How deep is the cat’s obsession with small dried fish?

Do cats really love fish? How deep is their obsession with dried fish?

There are many different theories about cats eating fish.

The first theory is that because the ancient Egyptians of the Nile Valley fed mainly fish and they would feed their cats with fish, the ancestors of domestic cats used fish as their main food. The second theory is that cats naturally like fresh meat, and fresh meat tends to have a strong fishy smell. And the fishy smell is very strong, so it meets the standards of cats who pursue fresh food. This, too, seems to have a little bit of truth.

But the first two are just conjecture and speculation, and the most scientific explanation is that cats are nocturnal animals, and cats need a substance that can improve their night vision – taurine to maintain good eyesight.

This substance has a promoting effect on photoreceptor cells in the retina of the cat’s eye. If there is a serious lack of taurine in the cat’s daily diet, it will cause retinopathy in cats, resulting in vision loss and even blindness. Long-term lack of taurine can lead to serious problems such as cardiomyodilation, infertility, and miscarriage in cats.

Although taurine is so important for cats, the cat’s body cannot produce enough taurine, so cats need to consume this essential substance from their diet. Such as fish, shellfish, and rat meat also contain a lot of taurine, so it can be explained from a scientific point of view why cats love to eat fish and rats.

Can cats eat fish as a staple food?Seeing this, we must think that cats should indeed eat more fish and supplement taurine.But in fact, this is not the case, because fish are deficient in some minerals such as calcium, iron, sodium.In addition to this, the liver of fish also contains too much phosphorus and vitamin A.Excess phosphorus can affect calcium absorption, and long-term consumption of large amounts of fish can lead to calcium deficiency in cats.If cats start ingesting too much fish for a long time from a young age, it can also lead to rickets. It can also cause vitamin A poisoning, causing cats to have symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, and tooth loss.Therefore, fish should not be a staple food for cats, and the intake of fish should not exceed 10% of the cat’s food intake in the usual diet, and it is advisable not to exceed twice a week.

However, if your cat is obsessed with fish, you can buy some small dried fish for cats as snacks to satisfy their cravings.

Notes:

1. Kittens try not to provide dried fish: the digestive system of kittens is still relatively weak, at this time providing dried fish is easy to cause indigestion or vomiting, there is no harm in kitten food is single, and then increase the type of snacks after the cat becomes an adult, so as not to cause discomfort.

2. Control the number of dried fish, avoid picky eating cats: dried fish can only be used as a snack, not as a staple food, if you feed too much dried fish, cats will not like to eat cat food, this picky eating is difficult to reverse, for the health of cats, try to control the number of dried fish.

3. Dried fish is not the same as grilled fish fillet: The grilled fish fillet we eat is indeed very similar to dried fish, but in order to adapt to people's tastes, grilled fish fillet has added a lot of seasonings, and some are even very salty.