Can Cats Have Honey?

Can Cats Eat Honey?

Oh honey! Today, I want to answer the question on all our minds, can cats have honey? More specifically, can cats eat raw honey?

Humans love the sweet treats that honey provides. Heck! Some humans just love honey! Outside of the taste it’s also known to have great health benefits to humans, ease a sore throat, and some even use it for a face mask. (Me! Yep, I have).

Honey is a low calorie solution for a lot of sugar substitutes, at only about 64 calories.

But what about our ‘feline friends’, some have asked? And of course, by feline friends I mean our cats, our kittens, our home purrs slices. (Maybe not the last one).

Is Honey Safe For Cats?

Lucky for me, the answer to the original question is not completely black and white…it’s a tabby! Oh gosh, I hate myself for saying that. I’m sorry just ignore me.

Back to the question, there are a lot of mixed reviews when it comes to cats and honey. So let’s start with the basics.

In terms of basic health issues, is honey harmful to cats? No. Not really. Can you give cats honey? I guess.

They may try it, but chances are they are not going to like it. Which is good for reasons I will explain later. But let’s have the lead into another question, do cats eat honey?

Do Cats Even Like Honey?

The answer to that can vary. Some cats that have to try human food, may try this. This is especially true for kittens who how to try food their owners are eating, such as raw honey.

And just because your cat eats a small amount of honey, that doesn’t mean anything good or bad will happen. It’s just a taste.

Other feline friends probably won’t even try honey.

This is for one crazy large interesting reason. CATS CANNOT TASTE SWEETS.I know. Literal craziness.

There was a study that was done in 2005 that shows that cats lack the necessary ‘hardware’ in order to taste sweet things.

So, chances are if your cat tastes honey, they probably will not like it. Which means, they won’t have a desire to try it again. It’s like when you give a toddler a food to try, and they don’t like it. They probably won’t ask to try it again, or at least not for a little while.

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Is it Okay To Give My Cats Honey?

We have learned that feeding honey to cats technically isn’t bad for cats.

But is manuka honey good for cats? Let’s get back into that gray area.

Obviously you are not going to do a cat face mask with honey, but does it help with things in kitties like their insulin levels?

Or if they have an allergic reaction or a sore throat? Can honey help a cough in a cat?

Some many humans recommend honey for all the reasons above to help strengthen their immune system naturally without medicine.

Chances are the answer is no.

That is because cats can’t really digest honey. Cats are carnivores. That’s why most of their cat food is turkey, chicken, salmon. Meat, mixed with gravy or grains.

Cats also can’t process sugar the same way humans can which can cause a potential health issue if cats consume too much. This also means their bodies have to work hard to process honey.

Even a teaspoon of honey can cause stomach aches in some kittens.

Is Honey Bad For Them?

Now that I’ve completely confused you. Let’s see if I can wrap it up in a pretty bow. Is honey bad for cats? Kind of. Just because honey is not toxic doesn’t mean I would say honey is good for cats.

What Happens If My Cat Eats Honey?

If your cat consumes a tiny amount of raw honey, I would just watch them for a little bit to make sure they don’t have a stomach ache, or an allergic reaction.

With that being said, I would also recommend you not using honey as a home remedy to treat symptoms of your cat.

Their bodies aren’t the same as ours, and need to be treated as such.

Besides, there are plenty of options for home remedies for cats, just you wait and see.