Quick! Can cats crunch cafe?

March 25, 2010 8:28 PM

Cuckoo kitty craves coffeebean crunch. Concerns?

my 9-month cat has developed a taste for spilt coffee - beans, that is. She anxiously waits for me to grind and set the next morning's coffee, tail a-switch. It's only a matter of time before she goes for my grinding hand, I know it.

As it is, she settles for whatever few beans I drop, just gobbles 'em down like candy. Caffeine is not a good thing for the kittehs, I hear tell - should I be concerned? I would guess the gets like an average of one and a half per day.

I sincerely hoped that it would lead to wild kitty spazz attacks, but no dice.

posted by mwhybark to pets & animals (11 answers total)

er, -she- gets, oops
posted by mwhybark at 8:29 PM on March 25, 2010

I have known cats who like crunchy things (though I don't know that any of them experienced coffee beans). Maybe try her on unsalted tortilla or potato chips instead? Occasionally, of course.
posted by rtha at 8:39 PM on March 25, 2010

switch to decaf?
posted by defcom1 at 8:43 PM on March 25, 2010

You can make your own Kopi Luwak.

It looks like a coffee bean contains about 10 mg of caffeine, and the amount of caffeine required to produce mild effects in a 10-pound cat is about 90 mg. So I think you're OK as long as your cat only has a bean or two.

You probably know that chocolate really is a problem for cats because of theobromine.
posted by lukemeister at 8:46 PM on March 25, 2010

I would be concerned about theobromine poisoning.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:47 PM on March 25, 2010

My parents had a cat who drank any unattended coffee she could get her face in, sometimes managing to down the entire mugful before she was detected.

She lived to be 17.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:24 PM on March 25, 2010 [2 favorites]

I would be concerned about theobromine poisoning.

Coffee beans contain no theobromine.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:46 PM on March 25, 2010 [2 favorites]

If it's the crunch she's after, drop some dry pasta. I had a dog who loved coffee beans, but LOOOOOOOOOOOOVED dry macaroni. Who knows.
posted by sarahsynonymous at 12:02 AM on March 26, 2010

I found this pet-safety article yesterday, it may be of interest.
posted by gakiko at 12:28 AM on March 26, 2010

Dropping by to mark resolved, belatedly. She never suffered harm from the beans. She was killed by a car about two weeks ago.
posted by mwhybark at 2:47 PM on June 6, 2010

Oh, mwhybark! That's awful. I'm so very sorry for your loss.
posted by rtha at 2:48 PM on June 6, 2010 [1 favorite]