Question:
I feed my 2-year-old flame-point Siamese canned food (Fancy Feast) and dry food. She also loves tuna fish ("people" tuna), for which she developed an appetite when I once ran out of regular cat food. Is there any danger to her health from giving her regular tuna about once a week?.
C.L.J., Fort Worth, TX Jun 27, 2004
Answer:
There are several problems with feeding tuna fish to cats. It is highly "addictive," leading some cats to refuse all other food. This in turn can result in nutritional deficiency disease because "people" tuna is not a balanced diet suitable for daily consumption by cats. Also, because of the high levels of mercury found in tuna, neither cats nor humans should consume it on a regular basis -- no more than a small serving once a week, if that. When pregnant, neither humans nor animals should consume tuna at all. There are also ethical reasons for not eating tuna: dolphins, turtles and other sea creatures are frequently needlessly killed by the tuna fishing industry.
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