Before we start discussing today’s question, can cats eat banana chips? It’d be great to lay a foundation of cat behaviors and why feeding cats can be a difficult subject. Although this mostly goes for new cat owners, experienced cat lovers sure would find a thing or two to learn as well.
The phrase “curious cat” comes from a prominent trait of a typical cat. They are naturally curious to explore their surroundings. And that’s part of the fun of having them around. But sometimes, curiosity isn’t such a good thing especially in terms of their health and wellbeing.
What about banana chips? Those look even more like a quick snack to cats. And if you’re like most cat owners, it means you won’t mind treating your feline buddies with a snacky treat now and then.
With all that said, it’s back to our main discussion for today. We’ll answer all the questions about cats, banana chips, and bananas in general. Do have a slippery read or a purry one or anything in-between.
Can Cats Eat Banana Chips?
Banana as a fruit sits conveniently on the list of “curios cat traps.” Its yellow color makes it calling. Combined with its distinct smell. It’s understandable if your cat keeps trying to find what it tastes like.
Does your cat always snuggle up to you whenever you’re eating bananas? That could be quite uncomfortable as you don’t want to feed him a stick of banana, and you don’t want to turn him away as well. What you should instead do is to find a suitable alternative to feed your cat.
Banana chips are the perfect banana treats for cats. With these, the fruits are cut up into small pieces. This way, your feline pets can easily eat the bits. Also, it’s easier to monitor the proper intake of the fruit such that your pet doesn’t take in too many unwanted nutrients.
For your cat’s health sake, keep the banana chips you feed your cat to the safest food requirement possible. And to do this, avoid deep-fried chips or ones to which salt has been added. This is usually the case for most banana chips sold in stores. If you must feed your cat banana chips, try to process it yourself using a dehydrator.
Can Cats Eat Bananas?
Since it’s kind of okay to feed your cats with banana chips, you might be thinking of graduating to actual bananas. So, let’s talk about the possibility of cats feeding on bananas.
Bananas are not toxic to cats. Even though that’s not enough reason to make the fruit a core of your pet cat’s food. Healthy recommended cat food remains the number one option for feeding felines. Treating them with bits and bites of bananas won’t kill them.
Even at that, you should know that bananas offer no significant benefit to your cat. As obligates that cats are, all the nutrients they need to grow and live healthily are to be derived from their meat-based food sources. What your cat is wired to grow on is the protein in its quantity.
Do Cats like Bananas?
Pet scientists have stated that cats can’t taste sugar. Hence, it is unlikely that cats would be especially attracted to food and fruits that are especially sweet. Does this mean all cats would find sweet things repulsive? Well, no.
There are always exceptions to every rule in life. Some cats would develop a sweet tooth over time. Others just merely enjoy the feeling of masticating a food that feels different from the regular; doesn’t mean they can taste it. In conclusion, it’s going to be hard for your cat to like bananas.
In any case, it is easier for cats to get used to eating banana chips. The main reason being the crisp nature and small sizes. As the owner, you can be the cause for your cat to develop a liking for any food like banana chips. That is bound to happen if you keep feeding it to them. Make sure your feline pets don’t get overly attached to treats like banana chips.
Are Banana Chips Good for Cats?
Okay, let’s check out the potential benefits your cat stands to get from feeding on banana chips. The source of these chips is banana, so that means the major nutrient content remains those obtained from feeding on the fruit.
Banana, as well as the chips, contains a good quantity of potassium, an essential mineral. The potassium content of banana chips is most pronounced as potassium chloride. This is the reason why banana deep fried with salt would contain too much potassium content. And you want to avoid that.
What does potassium do for your feline compadre? The mineral is associated with kidney and heart health. With a required quantity of 0.6% in a cat’s daily ration. A few slices of banana chips for your cat sure cover it for the day and fends off hypokalemia.
Before you make banana chips your go-to source for the mineral, you should note that most recommended feline foods contain enough quantity of potassium. So, feeding your cat with chips with potassium in mind might be counterproductive and may even lead to hypokalemia.
As a fruit snack, banana chips also contain a substantial percentage of vitamins. Most prominent is vitamin B6, also called pyridoxine. Pyridoxine is beneficial to cat wellbeing. It particularly helps with the health of their organs like the kidney.
Let me add a disclaimer at this point though. Your cat’s need for vitamin B6 is much more than a few slices of banana chips can offer. Why not feed your cat more then? That would mean more of the useless stuff in the chips as well. What this means is you should rely on a healthy cat diet to meet your cat’s vitamin needs.
On a final note, the good banana chips stand to offer your cat is its content of manganese oxide. This is a micronutrient that sees the health of your cat’s smooth and silky skin. Though this means your cat doesn’t need much of it in their food. Either way, it’s a potential benefit for your cat from banana chips.
Are Banana Chips Bad for Cats?
We just finished checking out the benefits that come with feeding cats banana chips. In this section, we’ll be looking at the other side of that coin. What are the risks that come with feeding your little feline friends banana chips?
Overcompensating on carbs
If you weren’t aware before now, here goes nothing; cats are obligate carnivores. What does this scientific word mean? In essence, it means your cat doesn’t appreciate carbohydrates and empty calories in its food. All your cat needs to grow and stay healthy is protein, fats, vitamins, taurine, and a couple of other amino acids. All of which it’s naturally programmed to get from feeding on animal meat.
Back to our discussion, banana chips and bananas in general. Banana is a fruit which means it contains naturally occurring sugar, the reason why it’s sweet. Natural sugar is carbohydrate – cat nemesis. Carbs are just empty calories to cats. They don’t offer anything to their general well-being.
In layman’s terms, more carbs for your cat means more fat than is needed. This is a gateway for obesity in cats. And not just that, your cat stands the risk of diabetes if you feed it too much sugar and carbs.
In the short term, too much sugar which can be gotten from banana chips, can result in a blood sugar spike for your cat and eventually an energy crash. It gets hyper for a couple before and gets drained drastically after that. Another result of too much sugar in cats is the risk of developing plaque.
Too much fiber than needed
Fiber aids food digestion and waste removal in the stomach. For cats, fiber is not all that needed for food digestion and even if welcomed, it must be in small quantities. So, feeding cats with large quantities of banana chips puts them at risk of diarrhea and dehydration due to excessive waste passage.
Also, cats don’t get to process fiber like humans or non-obligates like dogs. So, eating banana chips can lead to slow digestion and being bloated.
Should my cat eat banana chips?
Before you make this decision, weigh the pros and cons that we’ve gone through up until now to make an informed decision.
Additionally, you need to study the reaction of your cat to the snacky treat at first. Be on the lookout for;
Skin reaction – spots, swellings
Irregular breathing
Excess scratching
Stooling and drowsiness
Streaming from the nose or even eyes
If you notice any of the above, you might have an allergic reaction on your hands. Immediately stop feeding it to your cat and call your vet as well.
On a Final Note…
Banana chips are your best bet for giving your cat a tasty treat if it so fancies one. While you’re at that remember it’s only meant as a treat and not a major nutrient source. Banana chips should constitute nothing above 10% of your cat’s daily food allowance to ward off adverse effects.