Can cats eat avocado?
Avocado toast. Yum. Guacamole. Double yum.
Your kitty wants a little lick. Who can blame him? Should you let him have some avocado?
If you’re reading this post because your cat already had a little bite of avocado, don’t worry: she’s going to be fine. This is assuming she ate only the creamy insides of the avocado and not the skin or any other parts. More on the dangers of avocado skins, etc., below.
If you’re just deciding whether to offer your cat some avocado, don’t do it. Cats were not designed to eat avocado and it offers them no real health benefits, even though avocado can be a very healthful food for humans.
What is an avocado?
Avocados, sometimes called alligator pears because of their leathery dark-green skin, is the fruit of the Persea americana tree. The tree is an evergreen, meaning that it has foliage that remains green all year long, and it can grow up to 66 feet high.[1]
Yes, the avocado is a fruit, even though it’s not sweet. The fleshy part that we like to eat is the “berry.” An avocado has a single seed, which most people call the pit, in the middle of the berry.
Avocados are a nutritionally dense food for humans. They contain fiber, heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, and nearly 20 vitamins and minerals.[2] But they are relatively high in calories, around 240 for whole medium avocado. Sorry to ruin all your fun.
People have been eating avocados for at least 10,000 years, based on the discovery of pit found in a cave in Mexico. Avocados are still grown in Mexico – in fact, it’s the world’s largest avocado-producing country today. They’re also grown in Peru, Chile, and in the U.S. in California, Florida, and Hawaii.[3]
Avocados are not healthful for cats
Even though avocados can be an excellent food choice for humans, they are not healthful to cats for three main reasons:
Avocados contain persin, which is poisonous to cats
The avocado tree produces a chemical called persin, which is a natural fungicide.[4]
Persin is found in the skin, leaves, and pits of avocados. Persin leaches from the pits and skins into the flesh of the avocado, too, so every part of the avocado contains this phytochemical.[5]
Humans can eat the persin in avocado without issue. In fact, persin may actually turn out to be helpful to people. It’s currently being studied as a treatment for human breast cancer.[6]
But for almost all other animal species, persin is toxic. It can make horses, goats, rabbits, and birds extremely sick.[7] For ruminants – animals that chew their cud, such as cows and sheep – the first sign that they’ve eaten an avocado might be death.
Persin poisoning isn’t as immediately serious for dogs and cats as it is for some animals, but it’s still a toxin, and feeding more than a small amount is not good for them.
Just to be clear: we are talking about the avocado flesh here. The skin, leaves, and pit are extremely toxic, and you should not let your cat (or dog) have access to them.
Avocados are too fatty for cats
The fat in avocados is considered a healthy fat for humans. It’s been shown to reduce inflammation and protect against heart disease in people.[8]
But cats are not humans. A cat’s metabolism was designed for processing mice, which are relatively low-fat, not fatty avocados.
Too much fat can irritate a cat’s gastrointestinal tract and lead to pancreatitis, a serious, sometimes life-threatening inflammation of the pancreas.
As mentioned above, avocados also have a lot of calories, and many indoor cats suffer from excess weight. Avocados are really empty calories for cats.
Some cats are allergic to avocados
Some cats are actually allergic to avocado. If your cat is allergic, she might experience vomiting, diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain, and difficulty breathing after consuming a bit of avocado.
What should I do if my cat has eaten some avocado?
If your cat has eaten a small amount of avocado flesh and is showing no signs of illness, he will probably be completely fine. A tiny bit of avocado is nothing to worry about.
If your cat has eaten a large amount of avocado, or has somehow obtained access to avocado leaves, skin, or the pit, that is a different story. Signs that your cat is experiencing persin-toxicity include:
Call one of these two reputable poison-control hotlines for advice about what to do next:
ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center: (888) 426-4435
Pet Poison Helpline: (855) 764-7661
How to prevent avocado poisoning in cats
The best way to prevent your cat from ingesting toxic amounts of persin from avocados is to be mindful when you are preparing avocado for your own consumption.
Don’t leave the skin or pit out on the counter. Put it in a cat-proof trash bin immediately.
Don’t leave the yummy part of the avocado lying around either. While it’s unlikely that a cat would help himself to enough avocado flesh to become sick, it’s not outside the realm of possibility. The minute you say your cat “would never” do something is the minute he’ll do it.
A word about cats and their unusual metabolisms
It can be hard to understand sometimes why a food that is so healthy for people can be unhealthful for cats.
Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning that their digestive systems were designed to eat meat and only meat. They are obligated to eat meat. All cats – big and small – are obligate carnivores, as are many other animals, including dolphins, walruses, hawks, salmon, snakes, lizards, and most amphibians.[9]
Cats have relatively short intestines, because the animal-based meals they were designed to eat are quick and easy to digest. Omnivores – animals that can eat both plant and animal material – like us, have longer intestines that allow us to extract nutrients from fibrous foods, like avocado.
It’s one of the reasons your cat should never be fed a vegan diet, and it’s the main reason why something that is so healthful for you, like an avocado, isn’t really a good food choice for your cat.
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Dawn LaFontaine is a lifelong animal lover who always seems to have a little pet hair in her keyboard. Her blog, Kitty Contemplations, helps cat guardians better understand and care for the special beings they share their lives and homes with. Her cat-products business, Cat in the Box, sells beautiful, well-made, and award-winning products that she designed to meet the biological needs of cats.
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FOOTNOTES
[1] “Avocado.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Aug. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado.
[2] “Is Avocado a Fruit or Vegetable?” Avocados from Mexico, avocadosfrommexico.com/avocados/avocado-fruit-vegetable/. Accessed 30 Aug. 2024.
[3] “Avocados.” Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, www.agmrc.org/commodities-products/fruits/avocados. Accessed 30 Aug. 2024.
[4] “Persin.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Aug. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persin.
[5] ibid.
[6] Roberts CG, Gurisik E, Biden TJ, Sutherland RL, Butt AJ. Synergistic cytotoxicity between tamoxifen and the plant toxin persin in human breast cancer cells is dependent on Bim expression and mediated by modulation of ceramide metabolism. Mol Cancer Ther. 2007 Oct;6(10):2777-85. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-07-0374. Epub 2007 Oct 3. PMID: 17913853. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17913853/
[7] “Can Cats Eat Avocado?” PetMD, www.petmd.com/cat/nutrition/can-cats-eat-avocado. Accessed 26 Aug. 2024.
[8] Berkheiser, Kaitlyn. “Avocado Oil vs. Olive Oil: Is One Healthier?” Healthline, Healthline Media, 4 Nov. 2019, www.healthline.com/nutrition/avocado-oil-vs-olive-oil.
[9] “Raw Information and Resources.” Feline Nutrition - Answers: What Exactly Is an “Obligate Carnivore?” | Hare Today, hare-today.com/feline-nutrition/answers/answers-what-exactly-is-an-obligate-carnivore. Accessed 26 Aug. 2024.