Do you know if broken egg shells are digestible for cats?
Response by Michael
Broken egg shells are 95% CaCO3 (calcium carbonate). This is not going to hurt your cat in reasonable or relatively small quantities. I presume you are asking because your cat likes eating egg shells or eats them when eating eggs. I guess you might like eggs, by the way! Seashells are made of the same substance.
You can buy supplements for humans that contain calcium because it is good for healthy bones, muscles, nervous system, and the heart. The anatomy of the cat is similar.
Within reason (a reasonable quantity), eating egg shells won’t be a problem for your cat unless it is habitual and goes on for a long time. If this is the case, please take your cat to a vet.
It is an alkaline substance (a low pH). If your cat is eating it, I wonder if she/ he has stomach acid problems? I am really speculating, here. I may be off target because your cat might just like eggs and eats some egg shell as a consequence – i.e. she eats small quantities as a side effect of eating raw eggs.
Calcium carbonate is used in some raw cat food diets so it is essentially good in reasonable quantities.
Another possible reason is that your cat is not eating the eggshell because of the nutrients in it but the remains of the contents of the egg which are stuck to the shell. The egg white part of an egg contains nutrients to feed the chick. These nutrients may be desirable to some cats.
Another alternative is that the shell has a nice texture to crunch on. It may be like eating bone (as part of prey). The cat ends up swallowing it. It may be predation instinct coming through because wet cat food is sloppy and there is no bone in it.
I hope some regulars can make a comment to add to my response. This is an unusual question. Thanks for visiting and asking.