Can Cats Eat Dog Food? Can Dogs Eat Cat Food?

Cats are almost obligate carnivores, and their protein content requirements are generally no less than 30%. Commercially available cat foods usually contain about 40% protein, and cats’ demand for taurine (an amino sulfonic acid critical for cats’ cardiac and visual health) is several times higher than that of dogs. Therefore, cat food and dog food should never be fed interchangeably; long-term feeding of dog food to cats will lead to malnutrition.

Can Dogs Eat Cat Food?

Although the nutritional standards for cat food are significantly higher than those for dog food—meaning that cat food always meets or exceeds dog food standards—the high protein and fat levels in cat food are too excessive for dogs. As a result, dogs fed cat food are prone to obesity, pancreatitis, and gastroenteritis.

The Necessity of Separate Diets for Cats and Dogs

These two species have substantial physiological differences, so cats should eat cat food and dogs should eat dog food, and they should not be mixed.

Of course, there are some mixed cat-and-dog wet foods (labeled as suitable for both cats and dogs). Such wet foods are rarely intended as a staple diet; they are formulated mainly to meet cat nutritional standards. Since they satisfy cats’ requirements, they automatically meet dogs’ requirements. However, when dogs consume these mixed foods, they, too, tend to gain weight easily. Feeding them to cats causes no problem.

This is the fundamental difference between cat food and dog food—everyone should be aware of it.