Fish or chicken advise what to feed my new rescued Seal Point Siamese kitty

[Jojo&Tutu]

I have recently adopted a one or two year old Seal Point Siamese cat. She is healthy other than an ear infection being treated. She was abandoned in Tijuana, Mexico brought in to a San Diego, California rescue. When I adopted her I asked what she ate and they said Costco tuna cat food. I got her some Pure Cravings Tuna Cutlets in Gravy which she loves eating. This company is the same company as Safe Catch who sells canned tuna in local grocery stores for human consumption. In this tuna cat food formula this company tests every single tuna fish for mercury levels and keeps only those at .07ppm or less for the cat food. The tuna is caught off the coast of Thailand. My cat is a bit over 8 pounds. I think that is around 3.6 kg. Is it safe for her to stay on this cat food? One regular veterinarian said yes to the tuna formula and said cats can be allergic to chicken. Another said cats can be allergic to fish snd wants to put her on chicken. They both recommended staying with one protein source as Siamese they tend to develop protein allergies in time and this would allow for more options later. Neither were concerned about mercury toxicity.
I noticed a lot of cat food has tuna in it. It also seems that the gums like guar him aren’t used as thickeners as much as they used to be and now there seems to be a lot of use of wheat gluten instead.

I would truly appreciate your advise on whether or not feeding my cat Pure Cravings Tuna Cutlets in Gravy would be safe for her to continue eating for the long run. Is it safe to keep her on formula? Can this build up to a mercury toxicity? Is it better to switch to chicken? I’m looking for single protein source so that if she becomes allergic to a particular protein as Siamese tend to there are still plenty of options. With which brands have you had success?

I sincerely thank you for your advise.

 

[maggie101]

Tuna is #1 in terms of allergies. Second comes chicken. Fish especially they can become addicted to. One of my cats I fed chicken mainly. Now 10 years old,she is intolerant to chicken though I think it started when she was 2. It took lots of trial and error. Now she eats lamb,duck,venison,beef,turkey,quail. Mostly weruva or fancy feast classics,orijen,daves. Only occasionally give fish

 

[lisahe]

Totally agreeing with maggie101 about only giving fish occasionally. One of our cats shouldn't even have it occasionally now (she has asthma) but the foods with fish I fed as treats were generally combination foods from Weruva with chicken and fish. They had a strong fish smell and the cats loved them.

This vet-written article mentions lots of reasons that lots of vets (including ours) recommend against feeding fish to cats regularly.

Why Fish is Dangerous for Cats - Holistic Actions!

www.holisticactions.com

Your cat is beautiful! I hope you're able to find her some foods she'll like!

 

[Jojo&Tutu]

Totally agreeing with maggie101 about only giving fish occasionally. One of our cats shouldn't even have it occasionally now (she has asthma) but the foods with fish I fed as treats were generally combination foods from Weruva with chicken and fish. They had a strong fish smell and the cats loved them.

This vet-written article mentions lots of reasons that lots of vets (including ours) recommend against feeding fish to cats regularly.

http://[URL]https://www.holisticactions.com/why-fish-is-dangerous-for-cats/

[/URL]

Your cat is beautiful! I hope you're able to find her some foods she'll like!

Couple of corrections to the article posted: Pure Cravings tests every tuna and salmon fish for mercury levels and keeps only .07ppm or less. Arsenic is more common in rice. Pure Cravings tuna dma phosphorus level is very low practically a kidney diet at .73. I still am uncertain as to how mercury even at a very low level might accumulate in the body.

 

[Jojo&Tutu]

Thanks!

 

[maggie101]

I'm sure they are tested but my concern is that it's so addicting. Tuna is more likely to cause an issue healthwise,especially as they get older.

 

[lisahe]

I'm sure they are tested but my concern is that it's so addicting. Tuna is more likely to cause an issue healthwise, especially as they get older.

Agreeing with maggie101 again on this one... My biggest concerns are the unholy combination of addiction, histamines (because of inflammation), and the apparent hyperthyroid link, all issues that Dr. Hofve mentions in the piece I linked to above. Yes, chicken can also cause eventual allergies, too, but it doesn't carry as many other potential risks as fish.

Our previous cat was pretty much addicted to fish -- we didn't know then that fish isn't optimal food for cats -- which made her especially hard to feed in her last year, when she had multiple ailments that a poor diet (we really didn't know how to feed cats then!) complicated or perhaps even contributed to.

We feed our current cats a diet heavy in chicken with some turkey, pork, mouse, and duck. I've left some proteins -- notably rabbit -- in reserve, in case we need a novel protein someday. The cats are Siamese mixes (our get warned us early about digestive issues!) and one, in particular, has lots of food limitations. The biggest problems for her thus far are thickeners. She does okay with guar gum but can't eat agar agar or potato. I try to keep her foods as simple as possible. A lot of her diet is homemade food.

 

[Jojo&Tutu]

I decided to get an educated opinion from Professor Blakey who wrote the information about mercury on the Merck Veterinary Manual. This is what he wrote in response to my telling him about Pure Cravings tuna that my cat was eating. He emailed me:

“The concentration of mercury in your cat food at 0.07 ppm should not cause any health problems due to mercury. I doubt that the company tests every fish for mercury. There may be some variation from shipment to shipment. The mercury in the fish is organic in nature. The only manifestations you could see are neurological in nature and take many weeks or months to develop depending upon the amount of mercury. If your cat should have kittens, the mercury will cross the placenta and affect the kittens. The cerebellar damage in the kittens is irreversible.

Any neurological damage in the adult cat is also permanent. The is no effective treatment.

Chronic exposure to mercury has been associated with autoimmunity in some species. I don’t know if it has been reported in cats.

I am not an expert on protein allergies in cats.

Mercury should not be a problem. Supplementing the diet with selenium or vitamin E may prevent the mercury from tissue accumulation. The half life of mercury is about 70 days. It takes a long time to build up to toxic values. Selenium can also be toxic if excessive amounts are given.

If you want to evaluate the mercury status of your cat, blood or perhaps hair (chronic exposure) can be done. You could also evaluate the food. The food should not contain more than 0.3 ppm. This in fact, would be considered excessive by many. It is not practical to test every order of feed.

I hope these comments are helpful.

Barry Blakley”

 

[Jojo&Tutu]

I also spoke to Weruva and they only use skipjack tuna. They tend to be lower in mercury because they swim near the top of the ocean and are smaller tuna. They would also be a good choice. I just requested some samples from them for tuna with chicken etc. Will see what they come up with. Hope this info helps!

 

[daftcat75]

I'm not concerned about the mercury. I feel if this were really a concern, there would be more threads here about neurological symptoms.

As others have stated, fish should be avoided for other reasons:

1. It's pro-inflammatory. Protein allergies are rather rare. More often, other ingredients, often the carbs, are pro-inflammatory and the protein gets the blame. The mechanism of food intolerance conditions such as IBD involves the carbs feeding bacteria that cause gut wall changes allowing the immune system to see and weaponize against protein molecules it wouldn't normally encounter. Immune system keys in on protein, not carbs. So essentially carbs are blowing the doors open and the protein is getting caught and implicated by the immune system sheriff.
2. It's "addictive"--not a true addiction with withdrawal effects, mind you. But some cats will hold out for only fish if they know that's an option.
3. For that reason, fish should be an emergency food if she stops eating and you need to restart her eating again. Exceptional circumstances require exceptional measures. But makes sure it is the exception. If she gets fish all the time, you lose this nuclear option.

Not all gums are created equal. I avoid carrageenan and agar agar. Some food scientists have tried to convince me that agar agar should not be lumped in with carrageenan. But I have observed first hand what it did to Krista and don't need to put another cat through those gut pains. Xanthan gum should be considered on a per cat basis. It makes smooth foods smooth. Think the mousse-like foods and those tube treats. But for those cats (and people) who are sensitive to xanthan gum, it also makes their poops smooth. Mousse in, mousse out. When I discovered in my last cat (Krista) that she was sensitive to xanthan gum, I also noticed that I was too. I don't eat her food. But xanthan gum is used in human foods for much the same reasons. If I buy the wrong cream cheese or frozen dessert type product, I'll know it the next day. Guar gum, despite it's unappealing and foreboding name, is actually perhaps the most benign of the gums. If I see a food with guar gum, I will buy it every time over something using any other gum.

And finally, there are other protein sources and higher end foods you could consider. I like Mouser and Rawz because they come in a number of different proteins. If your cat doesn't have any food sensitivities now, it's better to have her on a variety of foods. It helps to keep her gut microbiome diverse which is thought to be ground zero for food intolerances in the first place.

Incredible Pets sells by the can. You don't have to purchase whole cases to see what your girl may like.
Search: 10 results found for "mouser" - Incredible Pets

 

[lisahe]

Not all gums are created equal. I avoid carrageenan and agar agar. Some food scientists have tried to convince me that agar agar should not be lumped in with carrageenan. But I have observed first hand what it did to Krista and don't need to put another cat through those gut pains. Xanthan gum should be considered on a per cat basis. It makes smooth foods smooth. Think the mousse-like foods and those tube treats. But for those cats (and people) who are sensitive to xanthan gum, it also makes their poops smooth. Mousse in, mousse out. When I discovered in my last cat (Krista) that she was sensitive to xanthan gum, I also noticed that I was too. I don't eat her food. But xanthan gum is used in human foods for much the same reasons. If I buy the wrong cream cheese or frozen dessert type product, I'll know it the next day. Guar gum, despite it's unappealing and foreboding name, is actually perhaps the most benign of the gums. If I see a food with guar gum, I will buy it every time over something using any other gum.

Agreeing on all points you make in your post, daftcat75 , but this part about gums is especially good, particularly since it goes beyond the fish question.

We can't feed agar-agar -- it is confirmed to make both cats barf -- but, like you, guar is the one gum we'll feed. Xanthan and tapioca are both banned for one cat (suspicion of problems) and though we've never had problems with carrageenen, it's banned on general principle, since it's a known irritant for the digestive system. Our cat with the sensitive gut also can't eat potato. All these limitations mean there aren't many brands of wet food that we can feed! Fortunately, Mouser and Rawz are two of the best.

As you mention, these thickeners are in human foods, too. After learning how they can act on bodies -- feline and human -- I've stopped buying lots of foods. Why should yogurt have tapioca starch? Why should frozen falafel have xanthan and guar gums?!

I may be something of a zealot for banning all these gums and other thickeners but they all have qualities that make them feel less than the "generally regarded as safe" that the FDA seems to think they are.

 

[Jojo&Tutu]

Most internal medicine veterinarians do not recommend feeding your cat a variety of proteins. Instead stuck to one or two. This allows for other choices of proteins if the cat becomes allergic down the road. This is what Pure Cravings said in a recent email
To me:

“We test every single tuna or salmon for its mercury concentration—we are the only company in the world that does. This is done with our proprietary technology. If a fish does not meet our published mercury limit, we simply do not purchase that fish.

Our mercury-testing technology has been verified by governments and major retailers. As a company, we screen fish at the source with our proprietary equipment, test cans during our canning process, and send finished products to 3rd party labs to verify our claims are met.

Our technology is AOAC (Association of Official Analytical Chemists) approved. Our claims have been validated by the NAD (National Advertising Division).

Hope this helps! Please let us know if we can assist you further.

Best Regards,

Corinne R.
Customer Service
Pure Cravings”

The Professor who wrote the chapter in Merck Veterinary Manual on mercury poisoning replied:

“Thanks for the information. I suspect they are testing every batch of fish and not every individual fish. Testing every batch would likely meet federal guidelines. The involvement of 3rd party labs is also important.
I think your cat will be safe consuming their products.
Barry Blakley”


I think I will try the Pure Cravings minced chicken with tuna and some of the Weruva chicken with tuna formulas or chicken formulas. I feel more confident with what my cat is eating having consulted an expert. I like the idea of a limited ingredient lower phosphorus diet to prevent inflammatory bowel disease flare ups and the beginning of chronic kidney disease.

As far as hyperthyroid this can be the result of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (autoimmune thyroid) where the lymphocytes are attacking the thyroid and releasing excess thyroid until the thyroid becomes hypothyroid. The thyroid is especially sensitive to ionizing and mixed frequency electromagnetic nonionizing exposures. You can blame the cell towers and excessive 5G millimeter waves now. I know alot about it because I have this condition following a large radiation exposure. Most of the survivors of Hiroshima have this condition following the atomic bomb exposures as per research in Nagasaki Japan. It does pertain to radiation exposure.