Easter Treats for Cats: What to Hand Over and What to Skip

The short answer on Easter treats for cats is fish from a bag, in small pieces, and the Easter lily kept out of the house. Everything else in the Easter basket stays up high or goes in the trash.

We make freeze-dried fish treats in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and cats are on the list of animals they are made for. This page covers what we hand over ourselves. Then it walks through the weekend from a cat's height: the flowers, the basket, the chocolate and the ham. The list of things to hand over is short. The list of things to leave alone is longer.

The Easter lily

The Easter lily is the biggest line on a cat's Easter. It shows up as a potted plant, in a bouquet, on a church table and in a gift from a neighbor. On its Easter page, the ASPCA says: "Lilies (Lilium sp and Hemerocallis sp) can cause serious concerns for our feline friends."

The ASPCA plant entry for the Easter lily is the one to read if a cat lives in your house. Check every bouquet and potted plant before it comes inside. Look through a mixed bunch stem by stem, because a lily can be tucked in among the others. If one is in there, it goes back out the door.

The basket from a cat's height

Get down to the height of the floor and look at the basket the way a cat does. The grass is the first thing you will see. The ASPCA writes: "Plastic grass used in Easter baskets seem to be a fan favorite for pets, but unfortunately, can be very problematic for them."

We leave plastic grass out of the basket entirely. A folded dish towel in the bottom of the basket does the same job. Ribbon and foil are plain kitchen facts: they come off the gifts and the candy and go straight into a closed trash can, not a bag on the floor. The same goes for the little plastic eggs and their tape.

Chocolate

Chocolate is the usual resident of an Easter basket, in a bunny, an egg or a foil-wrapped box. The ASPCA's Easter page lists what it can cause: "Chocolate can cause gastrointestinal upset, pancreatitis, stimulation to the nervous system (hyperactivity, tremors and seizures) and elevation in heart rate."

Skip it, all of it, including the ears of the bunny. Put the box in a cupboard, not on the coffee table. Cocoa dusted on a dessert and the cake from the dinner are the same answer.

The ham

Ham is the other Easter table fact. It is cured with salt, it is often glazed with sugar or mustard, and the leftovers keep the glaze. Keep it on your plate. A cat sitting beside a chair is at a good angle for a scrap.

The ASPCA's list of foods to avoid says this about salt: "Excessive salt intake can produce increased thirst and urination, and sometimes abnormal electrolytes in the blood depending on the amount ingested."

Say no to the scrap. A small piece of fish in your pocket does the job, and it is a trade we are happy to make.

Easter treats for cats from the bag

Fish is the whole answer here, and it comes from our line only. Four of our freeze-dried treats are made for cats, and each one looks different on the counter.

• The Freeze-Dried Pink Salmon has one ingredient, wild-caught pink salmon, in a 1.5 ounce pouch. The pieces are medium and break into small, quick-reward sizes.
• The Freeze-Dried Whole Sardines are whole fish, small to medium, and the only ingredient is sardines. The bones are small and come out brittle after freeze-drying. They come in 1.5, 3 and 6 ounce sizes. A whole sardine looks like a whole sardine.
• Captain's Catch is a seafood medley of squid, octopus, shrimp, clam and mussel in a 1.5 ounce bag. It is not a single ingredient treat, and the pieces vary in size and shape from one to the next. The octopus looks like octopus.
• The Freeze-Dried Minnows are whole marble goby minnows in a 2 ounce bag, with a crunchy whole-fish texture. Size and color vary piece to piece.

All four are freeze-dried in small batches here in Pennsylvania with no added ingredients in the single-fish bags. The rest of what we make for cats is in the locally made cat treats collection. Our Easter page has the rest of the season.

Handing it over

Break a piece into a few smaller ones before it goes in the bowl or on your palm. The labels say to feed the fish as a treat or meal topper, to provide fresh water and to supervise while feeding. They also say it is not a complete diet. We have nothing to add to that.

The first time, offer one small piece of one fish and nothing else new that day. If your cat is on a special diet, or has never had fish, ask your veterinarian before the first piece. After that, a few small pieces on Easter morning is a fine amount for a treat. The bag is not a meal.

Reseal the bag after you open it and keep it in a cool, dry place. Keep the minnows out of direct sunlight too. Put a few pieces in a small dish, set it down somewhere quiet on Easter Sunday and leave the cat to it. That is the entire plan.

Cat questions

What can a cat have for Easter?

Fish from our line, in small pieces. Skip the chocolate, the ham and the plastic grass, and keep the Easter lily out of the house.

What do I do with a lily someone gave me?

Take it out of the house before the cat has a chance to find it. The ASPCA plant entry linked above is the one to read, and we have nothing to add to it.

Can a cat have a little ham?

We would skip it. Ham is cured with salt and usually glazed, and the ASPCA line on salt is quoted above. A small piece of fish is the better handout.

Can a cat eat freeze-dried sardines whole?

Ours are whole sardines with small, soft bones that freeze-drying keeps brittle. Break a piece into smaller ones and start with one.

Is there a freeze-dried shrimp treat for cats?

Not shrimp alone. Captain's Catch has shrimp in it along with squid, octopus, clam and mussel, so it is a medley and not a single ingredient treat.

How many pieces of fish should a cat get?

A few small ones. The label says to feed it as a treat or meal topper, and that it is not a complete diet.