Is fish food bad to feed cats?

Question

Every time I feed the fish she has to have some to, it's dryed fish flaks it can't be so bad

Answer 1

Fish Food is not bad for cats not little nips of it anyway, a cat could not get healthy and strong from a diet of fish food only.
Lets look at ONE label of FISH FOOD Ingredients: Whole Salmon, Halibut, Black Cod, Seafood Mix (including Krill, Plankton, Crab and Clams), Whole Herring, Squid, Wheat Flour, Fresh Kelp, Mysis Shrimp, Wheat Gluten, Corn Gluten, Hydrolyzed Krill, Dried Kelp, Brewer's Dried Yeast, Soybean Meal, Crayfish Digest, Potato Flour, Wheat Germ, Salmon Egg Oil, Lecithin, Beta Glucan, Potassium Sorbate, Natural Pigments (for color enhancement), Astaxanthin, Beta Carotene, Canthaxanthin, Vitamins, Amino Acids, and Trace Elements.
JUST LOOK AT ALL THE FISH in FISH FOOD. WHY? Because some fish do eat other fish in the natural settings, it is what they eat. Cats eat fish too, so of course a cat would be tempted to eat fish food.
But do not be alarmed if your cat sneaks a bite of it some, FISH FOOD, Kitty treats have very close to the same ingredients.

Answer 2

most fish food is made of fish and other seafood - a lot of the same things that are in cat food or kitty treats. I would run the ingredients by a vet and double check but from what I have seen on the ingredients it shoud be just fine for your cat. Omega 3 is just a fatty acid found in fish oil, good for people fine for cats!
I really don't think it is a problem. My cats like to eat funny things too. I would not stress!

As long as you are feeding the cat kitty food too - so that he/ she is getting all the nutrients needed- snacking on fish food should be fine

Answer 3

I don't see the difference. Fish that are raised in the modern *fish* farm don't have a picnic either. They are stuffed full of antibiotics. crowded into a pool where they are kept until death releases them to be someone's dinner. Much of our fish are grown in China. The Chinese have their own laws. I don't eat fish for this reason. However, what you feed your cat is ok by me as long as You are both satisfied. If you feel badly about chicken cat food perhaps beef is a good choice. AS long as the can doesn't say meat FLAVORED! I've no problem with it.

Answer 4

I don't know for sure, but my cat knocked over an entire container of flake food a while back. He and the other cat went to town on that while I was at work. I came back and my fish was hungry and there was flake food everywhere (I think they rolled around in it or something).

This was about a year ago and they're both still as insane as ever. I don't think it slowed them down at all...

Answer 5

Well.. on the show "Dirty Jobs" they said that some fish food is made from fish. If that's the case, than no it's not. Besides your cat probably eats bugs and stuff off the floor anyway. What can a little fish food hurt?

Answer 6

My cat just started showing an interest in the fish flakes. I somehow manage to always drop some and she was beneath me on the floor, and when some when on the floor she immediately went for them. If you have ever smelled them they smell very fishy, this got her attention. Don't worry read the ingredients. Nothing in there will hurt your cat. Fish meal, brown rice, dried shrimp, oat meal, wheat gluten,fish oil, soybean oil, just to name a few. Sounds more like a health food store than fish food.
On the side of caution, don't give your cat a bowl of this stuff, just a pinch of flakes should satisfy. I think in time your cat will lose interest.

Answer 7

TIPS AND TRAPS FOR FEEDING FADDY CATS
Copyright 1994, Sarah Hartwell

Cats are naturally careful eaters as their digestive system is not good at breaking down toxins. Because cats are so sensitive to poisons, their senses of taste and smell must prevent them from eating food which could be harmful to them. An excellent sense of smell warns them of stale or contaminated food and if their sense of smell fails, so does their appetite. Unfortunately, the same mechanism which helps cats avoid harmful foods can turn it into a faddy eater.

Faddy eaters may be fixated on one or two types of food. This may lead to an unbalanced diet if its preferred foods are 'treat' foods or to problems if the food becomes unavailable. For these reasons, it's unwise to allow a cat to become a faddy eater.

Unfortunately it's all too easy to be manipulated without realising it. You avoid one or two flavours because your cat isn't keen on them. It will eat them once it gets hungry enough, but it knows you will crack before it does. Instead, you stock up on the flavours it eats readily. In this way, you reinforce its food fads until they become firm habits which can be very hard to break.

Before deciding that your cat is simply a faddy eater which is training you to buy only certain types of food, look for good reasons for it to refuse food. Make sure there are no underlying problems before you before label it finicky and try to reform it.

Answer 8

It's called fish food for a reason.

Answer 9

Fish is a good raw ingredient to incorporate into cat foods, but it has certain draw backs.

Firstly it does not contain all the nutrients that a cat requires and, like meat, it is deficient in calcium with an inverse calcium:phosphorus ratio.

Coley (or Saithe) a popular fish with cat owners in the UK and the fillet cut contains 15-20 mg calcium per 100g but over 200 mg phosphorus per 100g, a Ca:P ratio of 1:10. Cod and other white fish are similar.

If owners are feeding fish bones should be removed to avoid complications. Fish should be cooked to avoid the possibility of disease transmission.

"Salmon poisoning" has been recorded in cats which contracted the disease caused by Neorickettsiae spp from eating raw salmon or trout. This disease occurs within 2 weeks of the ingestion of infected food and causes the following signs :

* Depression
* Fever
* Lymphadenopathy - swelling of the lymph nodes
* Oculonasal discharge
* Haematemesis - vomiting blood
* Diarrhoea
* Death - 90% in untreated cases.

Diagnosis is confirmed by finding trematode eggs in faeces samples, or rickettsiae in lymph node samples.

Clinical cases of thiamine deficiency are periodically seen by veterinarians due to cats being fed fish - as commercially prepared canned food, or as raw fish.

Thiamin (vitamin B1) is an essential dietary nutrient for cats. Processing can destroy thiamine in a food, and so reduce the initial concentrations present at canning, and some fish (including herring and carp) contain the thiaminase which will destroy thiamine.

Clinical signs of thiamine deficiency include :

* Anorexia
* Ataxia - 2-3 days later
* Vomiting
* Convulsions - short
* Dilation of the pupils
* Ventroflexion of the neck (Chastek's paralysis)

Affected patients will die unless treatment is administered (100-250 mg thiamine IV or SC twice daily). In most cases a complete recovery can be expected in treated cases unless severe central nervous system has occurred.

Confirmation of diagnosis is not readily available :

* Increased plasma pyruvate
* Increased plasma lactate
* Reduced erythrocyte trans-ketolase activity (a thiamine-dependant enzyme)

Some fish are particularly high in oil content, and pansteatitis or "yellow fat disease" is caused by the intake of too much fat in the absence of adequate antioxidant.

Red-meat tuna has been reported to be particularly involved as a cause of this in cats. The cause of the disease is accumulation of peroxides - the end product of rancidification of fat - in the cats adipose tissue causing yellow-brown discolouration.

Clinical signs of pansteatitis include :

* Abdominal Pain
* Anorexia
* Fever
* Lethargy
* Hardening of subcutaneous and intra-abdominal fat depots
* Occasionally ascites (low in protein content; compare with FIP - high in protein content)

The condition is treated with dietary management (a complete and balanced diet), Vitamin E supplementation (30mg alpha-tocopherol/day ) , and some authors recommend the use of corticosteroids.

Answer 10

give to your cat only cat's food.

and be careful with human food too : cow milk is not good for cats, and chocolate is a poison for them

I'm not sure it's a good idea to give your cat fish food...