Can Goats Eat Cat Food? (Is Cat Food Safe For Goats?)

We’ve had a stray cat that’s been coming into our house at night.

I’m not entirely sure how it gets in—although that’s a different question.

When I’ve seen it, though, it doesn’t look well—scarred and bruised.

So, I’ve been leaving some food outside for it in the hopes we might be able to get it checked out.

Since we bought cat food for the occasion, I also ended up in a bit of a bind with my goats—I needed something to feed them to tide them over before I could get more feed.

I wondered if cat food would be safe.

So, can goats eat cat food?

Goats should not eat cat food. Goats and cats have diametrically opposed diets—cats being obligate carnivores, and goats being more or less obligate herbivores. Goats should not eat any kind of meat as it could make them very sick. There’s no reason to feed them cat food.

So, even in a pinch, it would almost certainly be safer to let the goats go hungry for a short while as you find appropriate food.

Eating meat could make them very, very sick, and so there is really no reason to do so.

Let’s look further into this.

Should goats eat cat food?

No, is the simple answer.

When coming up with your goat’s diet, you should do your best to create the closest approximation to their wild diet that you possibly can.

This means entirely plant matter.

Often, goat owners will have a large pasture for their goats to roam and forage, and provide hay, fruit and vegetables on the side.

This just about covers most of what your goat will need.

As you can see, there is no room in there for anything that contains meat.

Goats may have a reputation for being able to eat anything—in fact, they are far more discerning than you might think.

They have strong preferences, and this is because the actual extent of their diet is quite limited.

All they need is fresh plant matter, and perhaps some kind of alfalfa pellet.

That’s all their diet should contain.

So, before we are even talking about cat food in particular, you can see that goats simply don’t have to eat meat at all, let alone everything else that is in cat food.

Is cat food good for goats?

As you can probably imagine, no, it isn’t.

Some may disagree on the quantities of protein that your goat might need—and indeed this may differ based on the intent behind raising the goat.

However, no legitimate goat owner would suggest eating cat food, or any kind of meat product, is good for your goat.

The other point to remember is that, just because it may work in the reverse—in the sense that cats would much better stomach things goats might eat—doesn’t mean it goes both ways.

While cats shouldn’t really eat any goat food either, a carnivore eating plant food is far less dangerous than a herbivore eating meat.

Let’s look at why.

Related – Can Cats Eat Dog Food?

Why is cat food bad for goats?

There is a great variety of reasons that cat food is bad for goats.

It isn’t much more complicated than, as I’ve already said, the fact that goats are herbivores and cats are carnivores.

Goats do not have a digestive system equipped to handle meat.

Beyond that, though, as I said, a herbivore eating meat is far more dangerous than the other way around.

This is, broadly speaking, due to the presence of microbes in the meat which a meat eater’s gut is equipped to break down.

Goats lack any such faculties, and the microbes can cause havoc on their digestive system.

So, at the very least, feeding your goat cat food will lead to discomfort, pain, possibly diarrhea, and it will pass through mostly undigested—leaving your goat feeling full, but without any actual nutrients.

But this is the best-case scenario.

Can cat food kill a goat?

In extreme circumstances, cat food could well kill a goat in large enough quantities.

What you need to be careful of is anywhere you have cat food stored that your goat could get into it without you realizing immediately.

In such a case, a goat could well gorge itself to the point of death.

It would take a fairly large amount, but it is far from impossible.

In most cases, goats will be smart enough to know to avoid cat food, and certainly in large amounts.

But you should always take the utmost caution—there’s no point taking any chances with it.

The worst has happened, and your goat has eaten cat food—so what to do?

What to do if a goat eats cat food

The simple answer is calling the vet.

Medically, there’s very little you can do for the goat if it has ingested a lot of cat food.

Stay with it to comfort it and keep an eye on it, but medically you will need a vet out as soon as you can get one.

If you can’t get a vet, then just stay with the goat and hope for the best.

As I said, it would take more than a little to kill the goat—but don’t take any chances.

So, while you might not kill your goat by letting it eat a piece or two of cat food, there’s still equally no reason whatsoever to do so.

In any quantity it stands a serious risk of causing harm, pain or discomfort, and in larger quantities there is the serious risk of death or lasting illness.

Remember, goats should never eat meat, and it can be seriously detrimental to their health if they do.

Don’t let your goats’ feed run out.