Cats are known to love tuna. This does not mean, that they can eat it. Contrary to popular belief, cats should not eat canned tuna. On supermarket shelves, we often see canned foods and tuna kibble. This would lead us to think that cats can eat canned tuna without any problems.
This is not exactly the case. In fact, the pre-packaged products have been designed with extreme care and detail by the companies, in order to meet the needs of the animal without causing it problems. They are in fact prepared so that the cat takes on all the nutritional properties of tuna, without risking mercury or magnesium poisoning. Minerals, taurine, and vitamins are also added to prepared foods to make the compound healthier for your pet.
Tuna In Vegetable Oil
If you have a cat with dry skin, the occasional treat with tuna oil is fine, but it should never be a mainstay in their diet. The reason for this is that it doesn’t have enough taurine for them to maintain healthy kidney function. Any food that you choose to feed your cat should have healthy levels of taurine in it.
Whenever you adopt a new cat, you should always discuss its diet with your vet at their first vet check, which is the first thing you need to do with a new pet.
Vet checks help you make sure that before you introduce a new pet to your household, you are also not introducing any contagious diseases to your existing pets. It also helps to make sure that you don’t need to feed a specialized diet like one for stress, gastrointestinal disease, or dry skin.
Kittens, especially those under six months, should always be fed a kitten diet as it is higher in the proteins and minerals that they need to grow into healthy adult cats and if they are under 16 weeks of age a certain amount of kitten formula is a good idea to add to their diet to ensure that they have enough kitten antibodies to develop a healthy immune system.
Again, make sure that your pet has a vet check and determine if dietary changes are safe to make. Tuna oil can be a treat but should not be a medical treatment.
A small amount of this would be fine. (1 tablespoon or less per day— the tuna in oil is relatively high in fat, and more than that would probably add up to too many calories.
Final Thoughts
Vets will usually suggest that you give your cat tuna oil if it has dry skin. One drop of tuna oil is enough for a day. If you give them too much, it could result in loose stools.
We recommend you feed your cat standard process cat food. They’re more expensive, but if you love your cat, you would provide it with a good quality diet.
