{"id":27439,"date":"2018-07-03T18:39:28","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T18:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/?p=27439"},"modified":"2020-04-13T05:47:57","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T05:47:57","slug":"can-cats-eat-boiled-eggs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/can-cats-eat-boiled-eggs\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Cats Eat Boiled Eggs?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hard-boiled, soft-boiled, scrambled, over-easy, sunny side up, poached, or as an omelet! There are plenty of ways to eat eggs. And, when consumed in moderation, eggs are a great all-around food for cats, supplying many important nutrients.<\/p>\n<p>In the home kitchen, boiling is one of the most common ways to prepare eggs. If you&#8217;re always on the lookout for special treats your cat, you may be wondering if cats can eat boiled eggs.<\/p>\n<p>In this article we\u2019ll cover the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cats and Eggs, What You Need to Know<\/li>\n<li>Can Cats Eat Soft-boiled Eggs?<\/li>\n<li>Can Cats Eat Hard-boiled Eggs?<\/li>\n<li>Should Kittens Eat Boiled Eggs?<\/li>\n<li>Benefits and Drawbacks to Cats Eating Boiled Eggs<\/li>\n<li>Healthy Alternatives to Boiled Eggs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Cats and Boiled Eggs, What You Need to Know<\/h2>\n<p>People and cats have been eating eggs since the dawn of time. It&#8217;s even thought that chickens may have been domesticated first for their egg production.<\/p>\n<p>As anyone who has ever cracked open the <a href=\"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/can-cats-eat-egg-shells\/\">shell of an egg<\/a> can tell you, inside the shell you&#8217;ll find the clear egg white and the <a href=\"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/can-cats-eat-egg-yolks\/\">yellow egg yolk<\/a>. Nutritionally, over half the fat in an egg is found in the yolk, while the white contains the higher percentage of the protein.<\/p>\n<p>As mentioned before, there are many ways to cook eggs. The difference between soft- and hard-boiled eggs is that soft-boiled eggs are only boiled for about half as long, leaving a runny egg yolk inside.<\/p>\n<p>While cats are primarily meat eaters, many do seem to enjoy the occasional boiled egg, as we can see in the video below:<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Crazy Faced Cat Eats Egg Nom Nom Nom\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CKE0Trhqowk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2>Can Cats Eat Soft-boiled Eggs?<\/h2>\n<p>In the wild, cats don&#8217;t have a choice as to how their eggs are cooked. If a wild feline catches a chicken, they&#8217;ll eat it\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/can-cats-eat-chicken-bones\/\">bones<\/a> and all. And, any eggs they may happen to get their paws on haven&#8217;t been cooked.<\/p>\n<p>However, this doesn&#8217;t mean soft-boiled eggs are the best choice for your cat. The main problem with undercooked eggs is that they can harbor bacteria.<\/p>\n<p>A much safer choice is a specially-formulated cat food such as <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2tCOj7c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Purina Beyond Grain Free Recipe<\/a>. With white meat chicken and eggs, this <a href=\"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/best-cat-food-for-older-cats-that-vomit\/\">cat food<\/a> is formulated to meet\u00a0all of your kitty&#8217;s needs without the risk of bacteria.<\/p>\n<h2>Can Cats Eat Hard-boiled Eggs?<\/h2>\n<p>If you do decide to give your cat egg yolks, hard-boiled is the way to go. When the egg is cooked until both the white and yolk are firm, any bacteria that might have been present are destroyed.<\/p>\n<p>While fully-cooking the egg does change the consistency, as the following video shows, many cats love their egg yolks hard-boiled:<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Cat Eats An Egg!!\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GF_-8ZOT-oE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2>Should Kittens Eat Boiled Eggs?<\/h2>\n<p>Kittens tend to be more susceptible to disease than adult cats because of their size and immature immune systems. The toxins and bacteria that might be found in soft-boiled eggs are even more likely to make a kitten sick than an adult cat.<\/p>\n<p>The safest choice is to never feed a kitten eggs that still have runny yolks. If you&#8217;re going to give your kitten eggs, make sure they&#8217;re hard-boiled to kill potentially dangerous bacteria.<\/p>\n<p>However, keep in mind that too much hard-boiled egg in a kitten&#8217;s diet doesn&#8217;t allow them to get all the nutrition they need from their regular food. A high-quality, grain-free kitten food has all the nutrients a growing kitten needs.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2BdcONW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wellness kitten food<\/a> or else <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2iVtO0L\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Taste of the Wild kitten food<\/a>\u00a0are both great examples of nutritious food that kittens can &#8211; and should &#8211; eat.<\/p>\n<h2>Benefits and Drawbacks to Cats Eating Boiled Eggs<\/h2>\n<p>Eggs are packed with nutrition. Filled with vitamins and minerals such as <a href=\"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/cats-get-vitamin-d\/\">vitamin D<\/a>\u00a0and phosphorus, as well as a good amount of protein, eggs contain many of the nutrients cats need in their diet.<\/p>\n<p>When given in small amounts, hard-boiled eggs can be a nutritious snack for your feline buddy. You just want to make sure you don&#8217;t give them too much.<\/p>\n<p>Eggs, in particular the yolks, are relatively <a href=\"http:\/\/healthyeating.sfgate.com\/fatty-egg-yolk-4906.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">high in saturated fats<\/a>. Cats can enjoy a diet <em>proportionately<\/em> higher in fats than humans without any negative effects, but that doesn&#8217;t mean it&#8217;s good for them. The main problem with cats eating a high-fat diet is they\u00a0could become overweight.<\/p>\n<p>Soft-boiled eggs have been a source of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/features\/salmonellaeggs\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Salmonella<\/em> poisoning<\/a>.\u00a0While <em>Salmonella <\/em>doesn&#8217;t seem to affect cats as severely as humans, they can still suffer from a variety of symptoms when affected by this bacteria, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>High fever<\/li>\n<li>Lack of appetite<\/li>\n<li>Vomiting<\/li>\n<li>Diarrhea<\/li>\n<li>Abdominal pain<\/li>\n<li>Dehydration<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In severe cases, life-threatening septicaemia and endotoxemia may develop. While it&#8217;s unlikely a little soft-boiled egg will cause serious health problems for your cat, why take the chance?<\/p>\n<h2>Healthy Alternatives to Boiled Eggs<\/h2>\n<p>Your cat&#8217;s fine to have a little bit of hard-boiled egg from time to time. However, for their regular diet, a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2MV0PrL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">well-balanced cat food<\/a> is the best bet.<\/p>\n<p>For cats that like a little more variety, there&#8217;s also these <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2tDBDwT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Purina Beyond Natural Cat Snacks<\/a>\u00a0made with chicken and egg that will keep things interesting for your feline friend. And, if you really want to make mealtime fun, try putting those snacks in this egg-shaped\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2MZL3LU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interactive toy and food dispenser<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h4>So, can cats eat boiled eggs?<\/h4>\n<p>Well, now we know that cats can eat hard-boiled eggs. However, it\u2019s best to give them as a special treat and in limited quantities.<\/p>\n<p>We also learned that it&#8217;s best to avoid giving soft-boiled eggs to your cat or kitten because bacteria could be present that can make your kitty sick.\u00a0Most importantly, we saw that there are many safe and healthy <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2yD3vXC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">egg cat treats<\/a> that are great alternatives for your kitty.<\/p>\n<p><em>If you have any questions or would like to share a story about your cat and boiled eggs, please tell us in the comments below! We\u2019d love to hear from you!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hard-boiled, soft-boiled, scrambled, over-easy, sunny side up, poached, or as an omelet! There are plenty of ways to eat eggs. And, when consumed in moderation, eggs are a great all-around&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":27603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":5,"label":"Nutrition"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Can-Cats-Eat-Boiled-Eggs.png",800,578,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Phil Ruth","author_link":"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/author\/ruth_phil\/"},"comment_info":1,"category_info":[{"term_id":5,"name":"Nutrition","slug":"nutrition","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":108,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":5,"category_count":108,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Nutrition","category_nicename":"nutrition","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catkingpin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}