5% of carbs. This is based on 12% of protein and 80% of water. This analysis is for canned wet food. Meanwhile, for dry food, the carb content is higher. That is, it’s at 31.2% compared to 38% of protein.

While this analysis is relative to the brand and quantity of cat food. It’s obvious that cat food contains a sufficient amount of carbohydrates. So adding more carb-dense foods to that is a bad idea.

So, nutritionally, the only thing you’ll be feeding your cat is calories and carbs. If you cat consumes enough calories in the day, adding noodles would do more harm than good.

3. Can Cats Eat Noodles – Choose Wisely!

As mentioned above, noodles come in many forms. Including instant noodles and noodles made from grains. Instant noodles contain high amounts of sodium, which is salt. Too much salt in a cat’s diet can lead to many health problems.

According to the New York Health Department, it could lead to blood pressure problems. Even table salt, as a matter of fact, can cause heart disease and kidney problems.

Multi-grain noodles that are unadulterated do not contain salt. It’s just carbs and calories for your cat. So feeding your cat noodles in smaller treat-size meals is okay.

On the other hand, you can make fun vegetable noodles. Made from carrots, cucumber, spinach, and green beans. It can help your cat with digestion, kidney problems, and keep their skin and coat healthy.

It’s possible your cat will eat carbs as they’re more inclined to do so. But that doesn’t mean that it’s good for them. As a responsible cat parent, you need to decide what’s good or bad for your cat. So prepare cat food with as much less salt and carbohydrates as you can.

Final Thoughts

While cat food contains proteins, corn, and other plant products. Carbohydrates are one such nutrient present in noodles too. But are they healthy carbohydrates? That is irrelevant because cats do not metabolize carbohydrates as humans do.

So limiting their carbohydrates diet without eliminating it altogether is necessary. Noodles are all carbs and calories. If you feed them multi-grain noodles, fiber is also part of the mix. But traditionally, it’s all carbohydrates which aren’t always the best diet for your feline.

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You can switch to a low-carb and high-protein cat food brand. That is if your cat has weight issues or kidney problems. Avoid feeding your cat instant noodles or ramen noodles. All they contain is sodium which may not be toxic but has harmful health effects.

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Sources:
1. https://www.petconsider.com/can-cats-eat-noodles/