Is turmeric for cats beneficial? Judging by the amount of 'golden' supplements available, one can be forgiven for thinking it is. (Curcumin is the active ingredient in turmeric.)

But let's look a bit deeper.

One of the problems with us humans is that when we discover that something is good for us, we think it's good for everyone. Sometimes it is, often it isn't.

It's all about the species.

Humans are herbivores. I know that will cause a lot of eyebrows to rise, but please bear with me.

We benefit from a wide range of plants based foods including turmeric. Our teeth are like horses teeth. They are grinders. Our stomach acid is mild, like horses. We all know horses are herbivores.

Cats are carnivores. They have spiky teeth to slice up meat and crunch on raw bones. They have stomach acid that is roughly 20 times stronger than ours.

There are many other anatomical and physiological signs that separate us.

Whenever you want to improve the health of someone, there are two important considerations to make first.

1. Why are they sick in the first place? Can you elicit the cause of the problem, then correct that? If that is possible, then you don’t need to consider anything additional.
2. Is the medicine/supplement/herb suitable for that particular species?

Let’s look at why cats are sick in the first place. Because this can answer both questions.

Most cats are fed commercial cat food. Dry food is the most popular food. This dry food is often left out all day.

If this is your preferred food for your cat, then I ask you, no I BEG you, to look at the list of ingredients. Bearing in mind, that the list of ingredients reflects the quantity used, so the first ingredient will be the largest, the last ingredient the smallest.

I picked a popular brand sold by most vets. The first ingredient was vegetable protein isolate. So that’s the bulkiest. There were 21 listed ingredients, 15 of them were from plant based foods. Most were at the top of the list.

Try that for yourself. Then ask yourself if you think your cat, a carnivore, can be healthy on such a diet?

This is the root cause of unhealthy cats.

Most people appreciate that cats are carnivores. Carnivores eat meat. They can’t eat plant based food. Their system is not equipped to digest or utilise the complexities of plant based foods, as herbivores or omnivores are.

So this is the number one reason why most cats are sick. They have been fed plant based foods for years and their body can take no more.

It is also nutrient bankrupt. There is no nutrition in commercial cat food. It keeps them alive, for a while, but it doesn't keep them healthy.

Now turmeric is a spice. It’s a plant. The supplement is often mixed with pepper, which enhances its absorbability. Pepper is another plant. And it’s then often mixed with coconut oil. Yet another plant based food.

Appreciating that cats are carnivores, it makes perfect sense that turmeric for cats is potentially dangerous.

Rather than look for supplements for a sick cat, it is better to see what the cause might be. By changing the diet to a quality, natural, species-specific one, the health of your cat can miraculously improve. MIRACULOUSLY.

An analogy would be running your unleaded car on diesel fuel. It wouldn’t run very well, if at all. You would damage the engine. You would shorten its life. But, if the damage has not gone too far, by changing back to unleaded fuel, your car would run normally.

Diet is that important. Get that wrong and no amount of supplements will right that wrong. Turmeric, sometimes referred to as golden paste for cats, is not something you should be considering. Take it for yourself, by all means. But don’t give it to a carnivore.

Your job is not to seek out treatments for your cat as often that is too specialised. Your job, and only you can do this, is to feed your cat a biologically appropriate diet. Even then, you may need help.

Whilst the diet will go a long way to heal any sick cat, sometimes they need extra help. Use the services of a professional homeopath for that extra help and watch your cat's health transformed into a vibrantly healthy cat.

Is turmeric for cats beneficial? I hope you can now confidently rebuff anyone promoting this supplement. By understanding this simple idea, you will know more than any mainstream veterinarian.