Which is healthier? Canned tuna or canned cat food?

[shaina_is_here]

Hello everyone. I have quick question for you. My cats have become addicted to eating canned cat food. Is it less fattening and maybe healthier to feed them canned tuna in water rather than the canned cat food? I feed them 9 Lives, if that matters at all. They do have access to hard food, but they prefer to beg for the soft food. Thanks!

[MJ]

I'd say canned cat food is definitely better by far. It's intended to be eaten by cats. :P If you're really concerned, changing to a high quality brand of canned cat food could be a good idea. I like to give my cats Iam's canned cat food as a treat.

Especially if they're getting most of their nutrition from it because they don't want to eat their dry food, they really need to be eating something that's nutritionally balanced for them.

A small amount of tuna now and then probably wouldn't hurt your cats, but too much tuna... Especially tuna every single day, could be very bad for them.

I also don't think canned cat food is generally really fattening as compared to dry food? Maybe they could gain weight on it if they eat a lot more of it because they like it more, but it shouldn't cause big problems for most cats if you don't feed in excess.

[shaina_is_here]

Thank you! Do you know of a good way to wean them off the food? If we run out the four of them are absolute terrors, whining and crying as if they're starving and keeping me up at night. Any suggestions?

[Traci]

ANY fish, fed in excess, can cause pansteatitis, otherwise known as yellow fat disease. Most fish contains high levels of unsaturated fatty acids and/or insufficient amounts of vit E -- vit E deficiencies often occur when owners feed human foods to their pets. Most fish also are vit K and thiamine deficient as well...canned tuna is high in fat and magnesium and fed on a long term basis may lead to pansteatitis. So, don't feed it. Used as a small treat on very limited occasions would not hurt but owners usually think this means all the time, which is NOT appropriate.

Um, don't run out of cat food and you won't have the problem of them being hungry when you run out.

You mentioned in other posts that two of the cats are senior-age, so you need to get them checked by the vet to ensure that the dietary requirements are specific to their needs. Older cats have changing needs and requirements in their diets, you need to allow your vet to determine what is best for them and their needs.

Ideally, dry food is fine, helps to keep tarter on teeth to a minimum, and providing it is a high quality food, will provide all the requirements they need when they are otherwise healthy adult cats. One can give canned as a treat, or divide the total daily food between dry and canned (example: 1/2 cup dry + 1/4 of a can, or 1/2 can + 1/4 cup of dry, this is ONLY an example and is NOT exact, each cat's health, age and weight need to apply). This should however, be discussed with your vet because if you introduce a certain food or a certain amount and take away a certain amount of their regular type of food, GI tract problems, avoidance and anorexia can develop. Again, the older cats' diets need to be addressed with your vet to ensure they are getting appropriate nutrients and NOT excesses, particularly if renal disease, kidney disease, diabetes, etc are of concern.

9 Lives is not a high quality food, especially fed exclusively. Talk to your vet, he can recommend a quality diet, amounts to feed, PER their individual needs, age, weight and activity level, or if one or more suffer from a certain health condition, etc. Switching of foods must be done carefully and slowly. Example:

Day 1: feed 75% old food, 25% new food
Day 5: feed 50% old food, 50% new food
Day 8: feed 25% old food, 75% new food
Day 12: feed 100% new food.

[shaina_is_here]

Thanks for the advice. I don't feed them anything but cat food. I was just out of soft food one day and they were driving me crazy, so I found a can of tuna and gave them some just to shut them up for a while! LOL They're quite loud and obnoxious. That's the only time they've ever had tuna.

My cats are healthy and see the vet on a regular basis, so that's not the problem. They always have dry cat food available to them, I make sure they don't run out. But they've just become crazy over the soft food and I know it's not healthy for them. I was thinking of changing to Kumpi dry cat food and feeding them that exclusively because it's the best quality. Has anyone tried that brand before? Is it as good as they make it out to be? I just want them to eat the best and get away from the cheap food since all the poison scares.

Thanks all!

[Traci]

Never heard of Kumpi, please provide a link.

[shaina_is_here]

The link to their website is www.kumpikat.com. They also make dog food and the link to the dog site is www.kumpi.com. They seem like a really good company.

[Traci]

I'm sorry, but I wouldn't call this a quality food. In fact, looking at the ingredients, there is an overload of ingredients that are questionable and unnecessary (one example, probiotics, seems to be a high content there -- various "berries", which there is no evidence to suggest they are of any nutritional value in cat food). Looking at the vitamins and mineral content, they also appear in excess, particularly ash content, which can contribute to FLUTD problems in cats. Also, there is very little fiber content.

One thing that alarms me is the "owner's" interpretation to owners "do not worry if you see your pet drinking more water than usual, this is normal!". Um, no, it is not normal, and any pet who drinks excessively when fed a diet like this, should be examined, bloodwork done, detect causes for dehydration, check for excess or deficiency of vitamin/nutrient/mineral content. Secondly, and just as important, they seem to be on the agenda to bash commercial quality pet foods, giving out the same hype and misinformation as everyone else....this is a marketing ploy. Lastly, the term "detoxification" used on the site is a misnomer, this is a common ploy to convince pet owners that commercial foods are bad for pets.

[shaina_is_here]

So what would be the best dry food to feed them? Iams? I've always heard good things about them. What would you recommend?

[Traci]

Iams is a quality food, as is Hill's, Eukanuba. Even Purina One from your local grocery store is fine, but some cats don't do well on it.

Again, you must understand that each cat has individual needs. Protein content needs to be specific for any cat who is ill or has a primary health condition. Fat content also needs to be minimized for some cats. Ash content should be the minimum possible for ALL cats. Older cats particularly, have different needs, like digestibility, certain fiber requirements, low phosphorus/sodium, etc. Again, talk to your vet for recommendations PER cat's individual needs.