Tuna fish is not nutritionally complete for a cat. It has high mercury and sodium levels. It is also a common inflammation trigger for a lot of cats. It can also be highly addictive for cats as you are seeing. Given his negative reaction to tuna, please stop feeding tuna and feed cat food.
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Tuna water squeezed out of the can...dangerous to give to cats?
- Thread starter danimarie
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Hi janrchavez - welcome to TCS!
You MUST STOP giving Tuna immediately! Without knowing it, you've been playing with fire.....and, now, I suspect that there's a good chance you have a fire in progress.
Here's what happens when cats are fed large amounts of Tuna: Yellow Fat Disease - Steatitis
Read the symptoms there....I think you'll find many similarities between them and those your cat is displaying.
Hopefully you've asked the question early enough to catch this and reverse the harmful effects.
You really should take him to a competent Veterinarian ASAP......make sure you tell the Vet about the possibility that it's Steatitis caused by the fish (bring the link with you)....not every general practice Veterinarian is an expert in feline medicine.
Fortunately, if that's the problem, treatment is easy:
- STOP ALL FISH intake
- Administer Vitamin E in the required amounts
- Provide an appropriate feline diet (you'll get great suggestions in the Nutrition forum here)
We have had cases of Steatitis here on TCS - some have not had good outcomes - get him to the Vet as soon as you can!
Rather than buying can after can, if one could make tuna water by taking one can and soaking it in a quart of water in the fridge, then freezing it in portions to use later. I have a cat who must have wet food and will like a flavor for two or three meals, then won't eat it again. I am ending up with a lot of extra cans of food I need to doctor with something so he will eat them. Salmon oil doesn't interest him.
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My kitty recently was diagnosed with Renal failure...very common in cats, so now I have to administer subcutaneous fluids into her every other day and she knows she will get tuna juice after as a reward.....ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Spent a fortune on the right food for her,,,,of course she hates it. I put some tuna juice in it and she will eat some then. 2 vets and all my research say that tuna juice will not hurt them. It's basically salt and water.
With all cats - but especially cats that can have issues with appetites, like kidney cats - the best diet for them is the one they will eat. Of course there comes a point where the diet is "whatever you can get into them". Cat food, baby food, cooked chicken, whatever will give them nutrients and calories. If tuna juice is what it takes to make them eat, but all means, give tuna juice.
I've seen tuna water recommended as an incentive to cats that aren't drinking enough water, but I don't have that problem as I have a healthy young cat. He goes wild just like all the others when I open a can of tuna, and I give him the water and let him lick the can after I've emptied it. He licks and pushes the can around forever. It's a real treat for him.
We always have done that too. I know it's considered a no-no but yeah, it's always been done. I remember my Siamese that we had many years ago, she always seemed to know what we were doing before we even opened the can. I don't know how she knew, but she knew, and would be sitting there DEMANDING her tuna juice. Preferably with a little bit of tuna left behind.
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It's dangerous if they're allergic! I feel bad now every time I eat tuna because my cat comes in and stares at me, but I can't give her any because it'll irritate her bowels.
I actually drink the water myself though. A good part of the omega-3's are in whatever the tuna was sitting in (water, oil, brine). And it's delicious!! My partner thinks I'm weird (but saves me the tuna water anyway).
I actually drink the water myself though. A good part of the omega-3's are in whatever the tuna was sitting in (water, oil, brine). And it's delicious!! My partner thinks I'm weird (but saves me the tuna water anyway).
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I hate wasting the tuna flesh too...for many reasons...I am a vegetarian too. Now I accumulate a few cans then leave it outside for the local skunk or other animals. I live in a small city but that food gets eaten every time I put it out.
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You could blend the flesh with water and freeze it in ice cube trays for your cat.
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excellent idea!!! Thank you!!!
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That's really sweet. We don't take time to think about how hard it is for wildlife to find food that was once very abundant for them.
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I didn't realize that the tuna water was good for us! And after all these years of letting it go down the drain. That sucks. LOL!
Anyway, I just wanted to bring up the fact that there's such a thing as low sodium tuna -- probably not nearly as good-tasting, but at least it's a bit healthier -- and also that now they're saying that most likely the tuna we're eating is NOT what we think it is! It's this fish we call "diarrhea tuna" because if we eat too much ...
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I'll have to read more about this "diarrhea tuna." I did notice my bowels aren't too happy if I eat too much....
On the flip side, if the oils/omega-3's are getting squeezed out with the water, you're probably getting rid of some of the mercury, too. (If you're worried about that, the best thing to do is avoid tuna from larger tuna types, like the delicious white albacore.)
Edit:
In case anyone else was curious, the fish sometimes sold as tuna is "escolar." Or maybe it's "oilfish" because sometimes oilfish is passed off as escolar? Anyway, one website says to avoid eating more than 6 oz, about the size of a can of tuna, (http://www.thekitchn.com/use-caution-when-eating-escola-66602), and from the comment section of another (http://www.beyondsalmon.com/2006/03/escolar-fish-with-caveat.html), it sounds like it doesn't happen to everybody. And like the poop tends to have a specific color and level of explosiveness.
And for an article that includes a chemical description of why it causes this problem (remember olestra?): http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/10/dining/eating-well-a-fish-puts-chefs-in-a-quandary.html
On the flip side, if the oils/omega-3's are getting squeezed out with the water, you're probably getting rid of some of the mercury, too. (If you're worried about that, the best thing to do is avoid tuna from larger tuna types, like the delicious white albacore.)
Edit:
In case anyone else was curious, the fish sometimes sold as tuna is "escolar." Or maybe it's "oilfish" because sometimes oilfish is passed off as escolar? Anyway, one website says to avoid eating more than 6 oz, about the size of a can of tuna, (http://www.thekitchn.com/use-caution-when-eating-escola-66602), and from the comment section of another (http://www.beyondsalmon.com/2006/03/escolar-fish-with-caveat.html), it sounds like it doesn't happen to everybody. And like the poop tends to have a specific color and level of explosiveness.
And for an article that includes a chemical description of why it causes this problem (remember olestra?): http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/10/dining/eating-well-a-fish-puts-chefs-in-a-quandary.html
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