Tuna For Your Cat? Here's Why You Shouldn't Feed Tuna To Your Cat

Even the most stoic cat owner has given in to the pleading meows of their kitty when opening a can of water packed tuna. Most cats go bonkers over it. Here's some food for thought on why you shouldn't feed canned tuna to your cat.

When you indulge your cat in a bit or a lot of canned tuna they quickly develop a craving for the chicken of the sea. They quickly become fixated on the taste or smell and refuse to eat anything else. Before you know it you are trying to get your kitty back on her regular canned cat food by mixing in tuna with it.

Aside from her newly acquired 'taste' for tuna, there are a number of other reasons why you shouldn't start her on tuna. First, a cat fixated on a single ingredient cat food is now a finicky eater. Unfortunately, the food preferences of finicky eaters may not be adequate to satisfy the nutritional needs of your cat. Even worse, if your cat needs to be on a special diet because of diabetes or feline cystitis, then you could very well have a cat that refuses to go back to her prescription diet.

Second, the polyunsaturated fats in fish meat, particularly red tuna fish meat, can go rancid within a cat's body. Rancidification depletes the vitamin E, which leads to an inflammation of body fat. This is called pansteatis or "yellow fat" disease.

Third, there is the mercury issue. The dark meat of tuna is know to be a repository for mercury, A study done by veterinarians at Cornell University showed that cats fed an exclusive diet of cat-food tuna showed significant behavioral differences from a control group that ate a beef diet. The tuna fed cats were less vocal, active and playful. While the research didn't directly connect the mercury to the observed behavior, the suggestion is to avoid the risk.

Now, with all this caution there are times that using water-based canned tuna is beneficial to your cat. The number one reason is if you have to provide some kind of medication and you can get your cat to take it when mixed with tuna. If you are trying to get you cat to eat or drink after an illness, she may take food with a bit of tuna water dribbled onto it. These are exceptions and intended only to be used in the very short term or extreme situations.

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