Fish in Non-Fish Flavor Foods

raintyger

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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?
 

ritz

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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.
 
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raintyger

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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.
If there are kitties that can't eat chicken who got fed grain, what about feral cats that ate mice?
 

ritz

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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.)
 
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raintyger

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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?
 

vball91

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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.
 

Willowy

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I've never actually heard of exclusively grass-fed poultry. . .grains are natural foods for birds (unlike cows). I know that some cats (like Carolina's Bugsy) can eat vegetarian-fed chicken, but not chickens fed typical poultry feed (packed with animal by-products and preservatives and other things not natural for chickens to eat), but I'm pretty sure even vegetarian-fed chickens get some grains :dk:.

As for the original question, it really does depend on how sensitive the individual cat is to fish. My cats are OK with foods that have fish farther down the list, so I don't worry about it. But ever the cheaper foods to have some flavors with no fish, so it's not too hard to avoid all fish if you prefer.
 

catspaw66

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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?
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.
 

peaches08

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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.)
Feral cats will avoid mice?
 

ritz

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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.
The other answer-ers raised the very good point that today's grain/feed have herbicides, pesticides in them, so the cat may be allergic to some of the chemicals/preservatives, not so much the protein or grain.   So hopefully the feral cat won't avoid the mice, since that is an excellent source of food. 

And as for the original question, really depends on how sensitive the cat is.  Might have to do a trial and error.
 
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