Chook Me! - Is this statement true about cat food???

Is this statement true about cat food???

Stick with poultry (chicken and turkey) and rabbit as the bulk of your cat's diet. Fish and beef are common food allergens in the cat and can cause inflammatory bowel disease and skin allergies. Think feathers and long ears, not horns and fins. I give my kitty one can per day, along with dry. But a couple of the cans have tuna or ocean fish. Should I cut the fish out completely as this states???

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I have heard that fish is quite dangerous for cats. Allergens, like you stated, plush fish tend to have high mercury levels and contain other toxins. Here's an article about it - http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=whyfishisdangerousforcats
My kitties would probably conspire to do me harm if they did not get their nightly treat of wet food, and it is either cat food tuna or beef. And the one who eats the cat food tuna has breezed past her 13th birthday, in perfect health. In certain cats, the extra phosphate content of fish can cause problems. I am not sure what the 'beef' about beef is all about. That is a new one to me. There will always be strong advocates for one particular food or another for feeding cats. And certainly, there are cats who don't do all that well on some types of cat foods. Many cats will find turkey much too rich for them. And while my cats get chicken meat in their dry kibble, they won't touch chicken in wet food. If your cat is healthy and likes the fish, I see no reason to change. After all, the finest food in the world for your cat is of no value if your cat will not eat it.
Beef is a common allergen in cats, and fish can cause stomach upset if the cat is not used to it. Does your cat have a bad reaction to the fish-flavored canned food? If not, I wouldn't worry about it. It's only an occasional flavor, and not one that your cat eats on a daily basis. Personally, I avoid fish flavored canned foods, just because of the strong scent. In my opinion, if it smells strong, going in....you can only imagine the stink when it comes out the other end. Chicken is an all-time favorite, and safe. It's not as 'strong' in flavor as fish & beef, and that is part of it's appeal. Will not risk causing a stomach upset, and I've yet to hear of an allergy to chicken.
My personal opinion is that a cat needs variety. Since a cat would normally catch and eat fish in the wild, and not a cow, that sounds like good advise. I'd keep the fish. The most important thing is to get rid of the wheat and corn in kitties diet, this can cause a lot of trouble. I feed my cat Innova canned and Evo (by Innova) no grain dry food.
I've owned cats for over 50 years...many cats...not one ever had skin allergy or inflammatory bowel disease...all were fed various fish and beef cat foods and people foods. I did own a dog with inflammatory bowel, and the vet said it was from eating grass in the yard.
Fish is not really necessary for cats. If you want to give a little fish, try organically farm-raised salmon -- in small quantities. One of my cats cannot eat anything except lamb cat food. The other one has no problem with chicken or beef cat food. I get cat foods that minimize the amount of grains (rice, wheat etc) that are in the food -- since cats in the wild usually eat mostly protein. I give em wet food with just a little dry. Since cats are descnded from desert animals, they get alot of their water from the wet food (of course I always have a couple of bowls of clean water out for them)
Chicken an turkey, rabbit, and vennison can be the primary staples of your cat's diet. Some cats do have problems with beef and fish has a bit high of a phosperous content. Your cats can eat both fish and beef but I would feed less of those and more of the others Worse for your cat are grains like maize, rice ect. Cats are obligate carnivores. Your afterthought is what bothered me. Dry food should not be fed at all. Cats are not big drinkers and dry food dehydrates Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat. Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingredient a muscle meat like chicken or is it meal or other things? Learn what meal and other things mean here. http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Rea... Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms of food allergies probably from the grains. Constipation? Dry food, not enough moisture. Blockages? Again not enough moisture in the food and you are risking something serious. People on this board say feed fiber but this is a cat not a dog and cats are obligate carnivores unlike dogs an they don't eat cereal and don't need fiber. The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process. Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food (Cats are not naturally big drinkers) but in Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive. You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at all or grains at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all. Fancy feast is a middle grade food as it uses a muscle meat as the first ingrediant. 9lives, friskies whiskas are lower grade canned but still better then dry and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. Many foods are not mentioned here but if you read the labels you wiull know if it is qualaty. The price offers no guideline. The optimum food to feed cats has no grains whatsoever, cats have no use for them and many have trouble processing them as well as the carbs. IBD is another disease that is rapidly becoming common amoung cats because of the inappropriate diets being fed. Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? Why do people constantly repeat this old wives tale and put teeth over the organs like the kidneys?? (I have no clue) http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bp... Please read about cat nutrition. http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics... http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.ht... http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.ht...
Fish now and again is fine, just not much or regularly. Tuna is not your cat's friend. My cat eats a lot of beef, and he is in perfect health. "Cats are not likely to be born with food allergies. More commonly, they develop allergies to food products they have eaten for a long time. The allergy most frequently develops in response to the protein component of the food; for example, beef, pork, chicken, or turkey. Food allergy may produce any of the clinical signs previously discussed, including itching, digestive disorders, and respiratory distress. We recommend testing for food allergy when the clinical signs have been present for several months, when the cat has a poor response to steroids, or when a very young cat itches without other apparent causes of allergy. Testing is done with a special hypoallergenic diet. " http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/allergies.html Read more here: http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=foodallergiesincats and http://www.cat-world.com.au/FoodAllergiesInCats.htm as well as http://www.cat-world.com.au/InflammatoryBowelDiseaseInCats.htm
This statement is true if your cat is predispose to such condition or have had previous encounter with allergies and IBD. However, feline nutritionist takes the preventive care approach and would advise against feeding fish and beef as a main staple in their cats diet as a precaution. The statement above was taken from Dr Lisa A. Pierson, DVM website, catinfo.org. On another site, Dr. Wendy C. Brooks, DVM, DipABVP maintains that the most common food allergens in cats are: beef, dairy, and fish and that these three ingredients account for 80% of feline food allergies. Of course when it comes to feline nutrition, they will be numerous debates and arguments as to what is best to feed your cat. Just be sure to weigh your options and decide for yourself, what you think is the best approach, when all things are considered.
Each country has its own "palate prejudices" which affects what gets fed to domestic pets. For example in Japan, fish features prominently in the human diet and this taste preference is transferred to Japanese cats which are often fed clam-flavour or squid-flavour food. I've heard that in America (being a beef-based culture), that lamb and mutton are not as widely used in cat foods as they are in Britain, where sheep farming is an important part of the economy. Provided that the canned food you're feeding is specifically for cats, then I don't think that any of the flavours are harmful to them. I've always fed my cats a variety of flavours, because I can't imagine anything more boring than eating the same thing day after day. In nature, cats are opportunistic hunters and would eat a variety of prey depending upon where in the world they live.
The most common food allergens are as in any animal (or human) - corn and wheat. You need to furnish your cat with a good cat food to avoid allergies. A holistic food with no corn or wheat is ideal. All these TV commecials about "whole grains" and such nonsense - cats are Carnivores (see Wikipedia or any other source) - meat eaters. They have no use for grains, veggies, sugars, starches, or carbs. The best cat food on the market is Innova EVO - it's expensive at $18 for 5 lbs. Next is Wellness, again expensive (about same price). Next would be Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul, Felidae, Katz-N-Flocken, California Natural, Eagle Pack - all great foods, all about $11 for 6 lbs, all holistic and corn free. Nutro would round out the bottom of the list - it has corn gluten, but not huge quantity. Anything less is grocery store trash - the equivalent of eating Mcdonalds everyday - totally unhealthy junk food. But don't be thrown off by the expense either! Better foods mean more absorption of nutrients, and thus less food consumed. Corn goes straight through - it's not digested at all - so any food with corn in it, the cat has to eat more of to get the nutrients it needs. This means wasted food (in the litter pan), and thus more expense on litter. Also more trips to the vet for problems (like allergies). So in the end, the more expensive foods really aren't more expensive! Personally, I mix Chicken Soup Cat with Innova EVO cat - that is a great mix, and affordable. And my cats are purrfectly happy and healthy, with the softest coats imaginable. I also feed the same mix to my ferret (another carnivore) who's digestive system is 10 times more sensitive as any cat. Look at ingredients - they are listed in order of highest content to lowest content - pick a good food with at least 3 of the first 5 ingredients to be meats, and no corn at all. And the proteins - EVO has all first 5 ingredients as meats, and 50% protein - no other food has that much! But it's rich, and may upset a cat's stomach (like a double fudge chocolate sundae). That's why I mix it.