Ground beef (or mince beef as it is known in some countries) is a popular staple in many fridges and freezers.
It’s so popular where I live that people refer to “mince night” – the night of the week where a household usually has some kind of ground/minced beef dish.
But can Bengal cats eat ground beef?
You may have noticed your Bengal sniffing around when you cook up ground beef for dinner, and you’re wondering if it is safe and advisable to give them any.
In this article we are going to look at whether or not it is safe (and sensible) for your Bengal to eat ground beef/mince.
We are going to look at this from two key perspectives:
1. Safety
2. “Overall” health
Is Ground Beef Safe For Bengal Cats?
The first thing we need to do is determine whether or not ground beef is safe for Bengal cats. If it is a fundamentally unsafe product that could cause harm, then it stands to reason that we want to avoid your cat consuming any.
Fundamentally, ground or minced beef is not unsafe or dangerous for Bengal cats (or any cats for that matter)
In fact, it could be argued that in moderate quantities, ground beef is good for your Bengal.
Remember that Bengals (like all cats) are obligate carnivores. They must eat meat/protein in sufficient quantities to stay in good health. Bengals cannot live healthily on anything other than meat-based diets.
Ground beef is a fantastic source of protein, so that important box is ticked.
While ground beef alone would not be suitable feed your Bengal as (as it is not a complete diet) it is certainly not harmful in the strictest sense of the word.
So if your Bengal has scoffed down some of your ground beef while you were cooking dinner, well you have nothing to worry about from an immediate health risk perspective.
Can I Feed My Bengal Cat Ground Beef As A Treat?
Now we’ve determined that ground beef is safe for Bengal cats but isn’t a complete food source (i.e. you cannot feed it to your cat as their only source of food) we need to determine if it is actually advisable to feed your bengal cat ground beef as an occasional treat.
Here are some things to think about:
* If you’re going to feed your Bengal cat ground/minced beef, then we advise feeding higher quality, lower fat options. The protein is good for your cat, but the excessive fat not so much.
* Although Bengals can usually eat raw meat with a fair degree of safety (you can read our article about this topic hereP, because of the way that ground beef is made and processed (and the inherent higher risk of it carrying contaminants and bacteria) we recommend you feed only cooked ground beef.
* Avoid feeding your Bengal ground beef that has been highly seasoned, salted or cooked with lots of oil or butter.
* Allow it to cool before feeding.
* Remember that ground beef is relatively high in calories so you don’t want to be feeding too much, too often.
Conclusion
At the start of this article, we set out to answer the question “can Bengal cats eat ground beef”.
We can now see that not only is it safe for your cat, but also a great option as an occasional treat.
Just bear in mind the advice we gave about safety and preparation and you’ll have nothing to worry about (maybe apart from your Bengal getting too much of a taste for it)
