Is pork ok for cats?

25349 Views 22 Replies 13 Participants Last post by kty78, Jun 11, 2012

yingying

Discussion Starter · Jun 5, 2012

I'm almost out of chicken and I'm not planning to do grocery until Saturday. I do have some raw pork loin in my fridge. Is it ok to give pork to cats? I would assume its no difference than beef or lamb, but I never see any canned food based on pork, and I don't think I read anyone feeding raw pork on this forum. So just want to make sure. :wink:

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1 - 20 of 23 Posts

spotty cats

· #2 · Jun 5, 2012

I've fed it for years as have other raw feeders, can depend on countries (apparently quite safe here) though I do know many in the US who feed it too

dweamgoil

· #3 · Jun 5, 2012

Yup! safe here, too. My cats love it.

Vivid Dawn

· #4 · Jun 5, 2012

Really?? I thought I remember reading (on here, I think) that it was bad.
Though now I can give kitties pork ever so often, as it's way cheaper than even chicken. YAY!

BotanyBlack

· #5 · Jun 5, 2012

My kitties love the chunked pork stew meat I get at the grocery. Never had any issues. If you worry about it, just freeze it a couple of weeks before feeding. but personally i have never had issues with pork fed raw.

~Siameseifuplz~

· #6 · Jun 5, 2012

Willie LOVED pork, it was his favorite meat. The concern was always for trichinosis, but I believe that's very rare in the US nowadays. It might change from state to state though. Most types are not killed by freezing. I felt safe enough to feed it, but you have to make your own choice.

yingying

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jun 5, 2012

Thanks forks! Yay pork for my girls tonight! I think it will be the first time they eat pork. Hope they like it

Oh BTW, is pork higher in fat? Of course I'm only feeding them lean meat, but still, does even lean pork meat contains more fat than chicken or beef? I'm mornitoring my Meatball's weight. So if pork is fat, I might reduce the amount for her.

kty78

· #8 · Jun 5, 2012

It is no more fatty than beef, I think it is actually less.

cinderflower

· #9 · Jun 5, 2012

pork is only fatty when it's bacon. pork doesn't marble like beef, so yeah, it's less fatty. the fat on it is visible. (read: any meat that dries out easily when you cook it probably has a low fat ratio. )

the only concern with raw pork is trichinosis and the way it's processed in the united states, it's veritably unheard of. people could even eat it raw if that's what made them happy lol.

i don't really know why you don't see pork cat food except that i think most of the hog is used in things like potted meat, spam, hot dogs, stuff like that. they make ham baby food.

cinderflower

· #10 · Jun 5, 2012

once again, it's almost impossible to find a definitive answer online and there are a lot of weird things lol

(from a petco site)
Pork - Fat is generally beneficial to cats, but the fat globules in pork are larger than the fat globules in other meats, and can clog the small blood vessels of a cat. Avoid any pork products, especially bacon, which contains the hazardous preservative, sodium nitrate.

(from some cat forum i think)

Originally Posted by Celerocity

The tissue in pork is much different than poultry, fish, or beef, and many animals have difficulty processing the fatty parts of it. There are also several chemicals in pork tissue that can make many animals sick as well. Your pet is MUCH safer going a day without food, than eating pork.hmm, well I'm extremely bored at work, so i did some googling. Most places i checked agreed pork products, like most foods not specifically made for cats, is ok every once in a while. In fact, pork fat is an ingredient in lots of commercial cat foods. The only reason you don't see any pork-based cat foods (most will be chicken, beef, fish) is because all the pork leftovers (scraps) are used in things like hot dogs and bologna and therefore too valuable to use in cat food. *shrugs*

I dunno, I'm no expert, but I couldn't find any substantial proof that pork is any worse for a cat than chicken/tuna/beef

lol. first of all, it's crazy to say there are chemicals in meat unless they're added, but sodium nitrite (or nitrate) would be present in cured meat so i wouldn't feed my cats bacon or lunch meat. if it's raw pork loin, just cut off the visible fat. i'm not sure there is a difference in size of fat globules (???) but i don't think big hunks of fat is good for any living thing anyway.

i'm going with the economic factor that most pork is used to death in human food.

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littlesushi

· #11 · Jun 5, 2012

our kitties love pork! i think pork loin is fairly lean. i'm not an expert either, but i was under that impression.

yingying

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jun 5, 2012

Thanks again folks!

When I was cutting a few pounds off myself, I read a lot of advices all say eat chicken, or if I have to, eat beef, but avoid pork at all cost. So I got the impression that pork is very fatty. LOL

@cinderflower: Yeah internet is a weird place... I searched "feed cat pork" before I post here, and the first link Google give me (a yahoo answer) says pork compromise cats health because they cannot digest it. This is from a pet nutritionist (at least she claims so). But it doesn't make much sense to me, so I have to check with ppl who has first hand experience

Ritzpg

· #13 · Jun 5, 2012

Ritz likes pork, and I always cut off visible fat, regardless of the meat. It's not her favorite protein, she prefers the expensive stuff like lamb (can be quite fatty), veal and rabbit (the latter is very low in fat, and taurine).

cinderflower

· #14 · Jun 5, 2012

yingying said:
Thanks again folks!

When I was cutting a few pounds off myself, I read a lot of advices all say eat chicken, or if I have to, eat beef, but avoid pork at all cost. So I got the impression that pork is very fatty. LOL

there's the good old national beef farmer's organization at work for you.

bacon and ribs are fatty. the rest is almost all less than beef and it's also mono-unsaturated, for what that's worth.

it also makes a difference how it's cooked. i think most people tend to eat fried pork? (i have really never eaten pork in my life lol) (people think i'm deprived because i've never eaten bacon. am i?

) so just like there's a vast difference if one eats an extra-crispy fried breast from KFC or a baked skinless chicken breast, (460 vs. 118/184 cal. depending on size i guess)

koobe

· #15 · Jun 6, 2012

My cats all eat port occasionally. Works fine here.

Galathiel

· #16 · Jun 7, 2012

Pork is about as lean as chicken these days.. much leaner than most cuts of beef. My husband often bemoans the fact that pork just doesn't taste the same anymore .. due to its being so lean across the board .. even bacon is not as fatty as it used to be. Pigs are kept much leaner animals than they used to be.

yingying

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jun 7, 2012

Wow, I didn't know there are so many pork feeders on this forum!

I'm SO glad to know that pork is leaner than beef! I like pork a lot more than beef

Bacon is one of my mom's favorite but not mine. I don't know why all the bacons are so salty...

Anyway, my girls had their first taste of pork last night. I think they like it

yingying

Discussion Starter · #18 · Jun 7, 2012

Galathiel said:
Pork is about as lean as chicken these days.. much leaner than most cuts of beef. My husband often bemoans the fact that pork just doesn't taste the same anymore .. due to its being so lean across the board .. even bacon is not as fatty as it used to be. Pigs are kept much leaner animals than they used to be.

I guess it's partly because fat doesn't weight as much as lean meat? And also ppl nowadays care a lot about heath and weight control, so fatty meat possibly doesn't sell well... But I can feel your husband's pain :lol:

Galathiel

· #19 · Jun 7, 2012

I think it all started years ago when pork was getting a bad rap for being "fatty". That's when the campaign for "Pork .. the Other White Meat" took off and I think pig farmers felt they needed to lessen the fat in pork to be able to compete when chicken became so popular.

MowMow

· #20 · Jun 7, 2012

I don't feed raw (canned here) but I do give raw as treats and for teeth and I give them bits of raw pork all the time. If I'm eating pork chops I cut off bits and share (before it's cooked).

When MowMOw was eating raw he got pork kidneys and raw pork meat several times weekly.

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