The shelter where we got Tonka has asked for non-fish paté-style cat food, as their ‘shelves are bare’. They posted the request on Facebook, and someone asked why they didn’t want fish. Their reply:
I know that most cats don’t fish, and that cats eating fish is a fairly recent development as humans became involved. But are fish-based cat foods really harder on cats’ digestive systems? Is there really that much more calcium in fish? I can see that there might be, because of the bones; but I suspect plenty of bones get ground up in poultry-based foods too.
I don’t own a cat (allergies), but it seems to me some facts are being rolled into a big ball of misunderstanding, building up to a generalized “AVOYD FISHES IN CAT FUDZ OR KITTEHS WILL DIE!” rumor.
Some of the facts being mangled:
Neutered (castrated) male cats can suffer from a build up of crystals in their urine. (It was previously thought that excess dietary magnesium was the cause.)
Many cats are allergic to fish. Symptoms of food allergies include gas, bloating, diarrhea, foul-smelling stool, vomiting.
Canned fish for human consumption has not been supplemented with taurine, which is vital to feline nutrition. Cats can eat human-grade canned fish in small amounts as an occasional treat, but should not eat it as the bulk of their regular diet.
I can see a situation where people were donating human-grade canned fish to the shelter which, obviously, can’t be fed to the cats. When donors discover a charity disposing of donated goods, they get angry and assume mismanagement instead of understanding that the charity may not be able to use that particular item. Maybe the shelter’s management decided it was easier to tell the general public to not donate any food products containing fish than to get them to understand the significant difference between human-grade canned fish and cat-food grade canned fish.
I have read various things about the terrible dangers of feeding fish and it all seems like woo. No major vet school I’m aware of advises against feeding fish-containing cat food. Basically the argument seems to go “Maybe it’s not good quality!” Which is true of any meat product you offer your cat. From a shelter perspective a fish allergy is not completely uncommon and so maybe they want to avoid it. I’m surprised though, if that’s their concern, that they accept beef cat food as it’s the #1 meat allergy.
ETA: It’s not the case that “many” cats are allergic to fish. It’s the 3rd-most common meat allergy. But only 10% of cat allergies are food allergies.
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{snip} ETA: It’s not the case that “many” cats are allergic to fish. It’s the 3rd-most common meat allergy. But only 10% of cat allergies are food allergies.
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:smack: LOL! Here’s a good example of unclear writing resulting in a misleading statement. I was attempting to say that, of those cats who have food allergies, many (i.e., a significant proportion) are allergic to fish. Glad you caught that, or I’d be complicit in spreading misinformation.
At one time ( just a few years ago, around 2007 ) there was a great deal of concern that increasing rates of feline hyperthyroidism was linked to high PBDE exposure. And fish-based canned cat food in one study had massively higher PBDE concentrations than other cat foods due to bioaccumulation in top of the food chain fish like salmon and tuna.
However more recent research makes it less clear that there is direct correlation with PBDE and hyperthyroidism and that at any rate most PBDE exposure seems more correlated with environmental dust in homes ( groomed off the fur ) than canned food.
I used to somewhat avoid canned fish-based food because of the above reason, but I no longer do so. However you still want to avoid feeding a lot human-grade tuna and the like except as a treat. The lack of taurine alone is reason enough to avoid it.
If you’re serious the answer is that is not cost effective to raise mice and songbirds just for cat food. Not when there are already huge existing meat industries geared towards people with plenty of choice leavings for the pet market. Even exotic cat/dog food like rabbit, lamb, venison and kangaroo is not purpose raised for pet food.
By contrast nobody really eats sparrows or rats in the west ;).
I’d bet there is less real fish in canned cat food than wood trim in a Chevy.
On a semi-related note, my wife’s friend gave us some fresh, boiled pig’s feet for the dogs. They were so disgusting, the dogs turned up their noses! Well, at first… :rolleyes:
When I cohabitated with felines, I found that fish flavored food tended to make their poo stink more. Perhaps the shelter is taking pity on those who are panning for gold.
Right, but the argument was proposed that cats do not catch fish when they evolved in the wild, so fish is probably bad for cats. Actually, I am not sure it is true that cats never catch fish in the wild (and the domestic cat species has not been wild for a very long time), but, be that as it may, they certainly never caught cows, or sheep, or kangaroos in the wild.
Anyway, if it is even partially true that fish is not very good for cats, whence comes the widespread folklore idea that cats are particularly fond of fish?
Dead fish wash up all the time, and I’m sure strays are not to proud to help themselves to a free meal.
A long time ago, a vet advised us to go easy on fish-flavored cat foods, because they have a really strong flavor, and can end up making a cat finicky. That’s the last thing you want to do to shelter cats.
That said, I do buy fish-flavored dry food for my cats, and if the store happens to be out of that flavor one day, so I get chicken instead, they might be a little miffed for half a day, but then they get hungry and eat it. I don’t notice that over time they eat more of the fish-flavored food, as though they are eating for pleasure-- they don’t seem to gain weight on it, and lose weight on the chicken or lamb flavored food.
The reason I buy the fish-flavored is that it seems to hold the flavor better. By the end of a bag of some other flavor, the cats are getting grumpy, but with the fish, they are just as happy with the last portion as they are with the first. I refuse to be blackmailed by caterwauling and sad kitten eyes to buy more food when there is still food in the last bag.
The narrowest street in Paris (less than 6 feet wide) is “Chat qui pêche.” Back in the day, the Seine over flooded its banks, and the cellars on that street filled with water from the river . . . along with the river’s fish. Cats would go down to the cellars and catch fish. Hence “Chat qui Pêche” or “Cat that Fishes.”
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My former cat veterinarian advised us to give our cats seafood sparingly, since it’s “a cheap source of protein.”
The main reason our shelter has tried to avoid “very” fishy food (like tuna for cats, cans of real flaked fish and shrimp kind of stuff) - not counting what’s in Friskies and the like - is just to keep it as a more enticing option for cats that have lost weight or we need to offer extra food for reasons of illness or depression. We do tell adopters that issues of fickleness are a possibility if fish is fed most often, but really just to keep it as a treat or more enticing option at home, too, in case kitty gets sick one day. Offering the fishiest stuff can sometimes get them to eat when other proteins won’t. But we don’t talk about it in terms of it being healthy or not. Just feed your cat with food made for cats.
And then a certain pet food company offered to donate a pallet of canned food to us every month. Great! Thanks! And it’s always the same, with fish. While there’s kibble available, we feed small plates of canned food meals twice a day, and for months now it’s been “surf and turf” (beef, salmon, lobster, shrimp).
A little anecdote, one of our caretakers is very allergic to fish - as in she gets a rash if she even touches it. The super cheap stuff like 9Lives, Friskies, etc. she can handle just fine. This donated stuff, if she forgets to wear gloves and a cover-up for her arms, any splatter during meal prep time will make her break out. So I guess there is something to be said for the “better” quality food really having better enough ingredients for an allergic person to detect them.
I’m not sure about song birds since my cats never caught many (blue jays don’t count, right?) but have you ever noticed how many mice cats kill and eat no part of? I’d say over 90% of the field mice my cats kill in the cellar are completely intact when we find them. Mice seem to be fun to catch and kill, but not very tasty.
[highjack]One New Years eve we went to a party at a relative’s home. We were to stay over.
That night, of course, we ate, DRANK and were quite merry. The next morning, I went to the refrigerator to get milk for my coffee. On a plate were 3 small dark brown things that looked like baby birds.
I asked the aunt what thet were. I’m so sorry I did. They were smoked baby sparrows. She told me I thought they were delicious the night before. :eek: [/highjack]
I never could get over that you’re just supposed to crunch the little bones. I pick bones out of my sardines even, I just can’t crunch the baby birdies. Plus, you know, baby birdies!
Now, a good fried baby calamari? I squish those guilty feelings super fast. Way too tasty to waste.
I would only note that when looking at the various completely reasonable reasons people have given for withholding fish based food, * none of these are the reason given by the shelter*. The reason given by the shelter is bunk.
I wouldn’t be surprised if cats have to be taught that mice are good eating. I had a mouser that would regularly bring me mice but never, in my memory, tried eating one. On the other hand, I adopted a stray once and on one occasion saw him stroll behind a bush, pick up a mouse like I’d pick an apple, and ate it without hesitation.
Our last mouser – a stray male tomcat (who became an ex-tomcat upon adopting the family) – used to only bring us the rat’s tail! :eek:
My current crop of Feline Overlords mostly get fishy cat food – tuna or tuna and chicken. It’s the only stuff that everyone will eat, and which no one gets sick on. Vet says that’s fine.