Lettuce is a healthy leaf vegetables that we like to add in our salads and sandwiches. It adds taste and nutrition to our food. If you happen to like lettuce, then you might want to share it with your feline friend. However, can cats eat lettuce?
Can Cats Eat Lettuce? Only in Moderate Amounts
Yes, lettuce is safe for cats to eat, but there are some additional things you need to know before feeding your cat lettuce.
Lettuce is not toxic to cats, so you can feed some lettuce to your cat, but only a small amount of lettuce is safe. Lettuce, just like many other vegetables and fruits, contains quite a lot of dietary fiber, which aids digestion. However, if eaten in large quantities, the dietary fiber can have a laxative effect, especially for cats who don’t normally eat a lot of greens.
An okay amount of lettuce for cats would be one or two slices. You can simply add the lettuce slices to your cat’s normal food. That will help your cat recognize the lettuce slices as food.
The Benefits of Lettuce for Cats
You might also wonder whether there are any benefits to feeding lettuce to your cat. As lettuce contains many valuable nutrients, there is reason to believe that it would be beneficial for a cat to have some lettuce in his diet.
Lettuce is a very good source of vitamin A, which is essential for you cat to be in good health. It supports the immune system and good vision, it also helps to keep the skin healthy. In large quantities, though, vitamin A can be toxic to cats, so that’s another reason why you can only give your cat a little bit of lettuce.
Lettuce also contains a good amount of water. Iceberg lettuce, for an example, is 96 percent water. So, lettuce can also help to keep your cat hydrated.
As I already mentioned above, the dietary fiber from lettuce aids digestion, so lettuce would definitely benefit for your cat if he has trouble with constipation.
Different Types of Lettuce
There are many different types of lettuce available for us humans. The most popular are iceberg, butterhead, leaf, and romaine lettuce, which are all safe for cats in small quantities.
Can Cats Eat Cabbage? In Small Amounts, Cabbage Too Is Okay for Cats
You might also be interested to know whether it would be safe for your cat to eat cabbage. Well, just like lettuce, cabbage is safe for cats to eat as in small amounts. Cabbage can provide your cat with valuable nutrients such as vitamin B-6, calcium and magnesium. Fresh cabbage also has anti-cancer benefits. Cabbage can, though, cause uncomfortable gas for cats, so only a small amount is okay. Another reason why you want to limit the amount of cabbage you feed your cat is that cabbage contains thiocyanate, which, if consumed in large amounts, can have a negative effect on thyroid function.
To Sum It Up
In small amounts, both lettuce and cabbage are perfectly safe, even beneficial, for cats to eat.
Does your cat like to eat lettuce or cabbage? Does your cat eat these vegetables as separate treats or do you combine them with your cat’s regular food? Let us know in the comments below!
I prefer cabbage and lettuce to be with their regular food.
I usually put aside a little cabbage or peas or carrots and hand fees them as a treat to my elderly cat. She enjoys to have them and waits patiently for her treat once I have finished my meal!!!
I’m giving our cat cabbage mixed with his biscuits and cooked turkey. This is his weight loss diet. He has 1 ounce of biscuits and 1 ounce of turkey per day (divided into 3 small meals). The white cabbage is to bulk it out and fill his stomach. Our vet did not stipulate a specific amount of cabbage per day…. What do you suggest?
My kitten prefers to steal his lettuce off my husband’s plate.
LOL, yes my cat loves lettuce too! and would steal it off my plate if I’m not looking. But he gets scraps thrown to him while I am fixing my salad. If I don’t, he cries & bugs me for some 🙂 Thanks for the article… good to know not to give spinach. I buy a mixed salad blend, and now that I know I will not give him spinach!
A Domestic Short Hair & her sister, a Rag Doll mix, from the same litter. The black DSH begs for lettuce and goes after it like it is salmon. The Seal Point Rag Doll eats it several times a week. Sliced like blades of grass is their prefered way to eat it. They do not over eat on lettuce but there is seldom any left because of the DSH. We eat green leaf lettuce and so do they. For them, I cut off the white lettuce at the base of the leaf because it was usually leave in the bowl. They like the lettuce on top of their dry food in the morning. Their stool is healthier and easier to pass. Even the Rag Doll does not seem to have hair ball problems. They are apartment dwellers and I raised grass for them until they started digging in the dirt.
Glad to hear your cats love this healthy treat. What other “human foods” do they enjoy?
Peas are safe for them to eat, but the roundness of them causes an issue so I buy baby food and mix it with: cooked cut up chicken thighs, plain rice, 1 tbsp of olive oil, a pasteurized egg, and powdered kitty vitamins (buy on amazon). The amount of rice is about 1/4 a cup–increase to help with weight gain if skinny.
Try this it’s super gentle on my cats stomach and his coat gets super soft and silky. ^;^ Peas are great!