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Question about fish in cat food
Common wisdom among people who know something about feline nutrition
is that cats should't be fed fish too often. But a question about it from a friend made me realize that I'm not sure why. Is it because of the presence of mercury in (wild) fish? Is that also the reason why one shouldn't feed a cat too much tuna, or is that a separate issue? Also, does anyone know whether farmed fish has a lower mercury content? I would expect it to since they have more control over the water. Thanks. -- Joyce Cats' hearing apparatus is built to allow the human voice to easily go in one ear and out the other. -- Stephen Baker |
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Question about fish in cat food
On Friday, December 16, 2011 1:54:40 PM UTC-7, (unknown) wrote:
Common wisdom among people who know something about feline nutrition is that cats should't be fed fish too often. But a question about it from a friend made me realize that I'm not sure why. Is it because of the presence of mercury in (wild) fish? Is that also the reason why one shouldn't feed a cat too much tuna, or is that a separate issue? Also, does anyone know whether farmed fish has a lower mercury content? I would expect it to since they have more control over the water. Thanks. Well... finally found somethng that appears a bit reputable: http://pets.webmd.com/cats/10-mistak...e-feeding-cats Says raw fish is out, and a total fish diet is not good as it can cause some serious vitamin deficiencies. -- Joyce Cats' hearing apparatus is built to allow the human voice to easily go in one ear and out the other. -- Stephen Baker |
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Question about fish in cat food
In ,
shouted to everyone in earshot, Also, does anyone know whether farmed fish has a lower mercury content? I would expect it to since they have more control over the water. My understanding is that mercury comes from what fish eat, not directly from the water into the fish. plants absorb it from the water and/or soil, fish eat plants, other fish eat those fish, etc. the lowest-mercury fish are those that are small, herbivorous, and short-lived like tilapia, and larger fish, carnivorous fish, and longer-lived fish, like salmon and orange roughy, will have more mercury. farming, I believe, is a mostly matter of providing feed to fish that are already in a particular area rather than keeping them in a controlled environment, at least in the case of ocean fish. the provided feed might reduce the amount of ocean life that the fish eat, but I wouldn't expect it to entirely replace their natural diet. also, some farming operations use corn in the feed, so there could be abnormal levels of fat in the fish, and the extra fat would be omega-6 rather than the omega-3 you'd expect from fish, for whatever that's worth. |
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Question about fish in cat food
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Question about fish in cat food
Years ago I did foster care for a cat rescue group and routinely used
canned mackeral when socializing fearful or feral cats. I was told that a regular diet of fish was bad because it leached calcium from the bones and could soften them. FWIW. I wonder if fish contains appropriate levels of taurine? If not, that would certainly be a good reason to not feed too much of it. |
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Question about fish in cat food
"Smokie Darling (Annie)" wrote:
On Friday, December 16, 2011 1:54:40 PM UTC-7, (unknown) wrote: Common wisdom among people who know something about feline nutrition is that cats should't be fed fish too often. But a question about it from a friend made me realize that I'm not sure why. Is it because of the presence of mercury in (wild) fish? Is that also the reason why one shouldn't feed a cat too much tuna, or is that a separate issue? Also, does anyone know whether farmed fish has a lower mercury content? I would expect it to since they have more control over the water. Thanks. Well... finally found somethng that appears a bit reputable: http://pets.webmd.com/cats/10-mistak...e-feeding-cats Says raw fish is out, and a total fish diet is not good as it can cause some serious vitamin deficiencies. Thanks! That was helpful. -- Joyce Cats' hearing apparatus is built to allow the human voice to easily go in one ear and out the other. -- Stephen Baker |
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Question about fish in cat food
"Dan M" wrote in message ... Years ago I did foster care for a cat rescue group and routinely used canned mackeral when socializing fearful or feral cats. I was told that a regular diet of fish was bad because it leached calcium from the bones and could soften them. FWIW. I wonder if fish contains appropriate levels of taurine? If not, that would certainly be a good reason to not feed too much of it. We are very lucky nowadays that cat foods are available in many forms, kitten foods, senior foods etc Makes you wonder how they ever survived on the scraps they had many moons ago. Obviously they did or we wouldn't have their descendants. Tweed |
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Question about fish in cat food
JB wrote:
In , shouted to everyone in earshot, Also, does anyone know whether farmed fish has a lower mercury content? I would expect it to since they have more control over the water. My understanding is that mercury comes from what fish eat, not directly from the water into the fish. plants absorb it from the water and/or soil, fish eat plants, other fish eat those fish, etc. the lowest-mercury fish are those that are small, herbivorous, and short-lived like tilapia, and larger fish, carnivorous fish, and longer-lived fish, like salmon and orange roughy, will have more mercury. farming, I believe, is a mostly matter of providing feed to fish that are already in a particular area rather than keeping them in a controlled environment, at least in the case of ocean fish. the provided feed might reduce the amount of ocean life that the fish eat, but I wouldn't expect it to entirely replace their natural diet. But (I would assume) they would be feeding them food that doesn't have mercury in it. Maybe I shouldn't assume that... also, some farming operations use corn in the feed, so there could be abnormal levels of fat in the fish, and the extra fat would be omega-6 rather than the omega-3 you'd expect from fish, for whatever that's worth. That's disgusting. The food industry puts corn (in one form or another) in *everything*. Not healthy for cats or humans. -- Joyce Cats' hearing apparatus is built to allow the human voice to easily go in one ear and out the other. -- Stephen Baker |
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Question about fish in cat food
On Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:26:11 +0000, Christina Websell wrote:
We are very lucky nowadays that cat foods are available in many forms, kitten foods, senior foods etc Makes you wonder how they ever survived on the scraps they had many moons ago. Obviously they did or we wouldn't have their descendants. Tweed Indeed. I'm guessing that the occasional bird or vole must have helped make up for any deficiencies they might have had. |
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