Cat Expert Needed Pref. Veterinarian

All I can say is, whenever I use the can opener, my cats are on me like flies on...

I can explain it to you as a cat owner to give you some background, although you can't quote me, since I'm not a veterinarian. Some cats develop a preference for tuna products - both human canned tuna and fish or tuna cat food, and they will refuse to eat anything else. After a while, they start getting listless and sick with diarrhea, because the fish/tuna-based canned cat food doesn't contain all the vitamins a cat needs to stay healthy. It happened to one of my cats, after the caretaker (not me) would immediately throw away any food the cat didn't like and replace it with tuna or fish-based canned cat food, and the identical situation happened to another cat owner I know. The cure was the same in both instances, mixing baby food with the non-fish/tuna food the cat won't eat, to coax them back into a balanced diet. When I was reunited with my cat, she was so fat she looked like someone had been feeding her canned air, because the caretaker continued giving her the baby food, even though the vet said it was supposed to be temporary.

This is similar to what happens when toddlers develop an obsessive preference for milk. They aren't hungry at mealtime, and end up missing vital nutrients in other foods, like fruits and vegetables. Toddlers need far less milk than some parents realize, and the same is true for cats and fish and/or tuna canned cat food.

Well, it starts with herring. One little taste at a party or something, and then it becomes a regular need. As they say, herring is a gateway fish.

After that, they move onto cod, sardines, mackerel, and then the kicker, Coho salmon. Sea bass can become a regrettable eventuality as well.

As they say, the first taste is free. Then the pushers can start charging. Pretty soon, kitty is strung out, and a complete mess, willing to snack on anything, including leftover turbot, haddock, and halibut. Then, they're in and out of rehab. It ain't pretty.

It sounds like the kind of request that I often see in the HARO list.

http://www.helpareporter.com

It's probably something you could try.

Good luck !

Mac

What Julie said ... if the cat is fed canned tuna (human variety) it will become malnourished. It can also get mercury poisoning!

Tuna-based catfood, OTOH, is supplemented to make it nutritionally complete.

A strong preference is not an addiction. Food is the normal use of those pleasure centres not an aberrant ones such as produced by drugs.

My two feral rescue (bottle fed) kittens were fed people tuna most of their lives. But only in small amounts as a treat. They mostly got high quality dry food. One lived to be almost 18, the other almost 19. I wouldn't say they were addicted to tuna, but the second one did what we called 'the tuna dance' every morning to let us know he was ready for breakfast.

MM

I would say that tuna flavoured cat food isn't the culprit, since most or all cat foods are supposed to be nutritionally balanced. Regular tuna can easily cause a cat to forsake all others, but the fault isn't the cat's. It's the owner who caters to the cat manipulating the human.

I just finished a conversation with my holistic dog food store owner because my geriatric dog won't eat his food unless it's augmented with something yummy. He said the dog was dictating my behaviour rather than the other way around.

He told me to just give the dog his regular portion of food. If he doesn't eat it immediately, take it away until the next schedule meal time. After a couple of sessions, Chester will now eat his food as soon as I give it to him. Any leftovers are discarded and he must wait till the next mealtime.

I wonder if the same thing works for cats. My cat eats regular cat food, but gets ONE treat first thing in the morning after he uses his litter box. If he lived on those treats, he would be one unhealthy kitty.

One of my cats hated tuna. When we bought a can and out it on the cat tree, he'd express his displeasure by knocking the full can, uneaten off the cat tree. The dogs like it, though, since they were waiting below. So it certainly isn't true for all cats, but then mine was strange. Didn't like catnip either.

Linda Adams said:

One of my cats hated tuna. When we bought a can and out it on the cat tree, he'd express his displeasure by knocking the full can, uneaten off the cat tree. The dogs like it, though, since they were waiting below. So it certainly isn't true for all cats, but then mine was strange. Didn't like catnip either.

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What exactly is a cat tree?

As for displeasure, my cats show it by craping beside their litter box.

A cat tree is a scratching post on steroids. Can be two or three feet high or reach to the ceiling. Has 2 or more shelves at various levels for sneak attacks on humans.

Kathie Freeman said:

A cat tree is a scratching post on steroids. Can be two or three feet high or reach to the ceiling. Has 2 or more shelves at various levels for sneak attacks on humans.

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I have TWO six-foot+ tall cat trees in my house. After a new kitten showed up, she took over the one cat tree, kicking the three other cats out. I had to buy a second one (LOL) just to keep the peace in my house.

Mike Martyn said:

What exactly is a cat tree?

As for displeasure, my cats show it by craping beside their litter box.

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The same cat used the computer paper box as a litter box. Very displeased with the new dog.

Cat tree: http://www.cozycatfurniture.com/cat_trees/largecattree.html