Can cats eat spicy food? Can cats taste spicy food?

Dec 27,2023
4Min

I don’t know if everyone likes spicy food. There must be many friends who like spicy food. Recently, when I eat spicy food, my cat will come up to me. This raises a question: Can cats eat spicy food? Can they taste it? Do you like the spiciness?

Can cats eat spicy food?

Let’s start with the answer: Cats cannot eat spicy food! Because peppers contain capsaicin. When cats eat chili peppers, capsaicin is released, and capsaicin can irritate the cat's mouth, causing the cat to drool, tear, and have a runny nose.

When a cat eats spicy food, the reaction is basically the same as that of a person who cannot eat spicy food. The adverse effects of cats eating spicy food are not only spicy mouth, but capsaicin can also have an adverse effect on the cat’s digestive tract. Once the capsaicin compound enters your cat's mouth, the resulting pain will prompt the cat to swallow or spit it out. If the cat chooses to spit the food out, it will suffer no further ill effects.

If your cat swallows spicy food, capsaicin will irritate the throat and stomach lining, causing vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea! If your cat has persistent diarrhea, there is also a risk of dehydration.

Can cats taste spicy food?

Cats can't taste cayenne pepper, but they can still feel its side effects, such as a burning sensation. In fact, spiciness is not a sense of taste. It is a pain sensation that stimulates the nasal cavity and oral mucosa. So rather than whether cats can taste the taste of chili peppers, it is better to say that cats taste the pain. That’s why we see cats. Cats will have a mask of pain after eating spicy food.

Why are cats attracted to spicy food?

According to records in National Geographic, tree shrews are the only animals that like to eat peppers. Cats don’t like spicy food at all. If cats can’t taste spicy food, and chili peppers can cause harm to them, then why are some cats interested in spicy food? It may be the following reasons:

1. Attractive aroma

For cats, the taste of food is very important. If the cat cannot smell the food, it will refuse to eat the food it once liked. Our usual spicy food is often based on meat, which usually has a strong fragrance that will attract the cat's attention. If what you eat is delicious, it will arouse the cat’s desire.

 2. Attractive temperature

We like hot food, and so do cats, so cats will be attracted to our food. In short, some kittens are just too greedy and always want to try our Twoleg food. But no matter how much the cat wants to eat, we must stick to the bottom line and don’t give the cat spicy food!

Previous article:How to properly and effectively cool down a kitten with a cold and fever?
Next article:What should I do if my cat doesn’t want to defecate in the litter box?
Related articles