It's safe to give Tuna to kittens?

Dear fellow cat lovers!

I have been wondering if it's a good idea to give tuna as a treat  to my kittens. I have been feeding them only dry food, kitten milk and occasionally canned food (they're quite healthy), the kittens get crazy every time I open a tuna can for my lunch and I know they'll love their flavor, but I wonder if it's ok to give them some tuna once in a while like once every month.

Have you had any experience with canned tuna with your cats?

Which tuna is better? Vegetable oil canned tuna or water canned tuna?

What other food is good to give to kittens as treats?

Hi helsic,

Tuna in small amounts like you're planning is OK. The problem with tuna is that many cats will become tuna addicted and will only eat tuna if they are fed it too often. Also, there is mercury in most fish, so large quantities can cause problems. Phosphorus is also high, and while it is necessary, cats with kidney disease and those prone to UTIs can have problems with larger amounts of phosphorus.

I would give the water based tuna, as vegetable oils aren't readily processed by cats.

In general, you want to give your kitties meat, so I would give plain scrap or freeze dried meats as treats. You can find freeze dried meats in the pet store.

If you can I would also switch your kittens to 100% wet canned food. Dry food leaves them in a state of chronic dehydration, and they rarely drink enough water to compensate. Dry food is connected to all sorts of diseases like UTIs, kidney disease, diabetes, constipation, and more. You say they are "kittens," so transitioning them should be easier than if they were adults.

Tuna in small amounts is good for them.  Tuna does have it's benefits like any fish does.  However, it is highly addictive because of it's strong flavor and you will have problems getting them to accept any other food (like chicken or turkey, etc.). 

Raintyger said:

 
If you can I would also switch your kittens to 100% wet canned food. Dry food leaves them in a state of chronic dehydration, and they rarely drink enough water to compensate. Dry food is connected to all sorts of diseases like UTIs, kidney disease, diabetes, constipation, and more. You say they are "kittens," so transitioning them should be easier than if they were adults.

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Sadly where I live in China there isn't to many choices for kitten food, actually the only brand you can get is Whiskas or friskies and the sachets with whiskas wet food, I wish I could give them only canned food but I have no choice v_v that's why I wanted to try with tuna to see if I can give them a treat once in a while 

You can give them a homemade diet, either cooked or raw, but this does require a lot of learning and of course some labor. If you're interested The Cat Site does have a raw/homecooked subforum.

Thank you so much for your suggestion, I'll check the subforum for some advice!

I think it's important to realize that they started marketing fish as cats love  even though it would not be part of their main diet because it was cheap and had a strong flavor.  For many years ALL cat food was fish based in some way.  And most still are fish based.  So it's not all bad.  There are some benefits to fish for cats.  Tuna is awesome for a cat if it's (in water) and organic.  The main thing people don't like about it is the mercury factor but it is pretty hard to get to a dangerous level of mercury.  It depends on the water it came from of course.  Plus a lot of tuna harvesters have their own waters that they use.  

In China, I would not go into a home made diet or raw for you cat.  It may not be wise.  How is the vet care?  You really need  to talk to a professional first.  Do not go online and just take the word of any recipe.  Talk to an actual expert.  There are supplements that need to be considered and added.  If you do it wrong, it is more harmful than helpful for your cat.  And if you do not have the proper food or care in your area, it is ill advised.  I am not saying those on here would not give you excellent advice, but you need to be sure you have all your bases covered before embarking on this.