# Cats eating fish **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 25, 2003, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835 "2003-07-25T10:31:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/1 "2003-07-25T10:31:31Z")
Why do domesticated cats love to eat fish (even in cartoons)? And is this true of the larger cats as well? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/2 "2003-07-25T11:24:36Z")
I’ve often wondered about this myself (and also why dolphins are so fond of mice). I believe a lot of it is due to the aroma; cats are able to recognise that a fish is a tasty morsel from right across the room. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/3 "2003-07-25T14:39:33Z")
IMHO/WAG cats like fish because they hate getting wet, so it’s a rare commodity (likewise for dolphins?) ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/4 "2003-07-25T15:19:47Z")
The main items in a small wild cat’s diet are rodents, birds, and fish. Cats instinctively know how to catch fish. If you’ve ever seen your cat flip a toy in the air and pounce on it, that’s the move wild cats use to catch fish. Often individual cats will specialize in one particular prey species. Some cats just like to catch and eat fish. ---
**Author:** ![nikotime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e0b2c6/32.png) [@nikotime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikotime)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/5 "2003-07-25T16:14:33Z")
Many of the modern domestic cat’s wild cousins are very happy in and around water, and fish form an important part of their prey. Whilst some (but by no means all) domestic cats would avoid deep water, they are still accomplished catchers of fish - as anyone with an ornamental fish pond will confirm. More strangely - why do manufacturers of canned cat food offer beef and lamb flavours? My own cat is a confident and enthusiastic hunter, but even he draws the line at cattle! And why no pork flavour? ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/6 "2003-07-25T16:31:57Z")
yes, cats can fish. i just imagined they’re fussy about getting wet and all. ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/7 "2003-07-25T16:46:22Z")
And why don’t they offer cat foods with flavors like “chopped mice” or “stinky garbage fish”? ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/8 "2003-07-25T17:02:15Z")
When I had by aquariums set up, both my dog and cat would attempt strikes at the fish through the glass. ---
**Author:** ![nitesky014](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@nitesky014](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitesky014)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/9 "2003-07-25T18:42:01Z")
Because it gives them “motivation” to archive files ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/10 "2003-07-25T19:19:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nitesky014 \* > \*\*Because it gives them “motivation” to archive files \*\* Yeah, cats hate to make backups so you have to give them an incentive. Lost, are we? ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/11 "2003-07-25T19:20:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Trigonal Planar \* > \*\*When I had by aquariums set up, both my dog and cat would attempt strikes at the fish through the glass. \*\* Really? When I got an aquarium, my cat was only interested in swatting at the bubbles from the pump. Anyway… to the OP… fish out of water also gets quite an aroma fairly quickly – dogs and cats like stinky stuff. Sardines are often used as bait in rescue operations and also in capture/release programs for lost/figthened and feral animals respectively. Stinky and salty – hard for a furball to resist. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/12 "2003-07-25T19:21:49Z")
Oh, and can someone point me to more info on “dolphins and mice”? ---
**Author:** ![Gravity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gravity/32/14322_2.png) [@Gravity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gravity)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/13 "2003-07-25T19:26:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nikotime \* > \*\*And why no pork flavour? \*\* I have always just assumed that it’s because manufacturers already have uses for all of the assorted bits of the pig. It’s a very versitile and tasyt animal. They can just chuck all the leftover ends and lips and things into sausage. It’s harder to get rid of all the bits of chicken and beef, so they invented cat food that used it. I may be wrong, however. ---
**Author:** ![nitesky014](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@nitesky014](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitesky014)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/14 "2003-07-25T21:54:05Z")
No Bryan I was not lost. Just trying to get a coworker’s attention. Since I am waiting for his files. But he is far more interested in the eating habits of cats! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/15 "2003-07-25T22:04:05Z")
By all rights, they should make cat food in flavors like mouse, sparrow, moth and centipede. Guess it’s hard to get past the human “eeewww” factor. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/16 "2003-07-25T22:05:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eats\_Crayons \* > \*\*Oh, and can someone point me to more info on “dolphins and mice”? \*\* Sorry, I just made that bit up. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/17 "2003-07-25T22:16:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*Sorry, I just made that bit up. \*\* Wow, you royally whooshed me too. I used to work at a large public aquarium and stood next to the dolphins - and listened to the docents talk about them - for over a year. I read your post and couldn’t believe I had never picked up that tidbit - nor where dolphins ever got mice, since we certianly never fed them to our dolphins. I bow to you, sir. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/18 "2003-07-25T22:22:54Z")
Anitra Frazier, a mildly nutty and only tangentially scientific cat advocate/writer, wrote in _The Natural Cat_ something about how fish has a strong flavor that cats just seem to go nuts for; possibly for the same sort of reason that humans like Doritos. She also says that one ought not to feed cats fish, particularly ocean fish, or food containing it, because it’s not a nutritionally well-balanced food for them but they may decide not to eat anything else. I haven’t observed that to be true: I think some cats will decide not to eat certain things based purely on cussedness, while other cats will eat anything. We have a cat who will eat ripe peaches, carrots, barbeque grill scrapings, and anything else left within his reach. He has also defined his reach to include the insides of other people’s houses. [And no, should anyone be wondering, despite the fact that all my posts today have concerned cats, I am not a full-time crazy cat lady. We just adopted a baby kitten, so I have cats on the brain at the moment.] ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/19 "2003-07-26T13:13:42Z")
(Welcome to the boards, **emilyforce** – since we already have a **crazycatlady** , it’s a relief to hear you’re not another one! 😉 ) I was just getting ready to ask the question about not feeding cats fish – I heard some reference to that at some point, so have always made a point of _not_ feeding my cat (now 15) fish – though I do give him a little tuna juice when I open a can for my own purposes. So Frazier’s point isn’t that it’s bad for them, just not nutritionally balanced? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835/20 "2003-07-26T13:18:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by panache45 \* > **By all rights, they should make cat food in flavors like mouse, sparrow, moth and centipede.** I don’t think it’s cost-effective to raise such animals for food. Or did you mean artificial flavoring? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-eating-fish/190835.md?page=2)