Friday, July 16, 2010

Tuna + Cats = NO!!

"Ask any mermaid you happen to see? What's the best tuna?........", "Charlie knows, the best tasting tuna is......" , when it comes to your cat NEITHER!!  Surprised? So was I. Well at least years ago I was surprised when my vet had told me NEVER to feed "people" tuna to my cat. I never questioned why, I have this habit of listening to what my vet says much of the time without question so....I never fed either of my cats tuna.

Lately while reading other cat blogs that I follow, Facebook comments and reading various updates on Twitter, I am reading more and more about people serving their cats tuna, for purposes of this blog  when I am referring to  tuna I am referring to "people" tuna, "human" or "hooman" (if you are an "anipal") tuna, NOT tuna flavored cat food, got it? Good.  Now that we are on the same page, STOP FEEDING YOUR CAT PEOPLE TUNA....NOW!

Why?

"Cats can develop yellow fat disease from having too much tuna" (from http://www.connollyac.com/) "Yellow fat disease occurs most commonly in  young, overweight male and female cats with inappropriate diets." "Yellow fat disease is an inflammation of the fat tissue in the body due to a deficiency of Vitamin E."

Dr.Richard Brancato (a Clearwater, Florida veterinarian) says "although it is (tuna)  high in protein, tuna lacks sufficient amounts of certain amino acids, mainly taurine, to maintain feline health. There is insufficient calcium to balance the phosphorus; the ratio in canned tuna is 1-to-14.8 This results in bone disease."

From Yahoo.com "the most you should do is to use the WATER that is drained off from the can of tuna (not the OIL...for another reason), and drizzle it over their dry cat food once or twice a MONTH. They'll think they died and went to cat heaven...but without the danger".

Another vet from Yahoo.com said "I've had to treat numerous cats over the years for pretty severe enteritis resulting from eating tuna meat. One of my own babies got so ill from it when someone else left it sitting out on the counter for 5 minutes while he turned his back to take a phone call, that I had to put her on IV fluids for 2 days, in addition to intestinal medications"

"Tuna-FLAVORED food is okay.....Tuna meat.......BAD! How many cats do you know that go swimming in the ocean to catch tuna and eat it as part of their natural diet?"

'Nuff said.


I participate in the Saturday Pet Blogger's Blog Hop!!!

15 comments:

  1. Caren, I take it that it is bad for your cat to be on a human tuna diet, but is it bad if you are making tuna for yourself and you let your cat lick the bottom of the can as a snack/treat? When I make tuna I always let our cat do this, but I am definitely going to stop if this is the case. http://www.cat-toure.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Elyse!

    I wouldn't let your cat lick the actual tuna from the bottom of the can of human tuna. What you can do is pour the WATER (not oil!!) from the can of tuna onto some food (like dry food, with no pieces of tuna...just the water)......

    ReplyDelete
  3. Caren, I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask but I do know you love all kinds of animals. Is it ok to feed cat food to my pet tuna? He loves it, and I would hate to find out if it's bad for him! Thanks in advance! KEEP ON ROCKING IN THE FREE WORLD.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for this thorough warning, Caren. Greatly appreciated!! Of course, Sophie will not be happy initially for it, but, alas, she'll get over it. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dawn you are most welcome!!! Shhhhh....don't tell Sophie where you heard it! I don't want her coming after me! :)
    Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. My cat Au is sick when he eats tuna - made for cats or people.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am so sorry that Au gets sick due to tuna....the best thing? Do not give him "people" tuna anymore! I hope you weren't giving Au a lot. If he gets sick from tuna flavored cat food for cats I wouldn't give him that either! My Cody doesn't like tuna flavored cat food at all!

    ReplyDelete
  8. CAREN, thank you so much for this information. Gee !!! I just feed human tuna to my cat visitor yesterday ( a little bit ). Lucky !!!! she didn't touch it , she smelled it but not eat.

    And thank you to visit my blog : )
    Everyday Cat Visitor

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Boom!
    Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
    Are you kidding me? I LOVE YOUR BLOG! I posted it on my Cat Chat page on Facebook and I subscribed to it. I love it!
    See, your kitty visitor was smart not to eat the tuna!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi, Caren.
    Just wanted to say hello and that I love your blog. Great information about feeding tuna. Keep up the great work.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Lorie!
    Thanks so much for reading and for commenting!
    Thanks for the compliment too!
    Hope you will continue to read Cat Chat!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Rumblemum wants to post something, she won't let us read what she's saying so we'll talk to you another day...

    Thank you so much for this Caren - I am the same as you, I'd been told by a vet not to feed cats tuna (I didn't ask either, I just didn't do it) I won't feed the boys actual tuna, they have tuna food but not tuna. For a treat I'll give them tuna water, as you suggest.

    Of course, I let the boys think they're getting tuna. It's a bit like fat free food I suppose - tastes better if you don't know! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Inigo! I am so happy you stopped by! Oh I know why Rumble didn't comment, he is getting ready to be the next top kitty model! lol.

    Yep a hit of tuna water it is!! Love your analogy!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks for the advice! I often give the boys the drained water from the tuna, and would sometimes treat them to some of the tuna meat as well. Very glad to know, thanks!
    (@tildatoo on Twitter)

    ReplyDelete
  15. In reality...YES YOU CAN GIVE YOUR CAT TUNA IN SPRING WATER!!!! You can give the juice to them on a semi-regular basis (i.e. every 2 or 3 days)and the actual fish content once a week or so. Certainly if your cat is deathly ill you want to be cautious. BUT - LOOK AT NATURAL AND ALTERNATIVE POSSIBILITIES. It's time to stop listening to non-nutrition trained doctors and vets. There are a million loose canons out there. I'm beginng to wonder how much the so-called pros really know. If you go to some of the "chain-clinics" and experts, you're getting people who sometimes have been an actual vet for less than a year...AND...WHO HAVE NO APPROPRIATE TRAINING IN NATURAL OR ALTERNATIVE POSSIBILITIES IN DIET OR TREATMENT FOR ANIMALS!!!!!! Don't be conned by the foolishness of people who think they're special simply because they went to medical school!

    ReplyDelete