Lake caught fish

[badkelpie]

I have heard that you can't feed raw salmon/trout from the pacific northwest due to a certain parasite (I don't recall which). But as soon as the lakes open, I will have a constant source of trout (as long as I can catch them).

Will freezing kill this parasite? Soaking in something?

I am feeding my dogs raw, and starting to switch kitty over today. Can I feed other fish, like perch or catfish? The catfish are bullheads actually, and there is no limit on them.

And other than taking the spines off the bullheads, do I need to do anything to prepare the fish? Take heads off, or gut them? Or just toss kitty a dead fish (assuming I can get him to eat whole stuff), and hope for the best?

 

[sharky]

Most will say not to feed raw fish.. IMHO I dont eat lake fish as to what they usually eat= garbage.. You would need a deep freeze of 3 weeks to 3 months and that would likely kill off bacteria

 

[brookesphynx]

I've never fed fish to my cats (funny, since I live in FL and could get it very easily and inexpensively - I just don't want to handle it myself!). Some people will say not to feed it at all, others will say it's okay but not to feed it all the time, and others say it is a great whole food...(you'll hear different opinions about pork, too...). Feeding it too often, I understand, can result in Vitamin B deficiency, so be sure to include other proteins in your cat's diet.

I have a friend who's cat loves fish, but she feeds her sushi-grade salmon (spoiled!). Just got an email from another friend the other day who told me about one of her farm cats that grabs catfish right out of the stream on her property and brings them back to feed her kittens. I'm sure she doesn't bother to remove the heads first! She's even taught her kittens how to fish...

Really, it's going to be a matter of how much work your cat is willing to do. My cats wouldn't chew anything larger than an inch at first, but now they'll happily tear through any chunk of meat I give them. You may have to start by scaling/boning/gutting the fish, but eventually (hopefully) may be able to offer it whole.

This link talks a little bit about raw feeding and fish: (mostly about dogs, but there's some cat info here too) http://www.rawlearning.com/fish.html

 

[badkelpie]

Maybe I'll just try the bullheads. They're easy to catch, and no one wants them there. I'll save the trout for me.

I don't worry about the fish in these lakes, it's a very clean unpolluted area.

 

[melvyn]

I feed salmon chunk and sardine in the raw meat once every 2 weeks, they love it.

 

[ut0pia]

Lake fish can also carry tapeworms, i wouldn't feed it at all! But you can just cook it and feed it cooked..