# Why is cat tuna in a steel-top can? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 28, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cat-tuna-in-a-steel-top-can/620279 "2012-04-28T23:28:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Vashbul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Vashbul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vashbul)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cat-tuna-in-a-steel-top-can/620279/1 "2012-04-28T23:28:01Z")
9-Lives cat food sold in the US comes in small, 5.5 oz. aluminum cans, with a pull tab on the lid for easy opening - with the exception of the three flaked tuna varieties: plain, with egg and with cheese bits. These come in a steel can, the type you need an opener for. Why is that? I should note that there are other varieties with tuna in them, such as “Chicken and Tuna Dinner”, which have a pull tab can, so it’s not strictly a tuna-content thing. The steel can seems to be reserved for the types where tuna is the main course. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cat-tuna-in-a-steel-top-can/620279/2 "2012-04-28T23:32:15Z")
Has it been this way for long? Maybe they’re just in the process of changing over. Alternately, maybe they come from different canneries. The tuna ones might come from a cannery near the coast, while the chicken flavors might come from inland. It’s not implausible that different facilities would have different canning equipment. ---
**Author:** ![Vashbul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Vashbul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vashbul)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cat-tuna-in-a-steel-top-can/620279/3 "2012-04-28T23:40:24Z")
It’s been this way for at least ten years, probably much longer. I can’t recall when 9-Lives didn’t have pull-tab cans, but the tuna ones were always the solid-top type. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cat-tuna-in-a-steel-top-can/620279/4 "2012-04-29T00:01:15Z")
Other cat food companies sell tuna in pull-tab cans (Fancy Feast is the one I know), so maybe it’s that their tuna processing plant just hasn’t changed over for some reason. I wonder if 9 lives is the only one. Are you in the US, OP? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cat-tuna-in-a-steel-top-can/620279/5 "2012-04-29T00:30:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Alternately, maybe they come from different canneries. The tuna ones might come from a cannery near the coast, while the chicken flavors might come from inland. It’s not implausible that different facilities would have different canning equipment. That was the answer I found [when this question came up before](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=578872). ---
**Author:** ![Vashbul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Vashbul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vashbul)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cat-tuna-in-a-steel-top-can/620279/6 "2012-04-29T01:12:07Z")
Ah, buried in that old thread is a [link](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/hyenas.htm) to a page with the answer. "We use two different types of cans for Friskies canned cat food. Each type comes from a different can supplier and source. The cans for the tuna flavor are made of steel, and this flavor is manufactured and canned in Thailand. They do not have a pull tab. The cans for all other flavors are made of aluminum; these other flavors are manufactured and canned locally. The aluminum cans have a pull-tab. Both are recyclable. “The tuna flavor is made in Thailai-id because of the availability of high-quality tuna in that part of the world. Packing the tuna in Thailand, immediately after it is caught, makes a higher-quality product than freezing the tuna and shipping it to the United States for packing. Cats have a keen sense of taste and smell, and they do notice the difference…” (Quote from a Friskies consumer affairs flack. I asked about 9-Lives, but apparently Friskies has a similar backstory.) Another mystery solved.