Can Cats Eat Seaweed?

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Have you ever wondered if cats can eat seaweed? If you’ve been a cat owner for any length of time, you’ve probably heard people talking about feeding their cats seaweed and all of the potential health benefits that are associated with it. Maybe you’ve started to wonder if you should be feeding this to your own cat. Like so many other questions that people ask about feeding certain supplements to their pets, the answer isn’t just a simple yes or no. There are a lot of things to be considered. Fortunately, you can find the answers right here.

Potential Health Benefits

As luck would have it, there are a lot of potential health benefits associated with feeding your cat seaweed. Perhaps one of the biggest benefits involves improved gut health, meaning that your cat is often better able to digest his regular food when seaweed is added to his diet. Of course, that isn’t the only benefit, but it definitely does help. It’s especially helpful if you have a cat with a sensitive stomach that seems to have issues with almost every type of food that he eats. If you feel like you have tried everything that the pet store offers and then some, it might be time to seriously consider adding some seaweed to his diet. It has a tendency to aid in digestion and calm a sensitive stomach, something that can be a real benefit for cats that struggle to keep anything down. In addition, you’re likely to notice a fairly significant change in the appearance of your cat’s coat. When seaweed is added to the diet, the coat often takes on a much more noticeable shine, as the coat itself becomes healthier. Many cat owners also feed seaweed to their cat because of its potential to reduce damage caused by free radicals. This might sound like a catch-all term for something purely scientific, but it amounts to potential improvement in your cat’s overall health, especially as he ages. Free radicals can do a lot of damage to the cells inside the body and are responsible for everything from cancer to heart disease. By reducing the number of free radicals in the body, you are potentially keeping your cat healthier for a longer period of time.

Cleaner Teeth Means A Healthier Body

You might even be surprised to learn that feeding small amounts of seaweed can improve your cat’s oral health by keeping his teeth clean. It might sound a bit odd at first, but it is an effective tool. Even more importantly, it’s an excellent way to ensure that your cat enjoys better overall health by helping to improve his oral health, as problems associated with oral health can cause a number of other health concerns very quickly. The last thing you want to have happen is for one of your cat’s teeth to become infected, as that infection can then go directly to the bloodstream and impact virtually every other vital organ in your cat’s body. It’s called sepsis and it can be deadly. If you can do something as simple as feeding seaweed to keep your cat’s teeth healthy, it would only make sense that you would choose to do so.

Too Much Of A Good Thing

While seaweed is good for most cats, you don’t want to overdo it, either. In fact, overdoing it could cause just as much harm as not feeding any seaweed at all. It’s largely because too much seaweed can impact the way your cat’s thyroid functions. Cats are predisposed to hyperthyroidism anyway, so the last thing you want to do is feed too much of a supplement that is known to kick the thyroid into high gear in and of itself. If your cat does develop a problem with his thyroid, it can cause a number of other health conditions that you will then have to address. Therefore, it’s a good idea to limit the amount of seaweed that your cat gets in his diet. It’s also more effective if you use treats or dental chews that have seaweed in them because they tend to work better than adding seaweed to his diet. He also makes the process much easier from your standpoint, as you can look at the back of the label and then feed the desired amount based on your cat’s weight. That way, you’re far less likely to feed too much seaweed.

Fears Over Feeding Supplements

Some cat owners have a tendency to be fearful to feed supplements to their cat because they think that those supplements could potentially cause them harm. The thing is, virtually any supplement or nutritional guideline that you would follow has the potential to do both harm and good for your cat. Like so many other things in life, it comes down to how much of a particular item your cat is getting and how often you decide to feed that particular supplement. Seaweed definitely falls into this category. It can have some amazing health benefits and it can give you a noticeable difference in your cat’s overall health. That said, it can also be potentially harmful if you feed too much of it or if you do it too frequently. That’s why it’s important to talk to your veterinarian first and then once you get the green light to give seaweed supplements, use one recommended by your veterinarian and don’t exceed the recommended dosage. If you follow these guidelines, your cat has the chance to benefit from seaweed supplements without potentially getting too much of it in his diet. Of course, if you have any concerns, it’s always best to bring those up with your veterinarian right away. As long as seaweed supplements are provided correctly, it can be one of the most important things that you could ever do for your cat’s health.