Just how bad is a fishy diet really?

[TobiDaDog]

My sweet Reese has gotten pickier and pickier over the past year. She's gone from eating everything on her plate and begging for more as a kitten to turning her nose up to just about everything I give her. Nothing lasts longer than a few bites. She isn't even tempted by 'people food' like turkey and ham. (But she stole and devoured a piece of cheesecake fudge like it was her last meal?!)

Recently I decided to add Petco's brand, Whole Hearted, to my rotation to see if it would tempt her. I snagged a few different flavors, including a can of ocean whitefish and one of tuna. As usual, she snubbed the chicken, turkey, and beef. But when I got around to the fish, she devoured her whole plate in one sitting and tried to steal Sir's as well! Apparently she likes fish. Go figure.

If it's not detrimental to her health, I'd really like to feed it to her more often. Eating fish is better than eating nothing. Right? RIGHT?

 

[furmonster mom]

Sudden appetite changes like that would pose a flag for me, I'd make a vet appointment and get a full blood panel to rule out any organ issues or nutrient deficiencies.

 

[amethyst]

Here is a thread from earlier this month that might help it has links to why fish isn't safe.

Is fish really bad?

I don't think it's terrible to have in the rotation, like once a week, but just like humans they shouldn't be eating fish everyday.

 

[TobiDaDog]

It's not sudden. It's been a gradual change over the course of her life. If she LIKES the food she will eat it. If she doesn't like it, you're just S.O.L. If I noticed any other weird behavior changes I would totally take her to the vet, but she just...doesn't eat if it isn't tasty. She begs for dinner right on time, runs to her plate, and turns her nose up if it's something she deems unworthy. She adores treats and often breaks into the cabinet for them, and she will scarf the rare 'tasty food' so I know she's still got an appetite!

 

[Azazel]

If she's already a picky eater I would be cautious with fish as it tends to turn picky cats into even pickier cats.

 

[KarenKat]

Personally I avoid fish if I can, but I have to think eating well trumps food that is less healthy. My definitely unlearned opinion on that, though.

 

[Sonatine]

The best food is the food the cat will eat, at the end of the day. It's true that it might make her pickier; you'll need to weigh the benefits of her eating more with the downsides of having a cat that only wants seafood.

Feeding fish may have nutritional downsides, but sometimes they might be overstated. Any cat food that is sold as nutritionally complete needs to have the nutrients a cat needs to live, so I wouldn't worry about a fish diet not having the required nutrients. Fish alone wouldn't, but the cat food does. Mercury poisoning concerns me more, and there's at least some data to back up that particular risk. However, mercury poisoning in cats is actually pretty rare so it's hard to say exactly how significant the risk is. We know it can happen, but we don't truly have a good idea of how likely it is; granted, I only very briefly searched for scientific papers on it, so I may well have missed some evidence. Feeding fish that are generally lower in mercury may help (maybe? Not sure if there's any data on that either). One of the abstracts I skimmed suggested that the likelihood of mercury poisoning might be lowered by rotating between fish based foods, so I imagine that substituting in non fish foods whenever you can would also help to control that risk.

I'd try to get her to eat non-fish foods when you can, though.

 

[daftcat75]

Eating fish-based food is better than nothing at all. That much is true. But I would still work on getting the fish out of her rotation.

Because it is more appealing than any other foods, I reserve fish for when Krista isn't eating or I need to hide medicine in her food. Because she only receives fish at these times, the appeal remains high and the job gets done. If she was eating fish all the time and stopped eating, then what in the world would I turn to to get her eating again?

 

[cheeser]

A few years ago, we got into the habit of feeding one of our cats nothing but fish based flavors because (1) the vet told us to because Buddy suffers from chronic nasal congestion, and said the smell would be more likely to tempt his appetite, and (2) it got to a point that's all Buddy would eat.

Long story short, Buddy got stuck in a hellish cycle of urinary tract problems, and it turned out that fish was one of the things that kept setting them off. So after that, we've just decided to be overly cautious, and don't feed fish to any of our cats anymore. But that's just us.

 

[zoes]

Have you tried mixing fish with non-fish-based food? If you heat it up a little, it gets really fishy-smelling. Maybe you could find a ratio she will still eat so she's not eating exclusively fish every day.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Here are a couple things that may help your situation;
Any Good Tips To Get Your Cats To Eat? Share Them Here!

Can I Feed My Cat A Fish-based Or Fish-flavored Diet? – Cat Articles

 

[MissClouseau]

I already answered in the other thread someone linked but... Most commercial wet cat foods I know in Europe and Asia are mostly fish - including some American brands' food like Purina Gourmet Gold or Pro Plan canned foods which they don't sell in the USA. Even the ones advertised as another meat, say "Turkey"- you check the label and it's only like 14% turkey, the rest is mixed meat and the smell makes it clear it's mostly fish. If fish was bad, the cats outside of America would be dropping dead. And there are zillions of different fishes, some coming from lake, some from seas, or oceans.. it makes zero sense to generalize "fish is bad." or "fish is good." (My cat doesn't generalize either. She wouldn't even touch salmon. Not crazy about tuna. But European bass, she will happily have some.)

Not to say fish can't be bad or can't be the worst option for an individual cat, but that applies to all kinds of meat. Google "[insert any meat] potential risks" and you will find some results for cats, and for humans too. (For humans it applies to vegetables and fruits as well. Everything has a potential risk.) Bird flu is one for poultry. There are also individual needs and sensitivities - my Hima doesn't handle chicken-based foods well lately but has no problem with her mostly fish wet food, I believe because she doesn't handle high fat/saturated fat well. The fishy food has lower and tastes less greasy too.