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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / June 2004Is seafood flavoured cat food okay?
Hello, all: Just a brief question. My cat likes Fancy Feast, but I've heard that any cat food that's seafood flavoured isn't good. That seafood flavours are unhealthy for cats. My cats getting finicky in her old age and I know that she'd love the seafood flavours, but I don't want to give them to her if they're not good for her. Any comments would be gratefully received. David WPB <yes_no@maybe.com> quoth: >Hello, all: Just a brief question. My cat likes Fancy Feast, but I've >heard that any cat food that's seafood flavoured isn't good. That seafood >flavours are unhealthy for cats. My cats getting finicky in her old age >and I know that she'd love the seafood flavours, but I don't want to give >them to her if they're not good for her. Any comments would be gratefully >received. Nothing wrong with seafood, as long as it's only one part of the cat's diet. A diet that's only seafood can result in vitamin deficiency, but a diet that includes tuna or other seafood every few days or so is fine. My three are very fond of the Fancy Feast varieties that are chunks of fish/seafood in aspic, and the ferals out back really like Friskies Salmon Dinner (or whatever it's called). I try to keep seafood to no more than one third of their flavors. I favor turkey and chicken. Priscilla  Signature"Come to Planet Earth! Watch people with brains not use them! Several shows daily! Free admittance!" Keera Ann Fox in alt.support.menopause When I adopted Rebecca, the people at the rescue specified that she should not be given seafood-flavored cat food because it can contain mercury. Privately I told myself that this was my decision, not theirs, but because of my other cat she gets only I/D anyway. --- Sandy See my cats at http://tinyurl.com/3djsq > Hello, all: Just a brief question. My cat likes Fancy Feast, but I've > heard that any cat food that's seafood flavoured isn't good. That seafood [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > David > When I adopted Rebecca, the people at the rescue specified that she should > not be given seafood-flavored cat food because it can contain mercury. > Privately I told myself that this was my decision, not theirs, but because > of my other cat she gets only I/D anyway. When I took the two cats at work in for their first annual checkup with a vet (a cats-only vet), I was told NO fish at all. Not canned, not dry. They gave me a sheet of paper with some basic recommendations and the vet took it back and underlined & circled the part about not giving them any fish at all. My sister told me that her vet had always told her that as well. The two cats at work have never had any food (canned or dry) with fish as an ingredient. They may have tasted tuna fish (from someone's sandwich) once or twice, but they're not too big on eating human food so it's not a problem. At home, Tiger never liked fish flavored foods. I had tried a couple of varieties a long time ago (before hearing what the work cats vet said) and she refused to eat it. I got Otto 4 years ago, and he's never had any fish flavors either. They both have had a small taste of my tuna once in awhile. The vet wouldn't approve even of that, I'm sure. Someone else told me that fish is especially bad for male cats but I don't remember the reasoning for that. Liz I wish I could remember the exact sources, but one vet on one of the Discovery(I think) programs on cats said no fish because it causes urinary tract prolems. The other reason was it may cause hyperthyroidism. OT a little; latest issue of CatWatch says hyperthyroidism may be caused from metal in pop-top cans, leaching into the food. (The material lining the can, that is). And a year ago I switched Lucy to 90% canned food because she didn't drink enough water...oh, well, we do our best, eh? >From: paulette200@webtv.net (Paulette) >I wish I could remember the exact sources, but one vet on one of the >Discovery(I think) programs on cats said no fish because it causes >urinary tract prolems. The other reason was it may cause >hyperthyroidism. Here's a very good article about feeding, or not feeding, fish to cats: http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/fish.php Lauen ________ See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html Declawing Info: http://www.wholecat.com/articles/claws.htm > I wish I could remember the exact sources, but one vet on one of the > Discovery(I think) programs on cats said no fish because it causes > urinary tract prolems. The other reason was it may cause > hyperthyroidism. I remember a couple of studies - but I can't cite them off-hand. I remember reading a study in the Journal of the American Vet. Med. Assoc in 2000 or 2001 but I can't remember the volume or authors - maybe Kevin Martin or Mark Peterson - the top gun endocrinolgist at AMC. I think the study was conducted at UC-Davis or Washington State. Along with canned fish diets, canned diets containing liver were also associated with an increased risk of developing hyperthyroidism. Another study in the late 90s at UC-Davis by Mark Peterson showed a higher risk of hyperthyroidism for cats that used litter - so you might want to go with an organic litter like The World's Best Cat Litter and shy away from clay-based litters. 9 of the 63 cats in my LifeCare residence are hyperthyroid, so you can bet your capnip hyperthyroidism is a major concern to me! I don't have much time for newsgroups anymore, so if you're interested in the studies, email me at topcat@lifecareforcats.org or join my group at Feline_Health_and_Behaviorsubscribe@yahoogroups.com and I'll try to get them to you. Good luck. Phil Signature"With the qualities of cleanliness, discretion, affection, patience, dignity, and courage that cats have, how many of us, I ask you, would be capable of being cats?' --Fernand Mery Feline Healthcare: http://maxshouse.com Feline_Health_and_Behavior@yahoogroups.com I'd be more worried about the Fancy Feast than the seafood ;) > Hello, all: Just a brief question. My cat likes Fancy Feast, but I've > heard that any cat food that's seafood flavoured isn't good. That seafood [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > David > I'd be more worried about the Fancy Feast than the seafood ;) Ha! It's true--not a good idea for 100% of a cat's diet. I only give my cat half a small can of Fancy Feast a day. The rest of the time she eats a special healthy kibble that I buy at my vet's (I can't remember the name of it). Thanks for the reply and to the other posters. Much appreciated! D. > Hello, all: Just a brief question. My cat likes Fancy Feast, but I've > heard that any cat food that's seafood flavoured isn't good. Where did you hear this? > Where did you hear this? From my vet I think and Elizabeth's posting above seems to concur. I called the toll-free number for Purina (who make Fancy Feast) and the woman there was very knowledgeable, but not surprisingly she said that fish- flavoured Fancy Feast is *wonderful* for cats. Don't worry about it. I don't know--Elizabeth's posting is off-putting. I suppose my cat will stick to her kibble and non-fish flavoured soft food. WPB <yes_no@maybe.com> quoth: >> Where did you hear this? >From my vet I think and Elizabeth's posting above seems to concur. I >called the toll-free number for Purina (who make Fancy Feast) and the woman >there was very knowledgeable, but not surprisingly she said that fish- >flavoured Fancy Feast is *wonderful* for cats. Don't worry about it. I >don't know--Elizabeth's posting is off-putting. I suppose my cat will >stick to her kibble and non-fish flavoured soft food. A lot of that web article appears to be about feeding a cat FISH, not about feeding CAT FOOD with fish in it, cat food that's been supplemented with vitamins and taurine. Priscilla Signature"Come to Planet Earth! Watch people with brains not use them! Several shows daily! Free admittance!" Keera Ann Fox in alt.support.menopause > A lot of that web article appears to be about feeding a cat FISH, not > about feeding CAT FOOD with fish in it, cat food that's been > supplemented with vitamins and taurine. > > Priscilla You're right. I stand corrected. So fish flavoured Fancy Feast is no more unhealthy for a cat than, say, the chicken or beef flavours? David WPB <yes_no@maybe.com> quoth: >> A lot of that web article appears to be about feeding a cat FISH, not >> about feeding CAT FOOD with fish in it, cat food that's been >> supplemented with vitamins and taurine. >You're right. I stand corrected. So fish flavoured Fancy Feast is no more >unhealthy for a cat than, say, the chicken or beef flavours? I still wouldn't feed a steady diet of it, but then I try to provide a lot of variety to my cats. That may (or may not) have something to do with the fact that they are remarkably unpicky eaters (knock on wood). Priscilla Signature"Come to Planet Earth! Watch people with brains not use them! Several shows daily! Free admittance!" Keera Ann Fox in alt.support.menopause |
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