Sheba is getting more and more finicky about her food. She has been on a prescription food for chronic kidney failure, but she's refusing to eat it now. I've tried various canned cat foods, and sometimes she'll eat it and sometimes she won't. She does usually enjoy sharing my food, especially if I have salmon or tilapia. She likes canned tuna, but I recall hearing something about that not being good for cats, does anybody know anything about that? Maybe it was a certain type of canned tuna, I can't remember. Any suggestions?
KDs, I feed mine Tuna as a treat, or if I run out of cat food...lol I know that's not the answer you're looking for, but I would just call the vet and see what they say....
ck with HG to be sure, but i am thinking the doc actually told her to feed tuna due to the kidney problems but then again i have a zoo so i may be mistaken
I know Sheba is getting older-- so some of these long term affects might not be relevant-- but here is just a little of what I found. Several cat caretakers visiting ASPCA Pet Nutrition online have inquired about feeding tuna to their animal companions. Mindy Bough, veterinary technician for the ASPCA Pet Nutrition and Science Advisory Service, dishes out the facts on this savory feline fave: "An occasional tuna treat for your cat is generally harmless," says Bough. "However, if a large part of the cat's diet consists of tuna--or if the cat is fed tuna exclusively--some problems are likely to arise." Tuna does not contain significant amounts of vitamin E, for example, so too much of the fish can lead to vitamin E deficiency, resulting in yellow fat disease, or steatitis. Symptoms include loss of appetite, fever and hypersensitivity to touch, due to inflammation and necrosis of fat under the skin. Felines who are fed too much tuna can develop other nutrient deficiencies, too, because most de-boned fish are lacking in calcium, sodium, iron, copper and several other vitamins. Mercury, frequently present in tuna, also presents a potential danger. "At low levels, this may not be a concern," explains Bough, "but if tuna is fed nearly exclusively, it could pose significant problems." The bottom line? "I recommend premium commercial food for domestic cats," Bough says. "These foods are formulated to meet all of a cat's dietary needs. Then you can feed an occasional tuna treat for your pet's enjoyment. And remember," she adds, "no more than five to ten percent of a cat's diet should ever be table food." It may come as a surprise to many that tuna fish is bad for cats. Feline’s heart muscle requires an amino acid called taurine to maintain normal strength and function. Regular tuna fish for humans does not have this amino acid and cats that eat too much tuna fish will develop heart problems. If you want to give your cats that taste of tuna that they love, just make sure it is tuna fish for cats which has this amino acid added.
Thanks, ljk, that's what I was looking for. I know I read something about that a long time ago, but I couldn't remember what. Sheba is 20 years old, so at this point I pretty much let her have what she wants. Kinda like when my Dad was 85 and Mom was still trying to limit him to 1 or 2 eggs a week, I told her she should let him eat eggs if he wanted to. Sometimes she'll eat the Hills k/d, and sometimes she won't. I want her to eat something, so I've tried all kinds of canned cat food. Her favorite is fresh fish from my plate, and since I like fish, she gets that 2 or 3 times a week. I was thinking about canned tuna for days when she wouldn't eat cat food, but from what you've posted here it seems like canned salmon with the bones in it might be a better choice. (Yuk!) Thanks everybody!
Have you tried warming up the canned food? If you nuke it for 10 seconds or so it gets good and stinky and a bit more appetizing! Or Tuna 'juice' over her regular food?
and a half! That makes her like 95 in people years. She's still pretty agile, but she has to use a chair to get up on the counter now. :lol:
Ah! A reason for me to finally get to Trader Joe's! Been wanting to do that for a long time, but never get around to it.
I don't know the answer about tuna - have heard different things, but I know that when my kitten was so sick and almost died after his vaccinations, I fed him blended tuna, half and half and raw egg with a syringe. Kept him alive. My vet said that when he dies he wants to come back as a cat and live at my house! Hope your Sheba does well with it. I can't imagine 20 years! That's wonderful. My oldest cat is 13 and a tripod from cancer now. I am hoping for 15. Oh, and how the heck is everyone? I have been MIA for quite a while. Why can't a person just quit this place anyway? 8)
Thanks! We lost her littermate to cancer at age 13, but she's still going strong. This place gets into your blood and you can't keep away! I find it doesn't suck up quite so much of my time if I keep away from the political pit, LOL! :lol::lol:
KD- another suggestion.... jarred baby food. I have found cats love the chicken (or sometimes turkey) It is the glass jar, and way more expensive than cat food, but for my sick fosters it works wonders!
my cat got finicky in the end and the vet said to let him eat anything he wants, it wouldnt kill him at that point, i gave him tuna, salmon canned and fresh,turkey baby food,cooked whole chickens for him and even got breasts from kfc and gave him meat, no skin. for some reason if he ate tuna at breakfast he wouldnt eat it for lunch.so you just have to rotate the food. i have some science diet canned food that you dilute with water and put in a syringe to "force feed" if you have to to get something in him/her,you can have it if you want, is this for your siamese? also peaches what kind of cancer did your tripod have? the cat i am talking about was a tripod from cancer. he died 10 days short of 15 and it was from heart disease not cancer.
She doesn't act sick or weak, really, just finicky, and maybe a little psychotic at times. She walks around the house hollering, you know how Siamese cats talk to you, and she sleeps a lot. She doesn't have any extra weight on her, so I worry when she doesn't eat. I give her whatever table food she shows an interest in, and I've tried all those fancy little cans (and thrown away a lot of cat food that she doesn't eat). She is eating, sometimes a little nibble and sometimes more, so I guess I'll just keep trying everybody's suggestions to get her to keep eating. She does drink a lot of water. Thanks to all of you for your suggestions.
have you had her checked for diabetes? our siamese tommy lost weight he was a 20 lb cat and got down to 12 lbs,and was drinking alot so when he had his checkup we asked to give him a senior workup and they found it. he was 12 yrs when we found out and lived to 16.5. we had to give him 2 shots a day but it was worth the extra 4.5 yrs we had him. we have 3 siameses and only one has that siamese meow and he walks around meowing at nothing,be careful for what you wish for,i now have a lap cat and hubby wanted a siamese meower!
He had a mass wrapped around the bone. We removed it once and it grew back faster and bigger so the vet said we needed to take the leg. It was his front left leg. It's been close to a year now I think, and no problems so far.
Yes, she's had a senior workup, and the only thing they found was the chronic renal failure, and she's a trifle underweight. She was never a large cat, she may have been 9 or 10 pounds, but she was down to 6.9 when I took her in. She gained back a little on the Hill's k/d, I wish I could get her to keep eating that. Maybe if I pour a little tuna juice over it, or mix in fresh salmon or chicken. I'll try that. The other one, that we lost when he was 13, weighed over 20 pounds - he was a fat cat!
