Can Cats Eat Sweet Potatoes? Yes, Cooked and Plain

Why plain cooked sweet potato is safe for cats

Sweet potato is not toxic to cats. VCA's fall food guide for cats lists it as a food you can share, noting that it is high in fiber and suggesting you mix cooked, pureed sweet potato into your cat's regular food. Fiber can help some cats with stool quality, which is part of why it appears in some commercial cat foods.

It is still a starchy vegetable, and cats are not built for starch. Cornell's Feline Health Center explains that cats are obligate carnivores, evolved to eat prey that is high in protein, moderate in fat and very low in carbohydrate. That is why sweet potato works as a small topper, not as a meal or a regular side dish.

Raw sweet potato and holiday dishes to avoid

Raw sweet potato is hard, fibrous and difficult for a cat to digest, and a chunk can be a choking risk. The skin is tough too, so peel it and cook the flesh until it mashes easily with a fork. Sweet potato fries and chips are fried in oil and salted, so leave those off your cat's plate.

Thanksgiving is when most cats get offered sweet potato, and the holiday versions are the problem. Candied yams are cooked in butter and brown sugar, casseroles are topped with marshmallows and pecans, and sweet potato pie adds cream, sugar and nutmeg. Set aside a plain spoonful before anything is added, and keep turkey bones away too: VCA warns they can splinter and cause choking or blockages.

How to prepare sweet potato for a cat

Peel the sweet potato, cut it into chunks and boil, steam or bake it plain until completely soft. Mash or puree it smooth, with no butter, milk, salt, sugar or spice, and let it cool to room temperature. Plain canned sweet potato is fine only if the label lists sweet potato and nothing else, not syrup.

Stir a small amount into your cat's usual wet food rather than serving it alone, which is how VCA suggests offering it. Cooked sweet potato keeps in the fridge for a few days, or you can freeze single teaspoon portions in an ice cube tray and thaw one at a time.

Many cats do better with small, slow portions, and a puzzle feeder or a slow feeder bowl helps with both.

How much sweet potato is enough

Cornell's rule of thumb is that treats should not exceed 10 to 15 percent of a cat's daily calories. For an average 8 to 12 lb adult cat, about a teaspoon of mashed sweet potato mixed into a meal is plenty, a few times a week at most. A cat under 6 lb should have half that.

Ask your vet first if your cat is overweight, has diabetes, kidney disease or a sensitive stomach, or eats a prescription diet. Starch adds calories quickly, and sweet potato should never replace the protein in your cat's bowl.

Kittens and sweet potato

Kittens do not need sweet potato. A kitten is growing fast and needs a complete kitten food that is dense in protein and the nutrients that come with it, and a small stomach has little room for starchy extras.

If an older kitten tastes a little plain mashed sweet potato, it is unlikely to cause harm, but keep it to a fingertip and watch the litter box for the next day. Kittens dehydrate more quickly than adult cats if diarrhea starts, so any loose stool that lasts more than a day in a kitten means a call to your vet.

Signs sweet potato disagreed with your cat, and when to call a vet

Too much fiber or starch usually shows within a day as gas, a soft stool or diarrhea, or the opposite, a firmer stool. If your cat is otherwise eating, drinking and behaving normally, stop the sweet potato and things usually settle within a day or two.

Call your vet if vomiting repeats, diarrhea lasts more than a day, there is blood in the stool, or your cat strains in the litter box without passing anything. Hiding, refusing food or lethargy also need a vet, because cats that stop eating can become ill quickly.

Other options for cats

Plain canned pumpkin, not pie filling, is the other fiber-rich vegetable often mixed into cat food in small amounts, and VCA's fall guide lists it too. Introduce only one new food at a time so you know which one caused any upset.

For a treat your cat will value more, try a small piece of plain cooked turkey breast or chicken with no skin, bones or seasoning. Cat treats made from a single animal protein are another easy choice.

This page is general information, not veterinary advice, and it cannot replace an examination by the vet who knows your pet.