Cats Enjoy 'Cat-uterie' Board in Alfresco Dining Experience

Senior Life and Trends Reporter

🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.

A trio of lucky cats were treated like royalty by their owners after being presented with a custom "cat-uterie" board and pet-friendly wine.

Penguin, Pepper and Pia live in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, with owners Kelly and Kellan. As a special treat, the pair decided to give their cats something a little better than the usual cat-food-in-bowl meal they expected.

The video received 131,000 views on the Instagram account @penguinpepperpia and a further 10,000 on their TikTok with the same username. In it, the pet owners shared how they created the board step-by-step before placing it down for the excited felines.

Cat-uterie board — Pictures of the custom-made "cat-uterie" board, left, and a picture of cats Penguin, Pepper and Pia enjoying their feast, right. Their owner told Newsweek: "We were actually inspired by Wag Boards charcuterie boards for dogs... @penguinpepperpia/Instagram

Sales of wet cat food reached $2.99 billion in 2022 in the United States, with those of dry cat food hitting $2.84 billion in the same year, according to Statista.

"We were actually inspired by Wag Boards charcuterie boards for dogs on Instagram," Kelly told Newsweek. "We wanted to create a cat version for our fur babies to enjoy."

Costing around $30 to create, the board included wet-food pâté, freeze-dried treats, kibble, green-lipped mussels, dental chews, catnip, cat grass, bonito flakes and creamy cat treat Churu.

Amazingly, these aren't the first cats to enjoy a charcuterie treat. In March 2022, another TikTok user shared how she gave her elderly cat her own custom-made board to enjoy alongside her owner.

Beautifully presented on a board as you would expect in any high-end alfresco dining establishment, the feast was paired with a glass of "Pinot meow" cat-friendly wine.

How to Make a Cat Charcuterie Board

Ingredients:

Wet-food pâté
Freeze-dried cat treats
Dried cat food
Green-lipped mussels
Cat dental chews
Catnip
Cat grass
Bonito flakes
Lickable cream cat treats

How to:

Add ingredients to a wooden board. Start with the wet-food pâté and build your cat-treat charcuterie board up, just like you would with a regular charcuterie.

Mix textures and spread around different foods for your cats to find and enjoy.

Serve to your pet friends in parts, as too much food in one sitting could be bad for them.

"While we can't take our cat outside like dogs, we hope to create experiences like this for them inside our home," added Kelly. "Cats are often underrated, compared to dogs, so we wanted to share how much we adore our cats, since most people don't know how much joy a cat can bring."

Of course, the felines didn't finish the whole $30 board in one sitting. The meal took two days. The cats ate half when it was first created, and half with the cat wine on the 'catio'.

"Oh my gosh just look at them. Having the time of their lives," wrote one commenter on Instagram, while another viewer posted: "This is so precious."

Others posted that they were dying to try out the special treat for their own pets. One commenter wrote: "I'm going to have to copy this somehow."

While this board is packed with cat-friendly favorites, there are plenty of ingredients in a standard charcuterie board that would not be suitable for felines.

For example, onions and garlic are poisonous to cats and can cause gastrointestinal irritation and lead to red blood cell damage and anemia.

Crackers and bread are off the menu, too, as yeast dough can rise and lead to gas build-up in your cat's digestive system, causing discomfort. Dairy products can cause problems because felines can't break down lactose in the same way we can.

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.