Do you feed your cats tuna???

goldenkitty45

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Warning - this is from a member of ACFA and an article regarding giving cats tuna or tuna juice from the stuff we eat. I will never again give any tuna juice to the cats.

I would not even get tuna cat food either. We don't feed our cats fish. They may get a bite or two of talipia fish that we have for dinner, but they don't get tuna-based foods.

CANNED TUNA & SEIZURES

Before feeding your cat or dog “tuna in waterâ€, check labels for soybeans (disguised as vegetable broth) which can cause seizures.

Although rarely fatal, a seizure is frightening for both the pet and owner and sadly, the animal may suffer subsequent seizures if the vet is unable to diagnose the initial cause

Nel Liquorman, Health Editor / Â[emoji]169[/emoji] TheDogPress May 2010 - Like most cat owners, from time to time I slipped a little canned tuna fish into their diets. Star-Kist always had the least amount of magnesium, so it was my choice, and I always got the chunk light in water.

An avid label reader, I knew that the brand contained tuna, water, and salt. Then I got two feral cats and decided that high quality cat food would be what I would feed them. So for more than 2 years I stuck to my plan.

Then my big feral tom cat got a urinary infection due to going long periods of time before using a new corn litter. In an effort to increase his water intake, I decided to give him tuna in water. I also gave the tasty treat to all three of my cats.

The very first night, trouble surfaced. One of my cats is eleven and has slept right against me ever since I had blessed her with the two five-week old feral kittens. She woke me up in the middle of the night making strange movements. By the time I got the light on, she was laying still but looked dazed. Assuming that she just had a strange dream, I quickly dismissed it.

A couple of days later, I gave them another can of the Starkist tuna in water. Within a two hours one of my cats was having a seizure. While talking to my vetâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s office, I realized that the seizure and the emergency had passed but I decided to look for anything that could have brought on the seizure. I ruled out any environmental toxin, because I do not use chemicals (or any flea treatments) so it had to be something she ingested. There was nothing that she could get to but some dry cat food.

Then I remembered the Starkist tuna in water. I had a can on hand, so I checked the label. On the front of the can it stated plainly CHUNK LIGHT TUNA IN WATER, as it always had. I turned it around and read the ingredients: tuna, water, vegetable broth, salt and it also stated:

Contains: Fish, Soybeans

I was furious when I realized that the source of the newly added vegetable broth was soybeans. I did the research, and yes it can and did cause my cat to have seizures.

But, I went further, learning that the once respected Starkist company no longer has a USA owner but is now a Korean company. Not only does this explain the addition of cheap soybean protein products, but it contributes to a loss of jobs in America. With only headquarters and a distributing group here, Starkist has only 54 employees in the states and we do not know how many are Americans. The real Starkist company no longer exists, well at least not for this consumer.

About a month later, I decided to feed the cats some Fancy Feast “Ocean Fishâ€, which I had not fed for several months. Within an hour of eating this food, my eleven year old cat was laying on the floor looking like road kill. I just assumed she was really relaxed but when she stood up, I realized that her back legs were barely holding her up.

It seemed evident that she had once again ingested something that was toxic to her. I retrieved the can from the garbage and read the ingredients. The third one was vegetable oil. If this sounds harmless enough, go to the store (or online) and read the ingredients label on vegetable oil. While it may have once been a healthy blend, most are now only soy oil! Remember, if it is toxic to pets, the product may not be good for us humans either.

I will never again feed my cats anything without re-reading the label. But until there are government regulations to eliminate soybean products and other unsuitable ingredients from cat and dog foods, I know that feeding pets can never be worry free.

Many pets are treated for unexplained seizures. It would be expensive and hard to trace it back to a particular ingredient in the pet food. If the veterinary treatment stops the seizure, the pet just remains on what may be unnecessary medication for the rest of its life.

Seizures in pets can usually be attributed to toxins. If you can rule out any environmental toxins, accidental exposure to a chemical, or treatment with a flea product, that means the toxin was probably ingested. You need to find out more about the ingredients in your pets food. Eliminating foods with questionable or suspect ingredients may save the life of your pet.

http://www.thedogpress.com/Columns/T...orman-1005.asp
 

furrypurry

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Believe it or not my two will not eat tuna. Maybe they're smart.
 

strange_wings

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Considering that soy is in so many petfoods now, and animals aren't dropping dead left and right, I wonder if the few who do react aren't doing so out of an extreme reaction to it and not because soy is some terrible product that kills everything? Sort of how peanuts can kill those severely allergic but are fine for others to eat.

It warrants more logical investigation - specifically into what caused that one cat to react, instead of blindly accepting something on the internet.
(note I'm not saying soy is great, just that that one story doesn't mean much)
 

merrytreecats

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Soy is highly allergenic even in humans. I can't imagine what it does to an obligate carnivore. I don't feed my cats tuna at all, but in the past I used to once in a while. It just goes to show you have to always read ingredients carefully because a company will NOT give any warning before they up and change the formula, and they do this all the time. It applies to human food and pet food. Bet all those folks with soy allergies REALLY loved Starkist..
 

kylew

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Tuna in my guys version of crack. No Matter where they are, no matter how deeply they are asleep, the instant they hear the electric can opener they materialize on the counter! THey are as often as not disappointed by an open can of tomato paste
 

ruthyb

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My cats don't like it and they wouldn't get a look in if they did as I love it too much. Seriously though that is terrible and I cannot believe it, we have health warnings on tobacco and alcohol why not these foods that can cause harm?? x
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by Ruthyb

My cats don't like it and they wouldn't get a look in if they did as I love it too much. Seriously though that is terrible and I cannot believe it, we have health warnings on tobacco and alcohol why not these foods that can cause harm?? x
All food can have issues... Do you seriously want to spend the day reading warnings?

Sorry ,I am one of those who is at great risk( I have life threatening food allergies) but as an Adult I take responsibility to read Everything before I eat it or serve it ... I do Not expect a warning label on everything and actually think people need to Read and Think for themselves...
 

ruthyb

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I know they can't put warnings on everythin but not everyone knows of the implications of some foods for animals, most is common sense but who would have thought tuna would be harmful to cats?we should atleast be made more aware of these things. x
 

missymotus

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I've never seen soy or vegetable broth as ingredients on a can of tuna, it's just tuna and springwater or olive oil.

The flavoured tuna's might but most people use the water or oil varieties.

We don't eat tuna in this house and none of the cats like it either.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by missymotus

I've never seen soy or vegetable broth as ingredients on a can of tuna, it's just tuna and springwater or olive oil.

The flavoured tuna's might but most people use the water or oil varieties.

We don't eat tuna in this house and none of the cats like it either.
here in the US I noticed tuna having different ingredients ( the reg canned kind) a number of yrs ago... You may be lucky enough to live where they either cant or have not yet ..

As for reg tuna without extras being bad as a treat ... IMHO it is fine many many cats eat it fairly regularly with no ill effects
 

kimmasauce

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Wow, that's scary information and something to definitely take a look at.

My Sammy-girl will drink the juice from tuna in water but doesn't eat tuna, and I rarely give it to her. I will definitely look at/read in depth before doing it again. Thank you for the heads up.
 
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goldenkitty45

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Amanda, that's what I thought too..........until I went downstairs and picked up the can of tuna we had on the shelf - it clearly states there is soy in it.
 

yayi

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Thanks for the info. Since I have been giving tuna to my cats for years, I will look out for soy ingredients. Fortunately, the brand I've been using has none. It may explain why my cats have never had seizures or any other bad reaction.
 

missymotus

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Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Amanda, that's what I thought too..........until I went downstairs and picked up the can of tuna we had on the shelf - it clearly states there is soy in it.
I was at the shop earlier and checked, no soy in our tuna.
 

catkiki

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I checked the cans of Bumblebee tund in the cupboard and they they say soy. But I rarely give them the tuna juice and they haven't had any problems. But I will be careful from now on.
 

furry favor

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i buy tuna cooked in vegetable and sunflower oil for my cats but wash it thoroughly before giving it to them and they really like it
but i think i should stop that now
 
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