Our cat is healthy in many respects but a little wonky. She is 11 years old but has always been a very small cat. It became aparent that she is loosing wieght and the vet recomended kitten food because it is higher in calories. She is a very fussy eater and will not eat a big portion in one go so we divide her meals up into about 6 small but regular meals. Still though she was very fussy about it and did not eat much. (we also have to mashe the food up because she only has one tooth due to the poor state she was in when she was rescued) The upshot of this has been that we have been mixing her food with some tinned tuna. She only likes the really cheap nasty stuff that stinks and won't touch the stuff that comes in oil. I am therefor concerned about her salt intake from the brine. I do rinse the tuna before serving but am worried that it may do her some harm. Sorry for the long explaination but does anybody have any knowledge about this or know if it is safe to continue to feed her like this. She really does love the stuff though and it is just a relief to see her eating heartily and regularly. All suggestions welcome.

Have you tried the one in spring water?

I agree with Sarahcs - I only get tuna in spring water for me or the cats!

It can be a bit more expensive but Tesco's has it on offer at the mo - half price for the packs of 3 or 4 but I can't remember how much.

i.ve been using it in brine for my elderly cat and rinsing it in fresh water for years on my vets advise. Carry on i'd say. Btw tried the spring water and the cat won't even look at it.

I love cats! I tried my dear departed moggy on some posh cat food with the gravy once. He licked all the gravy off and studiously ignored the meat!

My cat has always loved fish and has allergies (beef, rice rabbit, liver, milk) so she has eaten a lot of fish over the years. Unfortunately, she developed kidney failure. She recovered (against all odds) but the vet advised no tuna. The reason being the high levels of mercury and other nasty things that are absorbed in oily fish. So, we buy her skinless, boneless haddock or cod fillets from Sainsbury. Yes, it is not cheap but 2 fillets (about £9) we then cut into small portions and freeze them in individual bags - we get 12 portions from 2 decent sized fillets. We also cook her cheap chicken - small skinless fillets again from Sainsbury - we boil these, cool, then again freeze, 2/3 to a bag.

She also now likes Royal Canin wet food for sensitive tummies and has grain free dried food for grazing' (Arden Grange, Applaws or Orijen).

It has taken time to get the right food for her (and she is picky) but now as we mix and match all of the above she is thriving once more. She also only eats little and often.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

yeah tuna isn't the best of fish to give them but if i little added to cat done entices them to eat its better than nothing. I also boil chicken and turkey for mr pants and that gets mixed in with his meat too.

I stopped giving my cat tuna in brine after I read that it was full of salt and rather bad for cats.

Have you tried coley? It's about the cheapest of all the various fishy things to buy because it's a beige/brown shade rather than white. [Coley's usually used in cheaper fishcakes.]

Our old cat won't eat meat except in dried biscuits, but she gets a spoonful of warm poached coley once a day just to vary her diet and stop the poor old thing becoming constipated.

Most supermarkets do packets of frozen coley in those unseen-by-nature small oblong fillets, they cook in the microwave, and our cat gets about a third to a half of one small piece per day. She loves it and will howl if we forget to give her her fishy treat!

Thanks to everybody for your suggestions. On balance I think I'll go for the rinsing option. She only seems to like the really cheap stuff that I wouldn't want to eat. The stinkier the better so it seems. If we can get the spring water stuff at a good price then we might try that and see if she'll have it. Again thanks and allthe best to you and your cats.

one tin of smart price tuna flakes does my old boy 4 meals. I just mix it in well with his dinner. I think the smell stimulates his appetite. I always rinse it well in a tea leaf strainer. I also boil his chicken and turkey to vary his diet.

A word of warning - we fed one of our previous cats tuna because he was so fussy, but it made his teeth rot.

He stopped eating altogether one day, and although he was crying for food he couldn't eat and was obviously in pain. After a couple of days we took him to the vet, who told us that tinned tuna should only be given as a rare treat as it contains an enzyme that makes a cat's plaque very sticky and it's impossible for the cat to remove it by normal means, i.e. licking, grooming, even dental biscuits don't work. Our poor cat ended up with terrible toothache and he had to have most of them taken out, with the remainder falling out by the time he was 13.

I know there are lots of people who do feed tuna to their cats, including several on this thread, who will say it's done them no harm - but I'm just speaking from experience and on the strength of my vet's advice, so please don't shoot me down.

That might explain why my cat had very few teeth

thats interesting. I must ask my vet about that. All i can say out of my 6 cats i have at present crusty pants is the only who hasn't had any dental work. And i know he doesn't need any as his teeth were checked in november during his last bowel op. Funnily enough the cat i have with the most dental work is a ragdoll. I took her in after her previous owner couldn't care for her any more. She was brought up on james wellbeloved. I got her when she was 2. Within a month of getting her i had her in for a check up and she had 18 teeth removed the following day. She manages fine on what she has left.

a lot of foods aren't just bad for cats - the are bad for us too. brine is full of salt, as is spam which my puss loves.

read the ingredients on what you buy. not the marketing stuff in big writing.

you'll be surprised how much guff you & the cat eat. stick to foods which are as natural as possible & contain the highest percentage of meat you can find.

I'd imagine grilled haddock better than tuna

i believe everything in moderation is ok. Crusty pants is 17 and is as fit as a flea. They all get boiled chicken or turkey or steamed fish during the week too. Strangely half of them will not eat cold cuts of meat and i.ve never bought spam for myself never mind them. I give pants the tuna 4 times a week sometimes less. He only gets it so as i can be sure he's getting his medicine twice a day. Some days he just has cat food with a few biscuits on top. I have to stimulate his interest in his grub.

One of my cats has liver problems so isn't allowed any fat in his diet at all.

He now lives on a diet of boiled rice, chicken and fish mixed together with either plain cottage cheese or the spring water from a tin of tuna. I wouldn't give him brine though, as I'm not sure whether he'd be able to cope with the salt.

We buy big packs of frozen white fish and chicken breast fillets and Asda's value cottage cheese so it doesn't work out too expensive.

that diet sounds good enough for me! Can i come for dinner lol

i use tuna or sardines in sunflower oil, brine is fall of salt

tried the oil as crusty pants needs lubrication but you would have thought i'd tried to poison him :-/

Would you like yours served on a plate or would you prefer to eat from one of Errol's spare cat bowls?

My other cat (Casper) agrees - and ususally polishes off anything Errol leaves as well as eating his own normal cat food!

Some tinned tuna can cause tooth decay in cats. My cat had to have a tooth removed about 7 years ago ago. I fed him tuna regularly as a 'treat'. The vet said tinned tuna, especially in brine can cause tooth decay.
I stopped and he has never had bad teeth again.

How strange! My vet and the cat rescue lady recommended we feed our kittens tuna when they were little as it was free from preservatives.
The only reasons I didn't was a) i worried about the amount of salt and b)tuna was so expensive. I'm quite glad I didn't now. My kittens love their tinned salmon though.....we let them lick the bowl after it's gone into a meal for us - at least that way they get a taste of it but not enough to potentially make them poorly.