How big a concern is the fish in non-fish flavored foods? If my kitty has had a UTI, should I avoid these completely? Or are they OK if the fish is way down the ingredient list?
If there are kitties that can't eat chicken who got fed grain, what about feral cats that ate mice?If fish is way down the list, I guess it's okay. It depends how prone your kitty is to UTIs; if a male, I'd be more reluctant. Taking it outside the fish arena, some kittens/cats are so highly allergic/sensitive to grain, they can't eat chicken who were fed grain [versus grass].
Ritz (female) had two UTIs within months, about two years ago. Probably stress related, but my feeding him Fancy Feast Classic Seafood every day probably didn't help. I feed Raw now, but supplement Ritz' diet with Krill oil three to four times a week. And I occasionally give Ritz freeze dried salmon treats.
They didn't have all the chemicals in the grains that are present now. No herbicides, no pesticides, nothing but organic fertilizer. So I guess the hyper-allergic cat was rare then. But they still ran around in less than optimum health. No anti-parasiticals, internal or external.Yeah, that's what I meant, mice eat grain, cat eats grain-fed mouse.
I was thinking that cats were kept in ye olden days to deter the mice from getting into the grainhouse. So was the hyper-allergic cat rare then? Or did they just run around in bad health?
Feral cats will avoid mice?Not quite sure I get the analogy, but I'm slow.
If you're thinking, wondering: mice eat grain (I assume) and if a feral cat who is allergic to grain eats the mice, then what?
That's a valid point, but feral cats are opportunistic eaters. They will eat squirrels, moles and anything from a dumpster then can get too. And I think the feral cat will recognize that he should avoid the mice. They definitely can smell and will avoid tainted meat. Though he has more pressing concerns like coyotes who eat will eat him and cars that run him over, and dying from giving birth to her 4th litter in three years. (I feed a feral/stray/abandoned cat colony so I have some first-hand experience in this arena.)
If cats were solely eating prey they caught, their only exposure to grains would have been in the stomach of the prey, already partially pre-digested with suitable enzymes (which cats don't have). I doubt that was enough to cause an allergy to form. However, once humans started feeding cats food laden with species-inappropriate carbs, that's when allergies/sensitivities started forming.