Can Cats Eat Expired Chicken?


It often happens in every home when your cat needs food, and you’re out of the pantry. Thus, you look here and there searching for food, and fortunately, you see chicken but expired. In the time of emergency, expired chicken is the only way. But is this safe to feed her? Can it cause side effects? Hopefully, in this article, we will discuss all the details about cats’ food and look at how cats can eat expired chicken. 

Will a cat eat rotten meat?

Many people think cats do eat rotten chicken since they have wild ancestors’ diets. However, some are opposed and consider it risky to consume like humans. Expired food can cause threats and multiple risks to your body, such as food poisoning, contamination, and lack of nutrition. Even though eating fresh food helps you eat a load of nutrients and enjoy the best nutritional quality.

With that said, most car owner’s stay always prepares food to feed them. However, sometimes eating expired chicken depends on the cat’s diet plan. See if she noses up at the food she would really eat happily; otherwise, it not. Also, keep note that adds the food that your cat loves to eat, and ensure you have bought it from a reliable store. If food doesn’t meet the cat’s expectations, you can ask for a money-back offer. 

The expiry dates on cat’s food

You know that all food comes with both sales and expiry dates. Basically, the expiry date gives stale time (be it 1-2 days). At the same time, you are checking food for cat check with different varieties and expiry dates before ensuring the results.

Also, one must keep in mind that when you open a sachet of cat food, its exposure to air starts giving bacteria. If you want to feed your cat with wet food, it usually fills its tummy at one time. Moreover, if your cat is hungry and always fond of food, adding food to the bowl would be the best option. Also, it is pretty easy to throw out waste of food.

How can you save cat food?

If you want your cats don’t spoil your kitchen by popping our food, you can do it by keeping things in dry mode, excluding lights and sun exposure. You can even tightly pack the food in plastic bags to ensure safety. However, before making a final purchase of cat food, make sure to check the period of consumption, size of packet you will need, etc. Once the calculations are matched, you can know how safe this is.

Can cats eat expired-cooked chicken?

Eating expired chicken is extremely harmful to cats. They have a powerful digestive system but expired food is indigestible to them. However, if the expired chicken is cooked properly, then it will be safe for cats. 

If you would like to feed expired cooked chicken, then you need to consider a few facts. Feeding expired raw chicken should be detrimental as it would be harmful to cats. If you don’t want to throw raw expired chicken, then cook them properly before giving them to the cat. 

Ensure you have adequately cleaned the meat first and boiled it for half an hour. With this process, whole pathogens and germs will be killed. Also, you must add a pinch of salt to make it easy to eat for cats. Also, note that you cannot feed under-cooked expired chicken to cats. 

Is it safe to feed recent raw chicken to cats?

Most cat doctor recommends not feeding expired raw chicken to cats. Since expired raw chicken may contain harmful bacteria that may impact the digestive system and carry deadly diseases, however, if you have recently expired raw meat, then it will be okay to feed them.

Raw meat contains harmful bacteria, and if it is expired, it will become more harmful. If you feed this to the cat, it may cause several issues such as vomiting, fever, stomach ache, etc. Recently expired chicken is not as harmful as a few old days’ meats. But it is better not to play with the cat’s digestive system. If it is recently expired, then cook it before feeding them. 

What are the risk factors included in eating expired chicken?

When you feed raw expired chicken to cats, it will pose several issues to them. Since expired chicken has certain containments, infections, and bacteria that cause different sicknesses. The basic issues contain the following:

  • Skin infection
  • Fragi
  • Shewanella
  • Putida
  • Respiratory infection
  • Abdominal infection
  • Digestive issues

Despite these, expired chicken can cause life-threatening diseases such as dehydration, food poisoning, and nausea. For more details, read this study. 

What issues does a cat experience on eating expired chicken?

Be it humans or cats, eating expired chicken never be safe for anyone. 

If the chicken is one day expired, it can be okay, but if it is two weeks or months old, this acts as a poison. If your cat eats rotten chicken, it indicates several symptoms such as illness within 72 hours of consumption. 

Also, remember chicken rot quickly fast and can have several bacteria that can affect the digestive and bowel movements of the body. There is a high chance that month-old chicken causes more dangerous symptoms than one-month-old chicken.  

Moreover, if the body cannot digest food properly and expired chicken will hamper the body’s functions. Ultimately, it weaker the digestive system and causes threats. Your cat can be eating anything, but following security checks is important. 

What are the reasons that you should not feed rotten chicken to the cat?

Cats have a strong digestive system, but it can be affected if you choose rotten food to feed them. The following reason can assist you in avoiding expired feeding foods to the cat.

  • Cats can vomit 
  • Cats may encounter E.coli
  • They may get Botulism
  • Put the cat’s life in danger
  • Impact your GI tract

The Bottom Line

Finally, we have found that eating rotten chicken is harmful to cats. However, if you wish to give them expired (only one day old), cook that properly. Otherwise, bacteria present in old chickens negatively impact cats’ health. 

The article is reviewed by our editorial team based on our editorial policy and approved for the publication. 

Amelia Kteylor

Amelia Kteylor, DVM, attended the University of Georgia. She is a cat expert with 20 years of experiences in field. She has a passion as a writer and editor for pet publishing industry too. Amelia contributes to numerous pet magazines in the areas of pet health and groom. Further, she volunteered in cat rescue centers in her leisure time.

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