[smilodon]

Hey everyone,

I have had alot of bad experiences with alot of cat food products, and although I keep Grain-Free Call of the Wild available to my cats, I am mostly feeding them canned tuna. I split a can between the two of them once in the morning, and once at night, and they do nibble on the dry Call of the Wild a little, but their diet has become 90% or more canned tuna.

I have only done this for like 4 months now, and while there are no side effects, I just want to make sure I am not unknowingly failing to provide them with proper nutrition.

The reasons for the tuna diet?

1. One cat is allergic to grain base

2. This same guy isn't too keen on the grain based canned food, but will reluctantly eat some.

3. They both far prefer tuna over anything else by a very wide margin

4. I like the idea that it is not a processed food

5. It is cheap

I would love to hear your thoughts on what I am doing good, bad, or ugly...

Thanks!

 

[Dave_ph]

According to the best cat vet in the world fish irritates a cat's digestive tract. No fish, ever

 

[MowMow]

You may not SEE any negative side effects, they are taking place slowly over time. It is lacking in nutrients required by cats (Taurine being one of them). Tuna fish is NOT a complete food and fish is not a preferable diet for cats.

If you go to nationalpetpharmacy you can choose an option for grain free foods and from there choose canned. This will give you a list of foods that will be great for your grain sensitive kitty.

While it may seem like a wonderful thing to give your cat yummy Tuna it's terribly bad for them (think of all mercury your pumping into their little bodies) and will not keep them healthy long term.

 

[smilodon]

These are some of the things I was afraid of, and why I posed the question, so this is good.

Okay, so Tuna for a cat is more like a Big Mac & Fries is for us.

Well, I am going to ween them off somewhat gradually. I will pick up some canned call of the Wild, and start to work it into their diets.

Next question, if I feed them tuna, what would be the max amount to feed them? Once, twice, three times a week?

Thanks!

 

[MowMow]

Mine each get about a tablespoon every few months when I have a tuna sandwich....

 

[Dave_ph]

Scientific testing has proven feeding my cat that Fancy Feast Salmon Florentine is bad for the health of my carpets.

FF SF significantly increased the number of ralphs per sq foot

 

[laurief]

I would not feed tuna more than once a month as a treat. Taurine deficiency can cause heart failure and/or blindness. Mercury poisoning can kill outright (albacore tuna is esp. high in mercury). Tuna can cause malabsorption and deficiency in one of the vitamins, though I can't remember which one at the moment. In short, your cats' current diet may, indeed, be causing life-threatening health issues for them of which you are not yet aware.

Unfortunately, you have now allowed your cats to become addicted to tuna. Transitioning them to a properly balanced diet may not be easy at this point, but it is essential for their health. Mix a small amount of a high quality canned food into their tuna and increase the proportion of canned over the next week or two until you have them completely off the tuna.

Good luck.

Laurie

 

[smilodon]

I would not feed tuna more than once a month as a treat. Taurine deficiency can cause heart failure and/or blindness. Mercury poisoning can kill outright (albacore tuna is esp. high in mercury). Tuna can cause malabsorption and deficiency in one of the vitamins, though I can't remember which one at the moment. In short, your cats' current diet may, indeed, be causing life-threatening health issues for them of which you are not yet aware.

Unfortunately, you have now allowed your cats to become addicted to tuna. Transitioning them to a properly balanced diet may not be easy at this point, but it is essential for their health. Mix a small amount of a high quality canned food into their tuna and increase the proportion of canned over the next week or two until you have them completely off the tuna.

Good luck.

Laurie

I'm on it tomorrow!

My vet mentioned awhile back he was going to e-mail me recipes for home made cat food I could cook in bulk and freeze. He never sent me the e-mail, so I need to leave him a message.

Thanks you guys!

Will let you know how it goes.

 

[MowMow]

We do have a raw food section here on our forum with pretty detailed instructions on how to get going on it.

 

[Pixall]

Whole prey is another good option if you can stomach it. (And with all the snake owners out there, it has never been easier to do whole prey! Just order frozen mice, rats, etc online. thaw and serve!) Just remember variety, variety, variety.

 

[marie73]

When Cinderella adopted me, she was being fed Chicken-of-the-Sea tuna. That's it. It was like getting a junkie off crack, but it can be done.