As I move along my new raw feeding adventure with my cat, being careful with bones that could split, I am also wondering if bones in fish could be an issue. I am thinking of buying salmon pieces as a treat from time to time but I wonder if I have to carefully inspect it for long bones and remove them before feeding Florence the cat.
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Raw salmon or large pieces of fish and fish bones
- Thread starter ValerieE
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Hi Valerie!
Wow, what a lucky girl Florence is to have you buy fish as a treat! IMHO raw fish bones are safe.
@Dr. Christina @Dr. Sara @Dr. Jean
Wow, what a lucky girl Florence is to have you buy fish as a treat! IMHO raw fish bones are safe.
@Dr. Christina @Dr. Sara @Dr. Jean
Thank you! Mind you, in the meantime I bought another type of boneless fresh fish (tilapia), it smells nothing and Florence does not like it. It seems it has to be salmon only. She is becoming pickier than my human children :-( I do not eat fish myself anymore so it is such a waste.
I will throw what's left in the garbage. I asked the vendor for a fish with no bones and that is what I got :-(
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I am pretty paranoid about bones, while the other vets here are more in favor. Hopefully, it's beneficial to have multiple viewpoints before coming to your own conclusions. So I'll throw in my 2 cents...
I was raised on fresh salmon. And I gotta tell ya, those bones, while pliable, are extremely sharp. I think I would cut the big ones to kitty-bite-size with scissors before feeding, so that those amazing kitty digestive juices can dull and dissolve them easily. (There are a zillion tiny, very fine little bones too, but a cat can easily handle them.) The bones in canned salmon, sardines, etc. are also very soft, so present no risk.
Salmon are particularly problematic, IMO. It's pretty hard to come by truly wild salmon. Most Pacific salmon are hatchery bred and raised. This is why labels say "wild-caught," not "wild." Wild-spawned juvenile salmon have horrendous mortality from sea lice they pick up from fish farms as they migrate to the open ocean. Competition and interbreeding with escaped farmed salmon (which are bigger and more aggressive) will ultimately destroy the wild population.
Another consideration... virtually all salmon raised or caught on the West Coast is shipped to China and back before it ever gets to your grocery store (because Chinese labor costs for processing the fish are so cheap).
These are just a couple of the reasons why I no longer recommend fish for cats. Here's my full treatise on the subject... https://littlebigcat.com/why-fish-is-dangerous-for-cats/
I was raised on fresh salmon. And I gotta tell ya, those bones, while pliable, are extremely sharp. I think I would cut the big ones to kitty-bite-size with scissors before feeding, so that those amazing kitty digestive juices can dull and dissolve them easily. (There are a zillion tiny, very fine little bones too, but a cat can easily handle them.) The bones in canned salmon, sardines, etc. are also very soft, so present no risk.
Salmon are particularly problematic, IMO. It's pretty hard to come by truly wild salmon. Most Pacific salmon are hatchery bred and raised. This is why labels say "wild-caught," not "wild." Wild-spawned juvenile salmon have horrendous mortality from sea lice they pick up from fish farms as they migrate to the open ocean. Competition and interbreeding with escaped farmed salmon (which are bigger and more aggressive) will ultimately destroy the wild population.
Another consideration... virtually all salmon raised or caught on the West Coast is shipped to China and back before it ever gets to your grocery store (because Chinese labor costs for processing the fish are so cheap).
These are just a couple of the reasons why I no longer recommend fish for cats. Here's my full treatise on the subject... https://littlebigcat.com/why-fish-is-dangerous-for-cats/
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All well-taken points, Dr. Jean. Where we live one can buy line-caught wild fish from small, controlled suppliers. I probably wouldn't bother, but would find ways to supply the nutrients in other ways. Occasionally someone gives me fish caught from his own boat; we have recreational seasons for salmon, halibut, shrimp, crab, etc. But I don't trust the raw salmon anyway.
Having read your article I find my views expanded and vindicated. The fish oil we use comes from small fish such as sardines and herring, so seems to be the best. We use krill oil, too, and will not discontinue it for any altruistic reason - we won't live long enough to matter.
Thank you for the great info.
Having read your article I find my views expanded and vindicated. The fish oil we use comes from small fish such as sardines and herring, so seems to be the best. We use krill oil, too, and will not discontinue it for any altruistic reason - we won't live long enough to matter.
Thank you for the great info.
