Ask just about any Bengal cat owner, and one of the most common bits of feedback you’ll get or one of the most common things you’ll hear is how much their pets love to eat raw meat.
While most cats will enjoy eating raw meat when given the chance, there don’t seem to be many breeds outside of Bengals who enjoy it quite so much.
So is it actually safe for your Bengal cat to eat raw meat, and should you allow them to do it?
What sort of things do you need to consider before feeding them raw meat?
In this article we’re going to look more whether or not Bengal cats can eat raw meat, and how to make sure you keep them safe, if you are going to feed them raw meat.
The Physiology Of Cats
To start off with, it’s important to understand the physiology of a Bengal cat or any domestic cat, for that matter.
Cats – compared to humans – have quite different digestive systems.
For example, they have shorter digestive tracts, which means there’s less time for any bacteria or parasites to potentially get into the cat. They also have different stomach acids. Basically, they have totally different ways of working internally compared to humans.
What this means is that cats (including Bengal cats) are generally able to eat raw meat safely.
Think about all types of cats and their everyday behaviour. Cats are excellent hunters, and love nothing more than going outside to catch mice, birds and the like (just like they would in the wild).
any cats will do that on a daily basis for their entire adult lives without ever getting sick. And that’s simply because cats have evolved over many thousands of years to raw meat without any negative health consequences. And so, cats, including Bengal cats are able to eat meat that would basically make humans sick quite quickly, all thanks to their excellent digestive systems.
So if you’re wondering whether your Bengal cat can eat raw meat, you are probably safe to let them do so.
Remember – all cats are obligate carnivores and actually need to eat meat/animal products to survive!
A Word Of Warning – Quality Matters!
And those cats live. You know perfectly fine with with absolutely no health consequences provided they’re fed the right type of meat, you know, decent quality. What you have to remember as well with cats, is that they are all obligate carnivores they can only really eat meat. So even if you feed your bingle dry food. What it is is animal products that have been, you know, turned into a dry, sort of dry formula behind and combined with other ingredients. You can’t, you know, feed your cat vegetables only. It just simply doesn’t work like that their digestive systems and bodies are not built to handle it. So, basically, cats, including Bengal cats are set up from birth to be able to eat raw meat because in the wild, what do they do they go and catch their dinner. They can catch their breakfast and catch their lunch. You know, and they’re able to do that with basically no ill health consequences whatsoever. Now, you do need to be wary that you’re stating your being okay decent quality meat if you are going to feed it raw meat. One of the best things to do is to take this approach. If you’ve got a piece of meat in your fridge that’s raw. Would you cook that and eat it as a human. If you wouldn’t cook it and eat it as a human because it’s been sitting in the bottom of your fridge for two weeks and you just can’t be bothered throwing it out. Then for the safety of your cats probably best not to feed them that you don’t have to say you’re beating or the finest cats have still at stake or they’ll probably quite enjoy it, they’ll be happy to eat just about any kind of raw meat, including raw chicken or raw chicken is also safe for Bengal cats, and any cat for that matter, however, you don’t want to deliberately be feeding them rubbish quality meat or expired or or potentially gone off mate, even though they would probably be okay to eat it. That does increase the risk of something going wrong, especially if your cat has a compromised immune system or is getting old. You know that they’re going to be less likely to be able to cope with any potential nasties that looking within the meat. So to conclude as your Bengal cat can eat raw meat. There is no ill health consequences that is going to come from this, provided they are in good health themselves, and also that you are feeding them decent quality meat, that, you know, isn’t sort of laden with contaminants or anything like that so don’t, you know, fall into the trap of thinking you’re going to just use your bingle as a sort of feline waste disposal unit that’s probably not quite so good.
Conclusion – Can Your Bengal Eat Raw Meat?
If you go to the supermarket and you think “hey I’m going to buy a piece of chicken or a little piece of steak, and I’m going to feed that over the course of a few days to my cat as a treat alongside its normal food” – or even if you want to look at doing a totally raw diet, there probably isn’t going to be any problem with it as long as sensible precautions are taken.
And so really all you’re doing by feeding your Bengal cat raw meat is giving them more of an experience that they would have in the wild. Provided you follow commonsense safety precautions, you should be fine.
Hi there
My bengal cat stays with my chickens he grew up in a chicken coop. Today I allowed him to catch and eat a dove that flew in. To me cats should eat birds and rats. What can happen if he does eat birds and rats that he catches himself. I won’t give my cat raw meat myself.
Thanks for commenting Cara-Mia!