can cats eat guppies?

di and bob · Jan 22, 2015

I raised guppies once and selectively bred to get a black body with a electric blue tail, they were beautiful! I ended up giving them to a pet store when I didn't have room for an aquarium where I moved. I think a lot of pet stores raise them and goldfish to use as 'feeders' for the meat eaters. It sounds cruel but like above I guess no worse then flushing them. I don't like to see ANYTHING die, I don't even like to think of where my hamburger comes from.

hexiesfriend · Jan 22, 2015

You don't even need to take them out of the aquarium for your cat to eat them. I bought 6 goldfish who one by one started disappearing from the tank. I had no idea what was happening to them becuase there was no sign of them dead in the tank. One day After about 3 disappeared my cat jumped up on my lap in the morning for a pet and I noticed his arm and shoulder were damp I couldn't figure out what happened I assumed he fell into the toilet again as he liked to drink out of it. After awhile I went to the aquarium to feed the fishes and one more was gone. I then started to suspect My cat he somehow reached his paw into the top of the tank and was pulling out goldfish. This wasn't a big tank but they stopped disappearing when the tank with the remaining fish was moved out of the house and away from the cat. I'm glad those fish were cheap...

chwx · Jan 22, 2015

Most pet quality ones are 1.5-2 inches long, show quality can get up to 3 inches. So they're pretty small. A Platy is also a live bearing fish, though they tend to be a bit bigger/thicker than Guppies and not as "fancy" looking. A Pluppie is a hybrid between a Guppy and a Platy.

Guppy:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/images/graphics/guppydiagram.jpg

Platy:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/images/graphics/platydisplay3.jpg

Pluppie's tend to have a variety of shapes, sizes and colors between the two.

raficat · Jan 27, 2015

they would have to be purebred, and anyway, since they are so prolific, as Mani said, pet shops probably don't want them.

raficat · Jan 27, 2015

Stewball said:
If they're so small how can you sex them?

they are easy to distinguish, the male guppies are smaller in the body and more colorful. The females are rather dull looking.

raficat · Jan 27, 2015

hexiesfriend said:
You don't even need to take them out of the aquarium for your cat to eat them. I bought 6 goldfish who one by one started disappearing from the tank. I had no idea what was happening to them becuase there was no sign of them dead in the tank. One day After about 3 disappeared my cat jumped up on my lap in the morning for a pet and I noticed his arm and shoulder were damp I couldn't figure out what happened I assumed he fell into the toilet again as he liked to drink out of it. After awhile I went to the aquarium to feed the fishes and one more was gone. I then started to suspect My cat he somehow reached his paw into the top of the tank and was pulling out goldfish. This wasn't a big tank but they stopped disappearing when the tank with the remaining fish was moved out of the house and away from the cat. I'm glad those fish were cheap...

happily my cats have never tried to get into the tank, tho one of them is very interested in the fish. most of them lost interest after realizing they couldn't get thru the glass

stewball · Jan 27, 2015

RafiCat said:
they are easy to distinguish, the male guppies are smaller in the body and more colorful. The females are rather dull looking.

The way they were described they sounded like tiddlers or very small goldfish. All i know about fish is whether to eat it fried, grilled or raw.

ravenclaw · Jan 27, 2015

I was thinking about setting up a little pool of cheap fish for my cats to look at, and maybe fish in, during the summer. But when I mentioned the idea to the vet, she said that feeding raw fish is dangerous. I'm not sure whether she is referring to bacteria, chemicals, or parasites. Does anybody know about the risks? Cooking would take care of the bacteria and parasites, I assume, but that would take the fun out of it for the cats.

marc999 · Jan 28, 2015

Ravenclaw said:
I was thinking about setting up a little pool of cheap fish for my cats to look at, and maybe fish in, during the summer. But when I mentioned the idea to the vet, she said that feeding raw fish is dangerous. I'm not sure whether she is referring to bacteria, chemicals, or parasites. Does anybody know about the risks? Cooking would take care of the bacteria and parasites, I assume, but that would take the fun out of it for the cats.

I really like that idea.

Maybe stay away from disgusting feeder goldfish. Those aquariums are usually full of questionable fish.

Perhaps buy inexpensive zebra danios or even giant danios if you think your cats are up to the challenge.

White cloud mountain minnows or any species of barb would be fine as well in an unheated aquarium (or makeshift pool).

You could even buy a simple airpump at the petstore to oxygenate the water.

Maybe they'll do this!

stewball · Jan 28, 2015

@ravenclaw.
you're vet advised against doing this as raw fish would be bad. It seems though that you're still carrying on with the idea

ravenclaw · Jan 28, 2015

It is really hard to say how knowledgeable my vet is. For example, she recommends dry cat food, and doesn't think grain-free is better than other food. I was shocked when she said that, having read a lot of information against dry food and grains, but when I looked at the Cornell Veterinary website (which I would assume to be about as authoritative as any) it was in fact not strongly in favor of wet food at all. So she could be right. Since the vet did a good job treating my cat for a variety of small ailments, I will follow her advice about the fish unless I find a reliable source saying it's OK. Too bad, though!

dave_l · Jan 28, 2015

For their first birthday, I got four goldfish for my two cats. They had fun looking at them, and playing with them, but they didn't eat them.

goldfish1.jpg

dave_l
Jan 28, 2015

goldfish2.jpg

dave_l
Jan 28, 2015

catwoman707 · Jan 28, 2015

How sad for the fish, would have been less suffering to be eaten by the cats!

So cruel.

StefanZ · Jan 29, 2015

RafiCat said:
no one i know wants guppies. and I don't think being eaten is any worse than going into the sewer system to die slowly, or letting them asphyxiate in the garbage.

Right, it is thus incorrect to flush them down. If you must kill them, withouth bothering to do it properly, lay them in garbage, of these two alternatives you mentioned.

I myself would prob lay them in a plastic bag, and dunked on with some hammer alike thing. So they would die quickly and essentially painless.

To be eaten by the cat is surely less cruel then be flushed or dumped in the garbage, here I do agree.

StefanZ · Jan 29, 2015

Dave_L said:
For their first birthday, I got four goldfish for my two cats. They had fun looking at them, and playing with them, but they didn't eat them.

Swell and sweet, but observe such a small, circular vessel is too small for the fishes. Its OK for transportation or occasionally to exhibit, but is NOT good for longer staying, or permanent living!

Please get them a proper aquarium, if they still are with us!

StefanZ · Jan 29, 2015

Stewball said:
@ravenclaw.
you're vet advised against doing this as raw fish would be bad.

SOME raw fish is OK. Its if they eat much raw fish, there may be problems. And still some cats apparently manage this.

I was thinking, some fishes has sharp fines, or other defensive organs... But if guppies dont have them, so they dont have.

Also, in some situations raw fish they can have parasites.

raintyger · Jan 29, 2015

Ravenclaw said:
It is really hard to say how knowledgeable my vet is. For example, she recommends dry cat food, and doesn't think grain-free is better than other food. I was shocked when she said that, having read a lot of information against dry food and grains, but when I looked at the Cornell Veterinary website (which I would assume to be about as authoritative as any) it was in fact not strongly in favor of wet food at all. So she could be right. Since the vet did a good job treating my cat for a variety of small ailments, I will follow her advice about the fish unless I find a reliable source saying it's OK. Too bad, though!

Very few vets are knowledgeable about nutrition. Those who do tend to be integrated or holistic vets.

raficat · Jan 29, 2015

Ravenclaw said:
I was thinking about setting up a little pool of cheap fish for my cats to look at, and maybe fish in, during the summer. But when I mentioned the idea to the vet, she said that feeding raw fish is dangerous. I'm not sure whether she is referring to bacteria, chemicals, or parasites. Does anybody know about the risks? Cooking would take care of the bacteria and parasites, I assume, but that would take the fun out of it for the cats.

I would ask the vet why. In fact I would ask another vet. Maybe it's only goldfish that are bad. I really can't imagine eating an occasional small fish would be dangerous in any way.

And yeah, I'm now thinking I have a self-sustaining treat factory...

raficat · Jan 29, 2015

Ravenclaw said:
It is really hard to say how knowledgeable my vet is. For example, she recommends dry cat food, and doesn't think grain-free is better than other food. I was shocked when she said that, having read a lot of information against dry food and grains, but when I looked at the Cornell Veterinary website (which I would assume to be about as authoritative as any) it was in fact not strongly in favor of wet food at all. So she could be right. Since the vet did a good job treating my cat for a variety of small ailments, I will follow her advice about the fish unless I find a reliable source saying it's OK. Too bad, though!

I have to say it doesn't sound as if she knows much about feline nutrition. It did used to be recommended to feed dry food, as it was believed that the dry food would help keep teeth strong and clean. But this turns out not to be the case and dry food is not recommended as the preferred food, and definitely, grains are not recommended for cats, as they are strict carnivores.

Anne · Jan 30, 2015

Some people euthanize pet fish, but I'm not sure about guppies.

http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/articles/81

We have an article about feeding fish, I'm not sure if it's been linked to already or not -

Can I feed my cat a fish-based or fish-flavored diet?

It is important not to overdo it. You can read more in the article about the reasons for that.

can cats eat guppies?

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

TCS Member

Advisor

Advisor

Advisor

TCS Member

TCS Member

Thread starter

TCS Member

Thread starter

Site Owner