# Egg whites, good or not?



## nerilka (May 17, 2005)

Now, I Used to give my past kittys Egg whites on occasion as a treat-does any else do this and does it have any health effects,good or bad?I read about this a long time ago in some book and They loved it! thanks!


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## Avocado (Apr 7, 2005)

raw egg white contains a substance called avidin that will bind to biotin (an essential B vitamin) and make it unavailable to the body. luckily, the yolk of the egg is high enough in biotin to make up for this. so if the egg is fed as a whole, then it should be fine, but feeing only the white can cause problems. this only applies to raw egg as far as i know, i believe that when eggs are cooked the avidin is deactivated.

i feed my kitties eggs on occasion and they love them. and eggs are the most digestable protien! when i give my cats (and my dogs) eggs i include the shell, dried and ground up fine.


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## emma_pen (Nov 2, 2004)

My cats & dogs occasionally get whole raw egg.


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## nerilka (May 17, 2005)

Oh gosh, I had a brain fart  It was the yolk I gave them,not the whites.Sorry about that!


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## emma_pen (Nov 2, 2004)

You should have seen my dogs the first time I gave them a 'breakable ball' :lol: 

My poochies get the whole thing, whole. They love it. One of them will carry it round gently in his mouth for awhile before breaking into it. (WARNING - ONLY SUITABLE FOR OUTSIDE USE!!!)


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## roseeden (May 18, 2005)

Why just egg yorks??? Is there anything wrong with egg whites???


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## Sol (Feb 20, 2003)

shengmei said:


> Why just egg yorks??? Is there anything wrong with egg whites???


Like Avocado wrote: raw egg white contains an enzyme called avidin that binds to biotin so it's not longer available to the cat. Someone once told me that the avidin only binds to the biotin in the egg yolk so if you feed the cat raw egg white and the yolk it makes plus minus zero, but I don't know if that's true.

However, most nutrients are in the yolk so the egg white is quite useless anyway.


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## horseplaypen (Apr 1, 2004)

How interesting! I'm always looking for new ways to spoil my cats. Is there not a fear of salmonella? I remember my mom always used to freak out about getting that from raw eggs.


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## shazino (Mar 27, 2005)

emma_pen said:


> My cats & dogs occasionally get whole raw egg.


What do you do Em do you mix it up and give them in a bowl or do you add it to there food :?: 

I am going to try it with my cats and dogs as a treat


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## emma_pen (Nov 2, 2004)

With my dogs, I literally just give them a whole egg, shell and all in the garden :lol: The cats, I stick it in a bowl and let them tuck in, usually without the shell as they tend to leave it. 

Dogs & cats are at far less risk to salmonella than us on the whole. And here's the shocker - if your cat was susceptible, he/she could just as well get ill from their normal pet food. I've only ever seen ONE dog (in 5 years) with salmonella poisoning, and she likely got it from a dry dog food.


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## shazino (Mar 27, 2005)

hmmmmm interesting stuff cheers Em


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## Sol (Feb 20, 2003)

horseplaypen said:


> How interesting! I'm always looking for new ways to spoil my cats. Is there not a fear of salmonella? I remember my mom always used to freak out about getting that from raw eggs.


I don't know how the "Salmonella situation" is in the US, but in Sweden basically all eggs and all meat is free from Salmonella. 

And then, cats are carnovires and they're bodies are better equipped for fighting "food poisoning bacterias" than ours.


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## roseeden (May 18, 2005)

Chopped boiled eggs are tasty :lol:


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