Cat sick after eating tuna

blaise · Apr 7, 2008

...Fancy Feast is not a very good quality food either so between the tuna, FF and the raw hamburger your kitty could be very sick...

I really have to voice some concern here.......

Among people who are "knowledgeable" about cat nutrition (accepted species-appropriate food, ingredients, nutritional value, etc. etc.) Fancy Feast may not be considered the best-commercially-available feline food.

That is one thing.

However, to implicate "Fancy Feast" brand foods in any case of illness - more especially, to do so over in an Internet forum such as this - is seriously flawed, in my opinion.

Fancy Feast foods have not been implicated in any recent food-related illnesses. They are one of the few brands not involved in the massive food recall of last year.

They are a staple of many feline diets and, while, again, not highly regarded by "connoisseurs", should otherwise be considered safe IMO.

Rivi - I know I was pointing a finger by suggesting that you might have been "experimenting" with raw foods on your own. That was very wrong of me. I could never have imagined that such advice had come from a Vet! Please forgive me for assuming anything!

rivi · Apr 7, 2008

Please tell me a good quality food i can buy.Fancy Feast is the best i can find around here.The vet sells foods but then again i have no trust in them because their motive is to make money.

He ate Fancey Feast this morning and was playing some,then when i got up he was laying on the sofa.He took one look at me and took off scared to his fav hiding spot.This makes no sence because we are very close.Why is he afraid of everyone?The appointment at the vet ins't till 7 tonight.

Thanks for all your replies

goldenkitty45 · Apr 7, 2008

IMO sounds like a poisoning - is the cat in emergency now?

With today's research on nutrition, I don't know WHY a vet would say its ok to feed tuna. Sounds to me like you are experimenting on your cat with what to feed. FF is junk food. So is tuna. If your cat survives you need to completely change the cats diet. No FF, tuna, raw hamburger, etc.

Put your cat on Royal Canin, Natural Balance or Nutro/Max cat. You can also add those brands in the canned variety.

I do hope your cat survives all this!

rivi · Apr 7, 2008

I'm not experimenting at ALL! I love my cat and was doing what i thought was making him happy and healthy.GET OFF MY BACK ABOUT THIS!!!

The VET TOLD US IS WAS OK and there was nothing wrong with it.Infact they said the raw hambuger contains alot of things a cat needs because it is raw.

goldenkitty45 · Apr 7, 2008

Biggest problem I see is the poster kept switching foods and mixing one raw food with another, then adding canned FF or tuna. Its a disaster waiting to happen.

Some vets really don't know nutrition. Many recommend Science Diet foods which I'm not a big fan of. There are much better quality foods out there. You don't go changing from one to another. Then describe how sick you animal is and the reactions.

Its obvious this cat needs some other vet's opinions and needs emergency. Otherwise he may not survive very much longer.

blaise · Apr 7, 2008

However, there WAS a huge misunderstanding (probably aggravated by stress) as I see it and, by my hitting the "submit" button before taking a deep breath and asking myself "abc was upsetting but.....do I really want to say xyz?".......ah, the perils of instant communication!

We (I) can only hope that we (I) learn from such.........the operative word there being hope!

cattiew · Apr 7, 2008

so what did the vet say? sure there must be some diagnosis for what happened? nothing wrong at all? if so, did the vet told you how to prevent it in the future? i am sure all other members only trying to help.

i think if your vet didn't tell you what happened, then at least he/she should have given you some advice to avoid what happened? what did he/she said about the cause? was it because of the food? injury? virus? or anything else? it sound kind of serious to me when you described it.

yosemite · Apr 7, 2008

Originally Posted by BLAISE

I really have to voice some concern here.......

Among people who are "knowledgeable" about cat nutrition (accepted species-appropriate food, ingredients, nutritional value, etc. etc.) Fancy Feast may not be considered the best-commercially-available feline food.

That is one thing.

However, to implicate "Fancy Feast" brand foods in any case of illness - more especially, to do so over in an Internet forum such as this - is seriously flawed, in my opinion.

They are a staple of many feline diets and, while, again, not highly regarded by "connoisseurs", should otherwise be considered safe IMO.

Rivi - I know I was pointing a finger by suggesting that you might have been "experimenting" with raw foods on your own. That was very wrong of me. I could never have imagined that such advice had come from a Vet! Please forgive me for assuming anything!

Nowhere did I implicate FF. I merely said it was not the best quality food out there and it isn't. Neither is SD although it is often prescribed by vets. I would be more suspect of the raw hamburger if there was a problem with the food.

Please, folks, before leaping to conclusions, read the posts to ensure you understand what is actually being "said".

white cat lover · Apr 7, 2008

Just adding my 2 cents worth. My Damita has a neurological issue, suspected tumor. I was told that the pupils change oddly when cats have seizures sometimes. So, it is possible there are seizures going on without the commonly thought of "flopping" that seizure cause.

yosemite · Apr 7, 2008

Rivi, I went back and re-read posts to see how it got to be so emotional.

My gut impression right now is that you spoke to a vet's office over the phone to ask about the tuna and/or hamburg. I could be wrong about that but if that is the case they may well have misunderstood you (just as some of the responses have been misunderstood). Tuna is not bad as a treat now and again, but certainly not a steady diet. Raw hamburger is very iffy, often has bacteria and that's why we are told to cook it well done for our own consumption.

If the advice from the vet/technician was over the phone, that would certainly emphasize our point here at TCS that none of us are qualified to diagnose your pet, and especially not on the internet. Your pet needs to be seen by a qualified vet and treated by a qualified vet.

It's also true, and unfortunate, that there are still many vets out there that have no idea about good nutrition. They get very little teaching in nutrition in school but I'm glad to do my own research on that as long as they are up on the medical stuff.

Please, come back and let us know what the vet says and how your pet is doing.

mzjazz2u · Apr 7, 2008

How's your cat doing? Did you get to the vet yet? Although a steady diet of tuna is not good for a cat, I'd be more concerned about feeding raw ground beef (as far as the diet goes). My cats throw up on tuna though. Even if I just give it as a treat. So no tuna for my babies!

It sounds like your cat may have something else going on, other then his diet. I hope you figure it out soon.

laureen227 · Apr 7, 2008

Originally Posted by mzjazz2u

How's your cat doing? Did you get to the vet yet?

appt was for 7pm OP's time tonite - s/he may be there right now, depending on where s/he lives...
my apologies, Rivi, for not knowing your gender

i agree, seems like there something else going on, besides the food issue.
btw - what stores are around you where you can buy cat food? any pet stores, or just grocery stores? that'll make a big difference in what's available to you, locally.
if you can't find good stuff locally, you can order it online - but shipping is usually kinda pricey!

mews2much · Apr 7, 2008

I hope the Cat will be ok.

bijou's mom · Apr 8, 2008

Just checking for an update...... I hope your kitty is alright.

2furbabies · Apr 8, 2008

Just wondering if there was an update on this poor kitty. I'm hoping things will turn out ok for you.

kitten_smitten · Apr 8, 2008

See I thought the tuna was a new thing - but sense Rivi said these weren't the symptoms maybe the kitty is having a seizure or some thing like that seeing the symptoms are not continuous -

So, it is possible there are seizures going on without the commonly thought of "flopping" that seizure cause.

This is what I wondered when the vit E deficiency symptoms weren't the problem. I think they can have stuff like diabetes, heart problems, kidney stones just like we do - his cat isn't going to suddenly have symptoms from food he had been eating for five years.

The feral if it is vaccinated shouldn't be a danger to your indoor cat but this situation may be worth mentioning to the vet

The hamburger meat beats me I don't feed it to my cats but I can't afford all these expensive cats foods either. I give mine Purina - some wet with a lot of meet source some day with Lord knows what - Mee-Too catches a lizard or a bird every couple of days - she eats half and brings us the other half - The lizard looks pretty raw to me she has been doing this sense we brought her here last year. . she won't touch the canned wet food and we make sure meet is top of the list with the wet food and their kitty snacks. Apparently she like her meet raw. . . she was a stray so maybe that is what she lived off of -

It seem like back in the old days momma used to feed raw hamburger meet to our cats once a week because it was supposed to be good for them - she doesn't any more that I know of but all of us are grown so no need to cook no raw hamburger meet. {shrug} she still has cats she just gives them canned food instead. . . .

I am doubting the diet is the problem especially if your baby has been on it for years without previous problems - raw yuck but Ummm we don't catch birds lizards snakes rodents ect , , , and eat them raw but many cats do and live to ripe old ages - Not all feral live in colonies we have some cats out here in the country that catch their own food and I am pretty sure they are not cooking it before consumption - some of the males I have seen get huge.

I'm not experimenting at ALL! I love my cat and was doing what i thought was making him happy and healthy.GET OFF MY BACK ABOUT THIS!!!

The VET TOLD US IS WAS OK and there was nothing wrong with it.Infact they said the raw hambuger contains alot of things a cat needs because it is raw.

I am sorry this is happening - it shouldn't be {IMHO}

To the food accusers -
Gosh this guy came here for support - he shouldn't be treated badly - I have had cats live decades on special kitty from Wal-Mart, Purina was my grandparents stable for their cats and they had cats live to be in their mid-20's so back off with the food will ya?
I mean debate claw or declaw indoor verses out door but geez Louise don't pick at some one who came here for help because he was scared. Hasn't it dawned and any one else that people who experiment on cats wouldn't be here looking for help?

Cats are sort of like kids - if perfection in care was required for them to survive the species would have been extinct long ago.
Bottom line is we should be treating Rivi as we would want to be treated.

Now I hope Rivi will come back and let us know how his kitty is doing -

mews2much · Apr 8, 2008

I dont think they are coming back now.

rivi · Apr 9, 2008

UPDATE so all concerned know what is going on.

Schnuffy my male domestic gray cat is better and back to his normal self.They know what happened to him but not why it happened.His symtoms were uneven pupils then confusion and hiding with shaking and tremors.When the vet looked at him his temp was normal and so were his eyes,he was tested for leukemia and cat aids all was negative.He sent out a blood sample for testing and BINGO it came that he was exposed to something but they don't know what he was exposed to.

Now here is the kicker......the exact same thing happened to me 10 years ago.It left me with extreme chemical sensitivities.That means i'm alergic to everything.Detergents,dyes,soaps,car exhaust,perfumes all types of chlorinated products.SO the ONLY products i have in the house are ivory bar soap,orange oil extract dish soap,vinegar,baking soda and Aloe Vera styling hair spray from the health food store.THATS IT nothing ELSE.I'm completely lost on what he got into,the place is super clean.
The vet doesn't beileve it was the tuna or his food.

OF COURSE i've stopped giving him tuna and hamburger to be safe.I bought some Fromm foods but he won't eat them so far.So he is eatting fancey feast for now.

Plase don't jump to conclusions about me or things i could have done wrong.Please read ALL my posts before you post up. I love my cat as I love myself and would do anything to make him happy.Thank You

ps the feral cat eats the same food everyday as him and is fine without any symtoms.BUT she refused to eat the tuna.Heres the thing though what ever he got into was extremely toxic to him,If it was the tuna i beileve it would of happened long before this.I'm LOST i have no idea what to look for at this point.

yosemite · Apr 9, 2008

Originally Posted by Rivi

UPDATE so all concerned know what is going on.

Schnuffy my male domestic gray cat is better and back to his normal self.They know what happened to him but not why it happened.His symtoms were uneven pupils then confusion and hiding with shaking and tremors.When the vet looked at him his temp was normal and so were his eyes,he was tested for leukemia and cat aids all was negative.He sent out a blood sample for testing and BINGO it came that he was exposed to something but they don't know what he was exposed to.

Now here is the kicker......the exact same thing happened to me 10 years ago.It left me with extreme chemical sensitivities.That means i'm alergic to everything.Detergents,dyes,soaps,car exhaust,perfumes all types of chlorinated products.SO the ONLY products i have in the house are ivory bar soap,orange oil extract dish soap,vinegar,baking soda and Aloe Vera styling hair spray from the health food store.THATS IT nothing ELSE.I'm completely lost on what he got into,the place is super clean.
The vet doesn't beileve it was the tuna or his food.

OF COURSE i've stopped giving him tuna and hamburger to be safe.I bought some Fromm foods but he won't eat them so far.So he is eatting fancey feast for now.

Plase don't jump to conclusions about me or things i could have done wrong.Please read ALL my posts before you post up. I love my cat as I love myself and would do anything to make him happy.Thank You

ps the feral cat eats the same food everyday as him and is fine without any symtoms.BUT she refused to eat the tuna.Heres the thing though what ever he got into was extremely toxic to him,If it was the tuna i beileve it would of happened long before this.I'm LOST i have no idea what to look for at this point.

I'm glad you came back to let us know how your kitty is doing.

I think what happened is that a lot of us older members know how bad a steady diet of tuna can be for your kitty and know the perils of feeding raw if you are not conversant with the correct way to do it. Because of that, we tend to perhaps come on too strong, then others take offense and it just ends up getting messy and over-the-top.

We have all heard the stories about folks that have fed their animals cheap food for years and their animals lived to ripe old ages. That's wonderful, but I personally think that if I can get a better quality food for about the same price as poor quality, then I will switch to a better quality very much the same as I would do for human food for my family. However, if my cat won't eat anything but the poor quality, then it's better that he eat that than nothing. So the bottom line is, we try to guide folks to a better diet for their cats and sometimes get a bit too enthusiastic so please bear with us.

laureen227 · Apr 9, 2008

Originally Posted by Yosemite

We have all heard the stories about folks that have fed their animals cheap food for years and their animals lived to ripe old ages. That's wonderful, but I personally think that if I can get a better quality food for about the same price as poor quality, then I will switch to a better quality very much the same as I would do for human food for my family. However, if my cat won't eat anything but the poor quality, then it's better that he eat that than nothing. So the bottom line is, we try to guide folks to a better diet for their cats and sometimes get a bit too enthusiastic so please bear with us.

glad you came back & updated us! also, great that Schnuffy's [cute name!] doing better... they think it was some sort of toxic exposure?

do you have any plants?
on a side note - i have a friend w/very similar issues to you, i.e. chemically sensitive. it can make things extremely difficult!

Cat sick after eating tuna

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