can a cat eat dog food?

[Sonique]

... kind of an odd question I know but the reason I ask is because my brother went to the store and mistakenly brought some IAMs select thingys for cheap... but he got the kind for puppies instead of cats would it be okay for my cat to eat it anyway?

[Jolinar]

The problem with feeding dog (or puppy) food to a cat, is it doesn't have taurine in it, which cats need pretty badly. Without it, they can go blind or even die. I would think that eating it occasionally it wouldn't hurt them (I hope not, since my parents cats eat their dogs food sometimes), but they do need this stuff every day. Most animals make enough of it that they don't need suppliments, but cats don't for some reason. Probably because when they're wild and are eating rodents, they get enough of it from the brains of the rodents and small animals that are their natural prey.

Anyway, if it were me, I'd see if I could go trade the puppy food in (not sure if they allow this, but I've never tried) and I'd definately get some cat food instead.

Tara

[Traci]

Sonique, if you haven't opened it yet, take your receipt and the food back for an exchange.

Cats cannot eat dog food, Jolinar is correct, cats require taurine in their daily diet, dog food does not contain taurine. Please don't even think of letting the cats eat the dog food.

[Sonique]

Will do... I wasn't sure so...

or i might just give it to my brother since he has a dog