Updated: August 10, 2022 by Kristen Chapple
The bananas are among the most popular fruits in the world and even if they don’t grow anywhere, today you can find them in almost any place on the globe in supermarkets or grocery stores. Fruits in general are important to the human diet due to the vitamins and fiber they contain but can cats eat bananas? Let us find out together!
There is a lot of potassium in bananas which helps the kidney and heart function properly for us humans but they have a lot of carbohydrates which cats don’t need at all, in fact they can even lead to problems.
Are They Useful In Any Way?
Bananas aren’t toxic to cats but at the same time there aren’t any benefits for them when eating a piece. These fruits have a high amount of natural sugar and this will make the health condition of your pet worsen. A lot of sugar can lead to an obese cat and also the risk of diabetes is much higher.
Among the things that might benefit your cat from bananas, they have the B6 vitamin that helps them absorb proteins better and manganese is also important along with copper and biotin but all of these can be assimilated from their normal food (meat) so it is always a better idea to just stick with that instead of experimenting with food that their tummy isn’t used to.
Since the digestive system of cats isn’t adapted to processing fruit their stomach can get upset by this effort and in the case of bananas it could lead to constipation. If the fruit is older and more tender then it could have the opposite effect, as many fruits do, and give your cat diarrhea which is also something you don’t really need.
How To Serve It
If you see that your cat is craving to have a taste of that banana you seem to enjoy so much then it is OK to offer them a piece. Since this food is so odd to them you might be surprised to see that after having a sniff they won’t even try to touch the stuff but if they do eat it make sure you won’t go overboard with the banana snacks.
Never feed rotten fruit to your pet or anything that you wouldn’t eat yourself and always make sure that the food is properly washed since it could have been sprayed with pesticides that are usually toxic to cats. The peel of the banana is edible too even if it is a bit more difficult to chew but due to the different things they are sprayed with it is better to just discard it and offer them some of the tender part.
Short answer:
Yes, they are safe for cats but should only be offered in moderation and not as a regular part of their meal.
