My
friends feed their cat canned tuna fish. I have
heard this is bad for the cat and can cause may
health problems including heart failure. Is this
true? (Stuart Schultz, Pennsylvania)
An occasional tuna treat for your cat is generally
harmless and very welcome, but if a large part of the cat's diet consists of
tuna 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.
Most de-boned fish are lacking in calcium, sodium, iron, copper and several other
vitamins too, which may all lead to other
nutritional deficiencies. In addition, mercury is
frequently found in tuna and presents a potential
threat, especially where tuna is fed
exclusively.
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Litter Box Manners
Cats are extraordinarily fastidious creatures. Outdoors they tend to
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My
friends feed their cat canned tuna fish. I have
heard this is bad for the cat and can cause may
health problems including heart failure. Is this
true? (Stuart Schultz, Pennsylvania)
An occasional tuna treat for your cat is generally
harmless and very welcome, but if a large part of the cat's diet consists of
tuna 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.
Most de-boned fish are lacking in calcium, sodium, iron, copper and several other
vitamins too, which may all lead to other
nutritional deficiencies. In addition, mercury is
frequently found in tuna and presents a potential
threat, especially where tuna is fed
exclusively. 
