If you decide to rear a kitten, you obviously have to do so sincerely. In fact, proper care of eating habits is perhaps the best way to help your cute feline pet to grow up. As an owner of a kitty, you are likely to know that fish is its favorite food, but do all fishes keep your cat healthy?
Now, we want to start a discussion on tuna that is often chosen by cat owners to feed their pets. While a kitty is weaned, it needs some specially prepared diet that has lots of protein. You can also check out cats and salmon.
Some information on tuna
Tuna fish originally attained its popularity when the First World War was going on and while the warriors overseas needed a handy, portable foodstuff that might help them to survive during that war. At that time, canned tuna turned out to be the most preferred food, and when it was 1954, the USA was the major tuna marketplace in the globe.
Tuna fishes are generally trapped in only warm water; then they are transported in frozen condition to different factories, wherein they go through a treatment and some canning processes prior to being delivered to the market.
Tuna doesn’t create comprehensive diet
It is to be remembered that a simple tuna fish may not complete diet in terms of nutritional viewpoint, and most of the cats have allergic reaction to this fish. The truth is that while tuna constitutes a huge portion of your pet’s food, they may miss out some amount of important vitamins, like vitamin E. As a result, it may cause malnutrition to your cat, and the beginning of such disorder is known as steatitis or yellow fat disorder. It leads to inflammation in fatty tissues of cat and may be extremely painful condition.
Thus, if an excessive amount of tuna is incorporated to your kitty’s diet, and if the pet also becomes highly interested on this fish, then it becomes a problem to you. As tuna offers good tang, it is a pleasurable to most of the cats. So, it is better to choose tuna as simply an occasional treat, instead of staple food.
Why canned tuna is unsuitable?
Commercially available canned tuna that is intended for cats is not considered as pure tuna. It has been found out that this canned fish often has some mercury that may be highly poisonous to feline animals.
Some of the possible symptoms that lead to the poisoning due to mercury are:
- Unable to walk or stand
- Disorientation
- Depression
- Vomiting
- Lack of taste
- Diarrhea
- Pale color
- Stomach pain
When your cat eats a small piece of canned tuna occasionally, there may not be any issue of poisoning. But, regular consumption of canned tuna will turn out to be much problematic to you, because it may cause serious nutritional shortages in feline pets. For instance, there may be a deficiency of calcium and sodium.
In addition to it, high amount of fatty oils along with flavorings and spices are added to canned tuna. In fact, it is a method to fill out the container with low-priced components, instead of fish.
Besides, the consumption of salt, present in the canned item, leads to a disparity of electrolytes in the cat’s body. However, in some cases, some canned tuna is packed with water, instead of salt. While purchasing tuna for feeding your cat, you have to go through the tags to know the ingredients.
Though all kinds of tuna fishes may bring about some problems, you should take some additional care in case of canned tuna-
- Canned fishes may differ in their quality. Generally, low quality fishes are more damaging to your pet’s health because they have large amount of cheap oil.
- These fishes have preservative oils and flavorings that may be adverse for a cat’s health
Diseases caused due to tuna
Feeding a cat or kitty considerable amounts of commercially preserved tuna may be quite risky. It is already said that one of the effects of this tuna fish is the steatitis. In fact, this disease is very common in cats, and when you find that your pet is also facing such disorder, you need to examine the symptoms. The experienced vets will recommend you to include dietary supplements to cat’s diet that contain lots of Vitamin E. The best quality cat food that has some significant antioxidants may also be a good option.
Thiamine deficiency is also another problem that is experienced by your cat. Tuna has no adequate amount of vitamins and minerals, and thus, it must not be provided to your pet in huge quantities. While there is a lack of vitamin B, it will expose some symptoms, like hunger loss and also death.
The differences of tuna-based cat food and tuna
The manufacturers, who are intended to prepare cat’s food, try to accomplish their duties with high care in order that all those foodstuffs meet the nutritional needs of cats. They are made in such a manner that the felines get the required amount of protein. However, they are not affected with an excessive level of magnesium and mercury.
On the other hand, tuna does not offer your pet all nutrients that it needs. For making the feline’s food much nutritious, taurine, vitamins and minerals are incorporated to it. So, this is the difference between cat food with tuna flavor and tuna fish.
Things to remember while considering tuna as cat’s food
Cats may consume only a limited quantity of tuna fish as their treat; however, feeding any kind of tuna on a regular basis may lead to some health issues. Remember that tuna-based foods for cats and their related treats are made for only cat’s consumption. Tuna that is preserved in cans has fatty oils along with nutrients, though tuna-based feline foodstuff is prepared to give a considerable level of protein. It is essential to contrast your pet’s food in order to attain the maximum dietary importance and enjoyment on meal.
How about fruits? Read about blueberries and cats here.
