can cats eat peanut butter

by Chairman Meow estate dictator, reluctant columnist, who sees no dignity in a mouth glued shut

Peanut butter is not poisonous to cats, but it is one of those foods where not poisonous and a good idea are a long way apart. It brings a genuine choking hazard, a load of fat and salt a cat has no use for, and, increasingly, a hidden ingredient that can be lethal. My advice is short: there is no reason to give it, and a few reasons not to.

the sticky problem

Start with the obvious. Peanut butter is thick and gluey, and in a small animal that is a real choking risk, a wad of it can lodge at the back of the throat in a way that soft food does not. Cats also lack the enzymes to handle it well, so it commonly brings on an upset stomach, and it is dense with fat and often salt, neither of which belongs in a carnivore's diet. Make it a habit and you are looking at weight gain and, over time, the health troubles that ride along with it.

the peanut-butter optimist in question

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the hidden danger: xylitol

Here is the one that turns a bad idea into a dangerous one. Many modern peanut butters, especially the low-sugar and diet kinds, contain xylitol, an artificial sweetener that is seriously toxic to dogs and treated with real caution in cats. It hides in the ingredient list where you would not think to look, so a spoonful of the wrong jar is not a harmless snack. Always read the label, and if a peanut butter contains xylitol, keep it away from your pets entirely.

the verdict

Weigh it up: a choking risk, a fatty gut-upset, and a sweetener that could seriously harm your cat, all in exchange for a food a cat neither needs nor, given it cannot taste sweet, particularly enjoys. A tiny lick of plain, xylitol-free peanut butter will not poison a healthy cat, and people do sometimes use a smear to hide a pill, but as a treat it fails every test that matters. Why risk it? Keep the peanut butter for your toast, and give the cat something made for cats.

Related reading from my desk: what foods are toxic to cats, where xylitol and its friends are listed, and how much should i feed my cat, on the fatty extras that quietly widen a cat.