How to use turmeric for your cat?

Is it safe? And if so, what’s the right dosage and how to give it to your cat.

You need to understand that turmeric is completely safe for humans, dogs, and even cats (from my own experience since conclusive studies are nonexistent); however, you need to respect the right amount to avoid side effects and complications.

This is the truth, there aren’t many conclusive studies when it comes to using turmeric for cats, most studies are geared towards humans, and the few pet studies we have related to turmeric are related to dogs and other farm animals, but when it comes to cats, I have to be completely honest with you, the studies are extremely rare.

Here are the subjects we are going to talk about:

Is Turmeric Beneficial To Cats?

When it comes to using turmeric for cats, the jury is still undecided, although there are hundreds of people who swear by its health effects and safety when it comes to our feline friends, as previously mentioned, scientific studies are still lacking, but from what people have experienced and noticed, and from my own experience with our two cats, I can definitely say that turmeric is very beneficial for cats.

Use this powerful Turmeric Immune System Booster For Cats to increase your feline’s resistance to chronic diseases, parasites and infections: Click Here!

Is Turmeric Safe For Cats?

Ground turmeric

Turmeric contains a powerful organic compound called curcumin, it’s the one responsible for shrinking cancer cells and many benefits associated with turmeric consumption.

Yes, cats can eat turmeric, however, because we do not have any information on how their digestive system deals with this spice and whether it can have long-term effects or not.

in my opinion, I recommend that you do not give your cat high amounts daily, use it as medicine and when needed, as a preventive remedy.

At home, turmeric is given to our cats only when there are problems; for example, when they have wounds, we live near some big trees, and our cats go to adventures almost daily, or when they have intestinal issues, it helps them tremendously.

Is Turmeric Poisonous To Cats?

Turmeric is not toxic to cats; however, you need to be careful because, according to the FDA, many brands have high lead concentrations, which have led to many recalls, Gel Spice, Inc. and Spices USA Inc. to name a few.

Turmeric powder should not be contaminated with lead; however, growers are intentionally adding this toxic metal to increase weight and enhance color.

Lead is also added to hide imperfections such as pest attacks and bruises.

When buying turmeric powder, always make sure you are choosing reputable brands and only get the organically grown ones.

To know more about this subject, I highly recommend that you read the following research paper under the title “Ground Turmeric as a Source of Lead Exposure in the United States”: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5415259/

What About Curcumin?

Curcumin is the compound responsible for giving turmeric its bright yellow color.

When you buy, for example, turmeric supplements, you are probably getting curcumin, it’s also present in cosmetic products and is used as a food coloring as well.

To humans, a dose of up to 8 grams per day showed no toxicity, apart from some very few patients who reported diarrhea or feeling nauseous, however, for cats, because of their smaller weights, and also because of their carnivorous nature, curcumin dosages should be extremely minimal in order to avoid toxicity.

What Conditions Is Turmeric Good For When It Comes To Cats?

For humans, turmeric intake can be beneficial for the following conditions:

  • Cancer
  • Liver function
  • Reduces joints inflammation
  • Heart and circulatory problems
  • Dermatitis
  • Digestive issues
  • Arthritis
  • Pain reduction

These have long been studied and reported in scientific journals, for example, Duke University found a large number of citations, more than 700, for curcumin and cancer, observing that turmeric was effective in the prevention and/or also the treatment of different types of cancer such as: prostate, colon, liver and breast cancer.

Which brings me to my next section:

Cats With Cancer

Turmeric powder

Using turmeric powder is a great way to prevent different health issues like cancer and diabetes if you cat is at risk, if it’s overweight for example.

If your cat has been diagnosed with cancer or if you would like to prevent your cat from developing cancer, then you need to start giving it turmeric at least once a week.

In fact, Colorado State University’s Animal Cancer Center researchers are assessing the possibility of using curcumin to treat feline cancer.

You must understand that turmeric is a very powerful spice, and it’s not a question of taste, it’s a question of health benefits.

Turmeric contains active compounds such as curcumin, which are responsible for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities.

Many studies have also pointed to curcumin as being a powerful anticancer compound.

You can consider curcumin as one of the most powerful antioxidants in the world, and turmeric contains about 4%, which is huge!

I’m sure that you already know about antioxidants and how they are vital to our health, but do you know how important they are for cancer prevention?

Antioxidants are simply going to protect cells’ DNA from damages. Without this protection, a healthy cell can turn into a cancer cell that’s going to divide haphazardly and cause a tumor!

The same thing is going to happen in cats as well, with their rich diets and sedentary life, their bodies are going to be exposed to a lot of oxidative stress.

In other words, free radicals are going to attack their cells’ DNA, and this is going to increase their cancer risks dramatically.

By giving your cat turmeric at least once a week, you are going to prevent cancer in theory, because, let’s not forget, there aren’t a lot of studies done concerning turmeric and cats.

What If Your Cat Is Already Suffering From Cancer?

A friend of mine had a cat that was suffering from lymphoma, it lost weight rapidly and was very weak and in pain all the time.

My friend decided to give up buying junk food for her cat and only to prepare homemade meals, to which he added turmeric powder daily.

His cat slowly but surely started to recover and lived to be sixteen years old until she died two years ago.

This may be a coincidence, but a lot of studies have shown that turmeric, especially curcumin, is very powerful against human cancer cells, so you have nothing to lose, it’s very easy to use and cheap as well.

Moreover, turmeric is going to stimulate and increase immune function; in other words, your cat’s immune system is going to fight off cancer cells much more efficiently.

Eosinophilic Granuloma

If your cat is suffering from Eosinophilic granuloma, the most common form is eosinophilic plaque, which is a very common skin disease.

You need to sprinkle turmeric on its food daily.

Although turmeric is not going to help directly with Eosinophilic granuloma.

However, it’s going to reduce it because this skin condition is after all an inflammatory disease.

And the fewer inflammations your cat has, the less Eosinophilic granuloma is going to be visible.

Indeed, according to Wikipedia, autoimmune disease can be one of the main causes of this skin problem.

And as you may already know, the immune system uses inflammations to attack the body.

As turmeric is very rich in anti-inflammatory compounds, it can be very helpful for cats with Eosinophilic granuloma.

Cysts

Cysts can be of inflammatory or bacterial origins.

This means that the skin is going to have either a tumor or pus, liquid, in it.

By giving your cat turmeric daily, you are going to lower inflammations while also lowering cysts’ size considerably.

Of course, you need to consult with your veterinary before attempting to give your cat turmeric as there are many effective treatments, such as surgery or drugs that can be used to rid your cat of a cyst rapidly.

Diabetes

Usually, diabetes affects 1 in 230 cats, however, veterinarians have found that the rates are rising dramatically.

When I first wrote this article in 2015, it was 1 in 400 cats!

It’s because cats are no longer eating healthy foods that are suitable for their natural diets.

Even worse, cats are spoiled in my opinion, they have access to food all day long, and they don’t move that much, in other words, they look just like most of us, overweight and sedentary!

In nature, cats only eat once or twice (if they are lucky) a day, and they keep moving a lot to avoid predators and also to find food.

However, our sedentary cats are becoming lazier and are also consuming larger amounts of calories every single day!

This increases their diabetes risks a lot.

Diabetes is first of all an autoimmune disorder, pancreatic cells are going to dwindle in number and abilities to produce enough insulin and this is the reason why people and even cats get type II diabetes in the first place.

If your cat is overweight, you need to start giving it turmeric at least once a week as it lowers inflammations and thus decreasing diabetes risk.

Yeast problems

If your cat is suffering from yeast issues and infections, then you must give it turmeric as well, because it contains many antifungal properties.

More importantly, because turmeric increases immune response while lowering inflammations, your cat is going to recover much faster while also suffering less pain and discomfort.

Wounds

Because we live near some very big trees where there are lots of insects and small animals such as rodents, our cats love to go there.

Whenever they have a wound, the first thing I would do is to mix half a teaspoon of turmeric powder with two teaspoons of warm water and treat the wound with it every day for up to two weeks.

After I’m done, I let my cat lick its wound.

Usually, within the first week, our cat is going to feel much better and will recover its mobility very quickly.

This is all thanks to the anti-inflammatory compounds found in turmeric powder; they lower pain levels while also containing antibacterial properties, which are going to increase immune function while decreasing recovery time.

Arthritis

Turmeric can be extremely powerful if your cat is suffering from arthritis since this condition is most often associated with an autoimmune disorder, meaning that the immune system is attacking your cat’s joints.

We have already talked about turmeric’s amazing anti-inflammatory benefits, especially its main organic compound, curcumin.

The same compound is the one responsible for lowering both pain and degenerative symptoms related to your cat’s arthritis.

I’m going to share with you later on how you can use this powerful spice to reduce arthritis symptoms in your cat.

Worms

There are many articles treating of the subject of cats worms, some users have even suggested using coconut oil, to be completely honest with you, I tend to leave my cats to treat themselves because they know what to do.

For example, around the house, there are different weed species that our cats enjoy, this seems to clear their intestines off warms completely, and to help them get rid of worms, even more, I add a few grams of turmeric to their daily food.

It’s because turmeric is very rich in anti-parasitic compounds, for more information on this subject, you should read the following study which details how turmeric was used to get rid of worms efficiently: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5756309/

Feline Stomatitis

Feline stomatitis is a very serious, painful and chronic oral disease that affects cats because of an autoimmune reaction to dental plaque.

You can say that Feline stomatitis is an inflammatory mouth disease.

I’m sure that by now, you know that I’m going to refer you to using turmeric as it contains high levels of anti-inflammatory compounds, mainly curcumin.

Indeed, scientists at Vanderbilt University noted that curcumin could be very beneficial in reducing the progression of autoimmune diseases in the animals.

Turmeric Powder Dosage For Cats

In this section, we are going to discuss the most appropriate dosage of turmeric to give your cat.

To be short, do not exceed a quarter of a teaspoon if you are going to give your cats turmeric once a week, and if your cat is small in size, only give it a quarter of a teaspoon.

For daily intake, you can give your cats a quarter of a teaspoon as well, but please, I want you to be careful, and if your cat is suffering from health issues, you need to consult your veterinarian before attempting to do this.

One more thing, never give your cat uncooked, raw, turmeric, it’s not going to be highly absorbed by its system.

Turmeric is not water-soluble, meaning that most of it, if not mixed with a fatty substance, is going to be wasted.

The best thing you can do is to boil water with one or two teaspoons of fat and then add turmeric to it and let everything cool down, then mix it with its food.

The last section of this post will show you a fantastic turmeric recipe for your cat.

And one more thing, if you would like your cat to be very healthy and strong, then you must avoid giving it junk food; in fact, your cat should be starving a little!

This is how nature designed cats to be, they do not eat every day, and they must be active all the time looking for food!

Of course, you can’t do this to your cat, this is the reason why you need to give it food only once a day and give it as many opportunities to play and discovery as possible.

Again, you need to try this powerful Turmeric Immune System Booster For Cats!

Golden Turmeric Paste For Cats

Turmeric oil

Turmeric is fat soluble, so, using it with water will block its absorption and your cat will be throwing most of it out without benefiting from its amazing health properties.

Here is one of my favorite turmeric recipes for cats; it has two versions, the first one relies on using a fatty substance, and the second one relies only on water.

For more information, I recommend that you check out this post, I have really benefited a lot by reading it: http://www.foodfurlife.com/turmeric–the-golden-paste—unsafe-for-cats.html

Here are the ingredients you will need:

  • Half a cup turmeric powder
  • One cup of water
  • A quarter of a cup lard

You may be wondering now about the use of lard!

Well, let me tell you that cats are carnivorous, many people recommend using coconut oil or even olive oil.

well, these are plant-based fats, and cats are carnivorous as I have just mentioned, so it’s more logical to give them something their bodies are accustomed to digesting, which are animal fats.

How To Make Golden Turmeric Paste For Cats

In a saucepan, bring the turmeric and water to a boil then lower the temperature and let everything simmer until you get a paste, this would usually take about 10 minutes, don’t forget to keep stirring.

Add your lard and keep stirring until everything combines perfectly.

Now, let’s talk about the water-based version, the one I don’t use a lot:

Remove lard from the ingredients and use the same steps as the lard version.

This is how I make turmeric paste for my cats when they are sick or have parasites; I give them a quarter of a teaspoon every day, with their food, since they are quite large.