Sesame Oil

No. Cats cannot make the arachidonic acid they need from plant oils, so sesame oil does not replace animal fat.

Sesame oil is a vegetable oil pressed from sesame seeds. It supplies linoleic acid, an omega-6 fat, and contains plant compounds called lignans, such as sesamin. A 1984 study in cats found that dietary linoleic acid prevented most signs of essential fatty acid deficiency. For a cat with a medical condition, talk with your veterinarian before changing its food.

Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Sesame oil is used as a fat source that adds calories and linoleic acid to a dry food. Pettings notes that it also brings antioxidant compounds such as sesamin. It contains no arachidonic acid, so in a cat food it works alongside an animal fat rather than replacing one. It is rare on our list of dry foods.

Sesamin is a lignan, a type of plant compound found in sesame seeds and sesame oil. It has been studied for antioxidant activity, but most of that research was done in people and lab rodents. Cats have no known dietary need for sesamin. In cat food, sesame oil is there mainly as a fat source, and sesamin comes along with it.

Sesame oil is mostly an omega-6 oil, with linoleic acid as its main polyunsaturated fat and very little omega-3. Tufts veterinary nutritionists say linoleic acid is essential for all animals. For omega-3s, cat foods rely on fish or algae oils for EPA and DHA, or on flaxseed and canola for the plant omega-3 ALA.

Source: sites.tufts.edu

Pettings scores sesame oil 2 out of 5 and lists it as a vegetable oil. We found it on 1 of the 149 dry cat foods in our list. The ingredient score is separate from a food's overall score, which you can see on each food's page.