Can you feed cats dog food?

While some dog foods may contain additional vitamin A, many won't have the amounts a cat requires for a lifetime of optimum health. #2 Taurine is an amino acid all cats require. Dogs can make their own. This also happens when cats eat a fish-only diet, since fish meat is so deficient in this amino acid. read more

You shouldn't feed dogs cat food because the caloric density, high protein levels, and heavy doses of fat aren’t ideally suited to all canine gastrointestinal tracts –– or to their waistlines. More than anything else, cat food-eating dogs tend towards the obese and suffer more gastrointestinal ailments than others. read more

Feeding your cat an improper diet, namely food formulated for dogs, can result in a variety of illnesses. A lack of taurine, which is not found in dog food, can cause blindness, heart problems and deafness, according to PetMD. read more

But if your dog does vomit or have diarrhea, make sure the dog can’t get [into] the cat food again, because it’s obviously one of those dogs whose GI system reacts badly to cat food.” Even if your pup is one of those with an iron gut, long term it is not good for a dog to eat primarily cat food, Dr. Crowell-Davis says. read more