Is Black Forest ham safe for my cat to eat as an occasional treat?

Fully-cooked pork should be fine to give in moderation as a treat and with any fat cut off and bones removed. However, as with any people food, it is best to only give it as a treat and feed your cat a regular balanced diet for her meals.

I personally prefer giving a cat dry food, or a mixture of dry food and wet food. Cats have extremely specific dietary needs, which is very hard to achieve in a homemade diet. For example, cats cannot convert certain animo acids into essential ones they need to be healthy, and they therefore must be present in the diet for the cat to meet the important dietary requirement. There are four brands of food that have a veterinary nutritionist on staff to make sure the recipes for the food meet the cat's nutrition needs, and they are Royal Canin, Hill's Science diet, Purina ProPlan, and Iams. I recommend feeding your cat from those brands. If you really want to do to a homemade diet, I will put two websites below that have recipes for homemade balanced diets for cats. As for chicken and ham, chicken is fine as an occasional treat as long as it's boiled white meat chicken with no bones. I do not recommend ham because it's too fatty. I hope this helps! https://secure.balanceit.com https://www.petdiets.com

People food is just that – food for people. Cats are obligate carnivores, and as such, have a delicate balance of protein, carbohydrates, fat, and vitamins and minerals that must be maintained. Cats should eat a balanced high quality diet in order to meet all of their nutritional needs. Unbalanced diets with vitamin/mineral imbalances risk a variety of health problems. Home cooked diets are not as commonly recommended, but are preferred by some cats and pet owners. If you opt to go down this road, a carefully crafted recipe by a specialist in veterinary nutrition should be used with proper vitamin and mineral supplementation. Even with a commercial diet, occasional treats of boiled white meat chicken, turkey, salmon, or tuna can be perfectly fine in small quantities.

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I do not recommend giving any of those foods to Theo and Furby. Bacon grease is high in fat and can cause pancreatits, flavored jerkies are typically high in sodium which can cause dehydration or garlic/onion flavors which are toxic to cats and dogs, raw eggs can be contaminated with bacteria and cause diarrhea. If you want to mix something into cat food, there are many canned foods or broths (for cats) available in pet stores that may entice your cats to eat. I hope this helps and am happy to answer any other questions you may have!

Too much human food adds extra calories a cat doesn't need. In addition, it can make them picky, as they tend to like human food better and then won't eat their cat food. It's fine to give as an occasional treat, but I actually never give my cats human food at all. For a treat for them, I give them Temptations or canned food. I hope this helps!

A tiny bit (literally 1 lick) is unlikely to cause an issue, even if you do it multiple times a week. Avoid giving it to her in any significant quantity, though, as it could potentially cause some pancreatitis due to the relatively high fat content. It could also lead to weight gain or gastroenteritis if she's getting too much. thanks for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

A small amount is unlikely to do any harm, however it is probably too high in sodium to make a good treat for Lily. I'd also be concerned about mackerel causing vomiting or diarrhea. I'd suggest finding a cat specific treat made by Royal Canin or another pet food company as these will be less likely to cause GI distress. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!