this post was submitted on 15 May 2026
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me_irl
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Why not? They basically eat offal in the wild
I thought the salt content was problematic for cats, but seasoning can be toxic too (garlic).
That's where the "cats can have a little salami as a treat" is from:
knowyourmeme.com/cats-can-have-little-a-salami
cats have super effective kidneys, in theory they could survive with sea water*
pure salted meats diet would more likely first kill a human than a cat.
the tradeoff is that the super efficient kidneys of cats are quite prone to fail and die making it the leading cause of death in cats after physical trauma(only by 0.1% (12.2%vs12.1%))^[1]^
*provided that the cat is eating fresh meat where they get majority of their hydration normally
^[1]^: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_in_cats
Yes, I said "thought" - literally that meme (origin) showed me how much better cats are vs eg dogs in regards to salt (and don't forget some spices are still toxic to cats, and we like to spice our wieners).
Some nuance debate still surrounds sodium content tho, cats can still get salt poisoning & high sodium in the blood affects all other organs (cells) too. Being able to survive vs good for them. Iirc they also require a bit less salt compared to humans.
(Also being accustomed to low sodium diet & then consuming large amount of salt in a short time period causes headaches & vomiting in humans too - the same shock can happen in a cat, especially not a very young one.)
its "little a" not "a little" for the meme
Yes, this is true, it's essential to the meme yet consistently botched from the start.
The best thing you can give a kitten is heart meat! It's great for their visual development
edit: I used to get pork heart at my Vietnamese butcher
Sausage isn't offal though. It is a pre-processed product full of salt and other things that aren't really good for a cat.