Updated: August 8, 2022 by Kristen Chapple
Pistachios, almonds, cashews, and other similar nuts grow on trees but peanuts are actually legumes that grow under the ground. They are the most popular shelled food due to their excellent taste and accessibility so you can simply roast them or put them in many different dishes. Can cats eat peanuts though? Let us find out!
Nutritional Value
Peanuts are high in proteins, vitamin E and biotine and at the same time they have few carbohydrates. The problem is that the proteins from peanuts aren’t suited to the needs of a cat, even if they do need a lot of proteins in their diet. The source from which they should take proteins is meat because that has a different balance of amino acids and among the most important ones is taurine.
Vitamin E as well as biotin will help the health of the cat’s connective tissue and the health of their skin and fur but there are better sources for get those nutrients.
Problems
The carbohydrates in peanuts make them a bad option since they have high fat contents and can make your pet obese if consumed in large amounts while at the same time leading to possible heart disease, cancer, arthritis or diabetes.
The fat from peanuts is monosaturated and that might be good for us but cats don’t have the digestive system needed to process large quantities of that type of fats.
Precautions
If you really want to feed a peanut to your cat then do take care of the following precautions:
Make sure the peanuts are raw, since the other ones can contain too much salt or other additives. Never feed peanuts dipped in chocolate to a cat since that is very toxic for them. Also make sure you remove the shell since that can do a lot of harm in the cat’s digestive tract.
Allergies
Peanuts don’t contain anything that is really dangerous for cats, they are just an unhealthy option overall, but some cats can show signs of allergies. If the first time you feed a peanut to your cat you see them starting to vomit or having diarrhea then this probably is because they cannot digest them. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they are allergic but the need some time to adapt to new food. The typical signs of allergies are itching, swelling or sneezing and in either of the two cases you should give up this attempt of introducing peanuts to your cat.
Peanut Butter
Peanut butter is covered by us in more detail in a separate article but as a general idea you should keep your cat away from anything that has high amounts of sugar since this isn’t at all healthy for them.
Short Answer:
No, they shouldn’t eat them. Peanuts offer no real nutrition to your cat and they are a very bad choice as a treat.
