Is it dangerous?
How much can I feed?
I heard it is high in mercury?
What about salt in it?
Can I feed the tuna in oil?
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This is just a list of some of the questions I’ve received about tuna. Especially when feeding tuna to cats.
It’s crazy isn’t it? Because look at these questions.
Where did they come from?
“The industry“ definitely wants people to be afraid to feed real food to their animals. To their cats. Because if people are afraid to feed real food, they will continue to feed “regular food“. And most regular food is lower quality than anything that people are worried about with the tuna.
There are legally defined and permitted amounts of mercury in pet food. (It is NOT zero.) And it’s possible that there is more mercury in your “regular cat food“ than what is in that can of human grade tuna that you are sharing with your cat! So if you’re concerned, buy tuna that says that it is line caught and low mercury.
How much can you feed? Well, how much can your cat eat? Ha ha ha.
I think the basis of the above question is half about the mercury and half about balance. So I just answered the question about the mercury. Tuna by itself? No that’s not balanced as an exclusive diet for cats. There are just a few things that need to be added. Some B vitamins. Some trace minerals like calcium.
Salt? I already threw a hissy fit about salt! Salt is vital for life. Read my post about salt here.
Tuna in oil. What’s wrong with oil? It’s a fat. Fat can be healthy. We need fat for calories. Sure, maybe the oil in tuna is not top-quality. What do you think is in “regular” cat food? That oil is even worse!
So we get to the end of the list of questions. Is tuna dangerous? I don’t think so.
Is it a healthy addition to cat diets? Absolutely.
Oh gosh, and then somebody is going to argue about whether or not it is “species appropriate”.
Some people think cats are not supposed to eat fish.
There are some great videos of tigers swimming and fishing naturally in rivers. It’s good to live in an ideal world. In the real world, we do the best we can. And maybe cats would never have eaten a tuna in the wild. Pretty sure they didn’t eat GMO corn in the wild either.
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Do your best.
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Still seeing patients in Tampa, Clearwater, and virtually.