# Human Tuna vs. Cat Tuna



## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

My Lacey loves a Petco brand of cat food (Soultastic)that is mainly tuna however the only way she will eat it all is if it's ground up, so I buy two cases at a time and grind it all up with my $25 grinder from Amazon....but I digress.

Why is the pet grade tuna so much more tasty looking than the human grade tuna?? In the cat food cans there were huge chunks of meat with a savory looking gravy. The can was packed almost totally full with meat. Really, it looks delicious does not have an oily feel, and is not smelly at all. Yesterday I opened a can of Bumble Bee tuna and it was all teeny tiny shreds and a lot of water. The cat grade consistency would be perfect in my not-so-world famous tuna casserole. Just wondering why they can't package nice big chunks of meat in the human cans, too.


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

It depends on the brand and type of tuna you buy. Cloverleaf is the best human tuna as far as I've found. Never heard of the brand you bought. It sounds like you don't want shredded tuna so read the labels carefully (don't blame you, I've never bought it either). Tuna always has a ... tuna smell to it, though.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

You want white albecore CHUNK in water. There are ton tons of different kinds of tuna, you opened a gross variety.


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## NebraskaCat (Jan 15, 2013)

My friend gave me a can of 'tuna for cats' from Trader Joes. I don't know the brand. The girls looked at me like I'd just #2'd in their dishes.


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## Jetlaya67 (Sep 26, 2012)

I am glad I am not the only one that has ever opened a can of cat food and thought it smelled and looked good enough for me to eat, with crackers maybe?


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## howsefrau32 (Mar 6, 2013)

NebraskaCat said:


> My friend gave me a can of 'tuna for cats' from Trader Joes. I don't know the brand. The girls looked at me like I'd just #2'd in their dishes.


LOL!!! I am familiar with this look, that is the look Beep gives me when I give her a food that she has not approved of.


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## howsefrau32 (Mar 6, 2013)

Jetlaya67 said:


> I am glad I am not the only one that has ever opened a can of cat food and thought it smelled and looked good enough for me to eat, with crackers maybe?


No, I have seen some good stuff, mostly the Merrick Dog food though, there is one that looks like a delicious pot pie filling....different than the cat food one, which is more shredded. Tasty looking stuff! I've been tempted to feed it to my husband before when I don't feel like cooking, LOL!!! Just kidding!!


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## Manue (Jan 3, 2013)

Jetlaya67 said:


> I am glad I am not the only one that has ever opened a can of cat food and thought it smelled and looked good enough for me to eat, with crackers maybe?


My boyfriend often says this! Especially since I am vegetarian and he's not. Yet I cook more, so he often whines about the cat getting meat all the time and not him! I personally find the smell and the paté texture rather unappealing.

As for the tuna, the best quality would be fresh tuna, but that's pricey.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

As pointed out, the cat tuna may not be the same exact species of tuna as the human. There are also several different types of human tuna at varying prices. You definitely get what you pay for...that chunk light stuff is awful. I like the Bumble Bee in the gold can (the most expensive of course) but you can get it in Costco or BJs much cheaper than the regular grocery store. As a side rant...anyone notice that tuna cans are now 4.5 oz? I'm sure cat food will follow soon...


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## snowy (Aug 23, 2012)

I have always bought in-house grocery store brand and never thought I will dislike tuna until I decided to buy from a shop selling baking stuff. It was dirt cheap, but the moment I opened it, gosh...I have never had tuna that stinks sky high, its shredded tuna, not chunky like the in-house brand I used to get, even tuna for cat smells better.


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

You really should not feed tuna to your cat ... or to any other living entity ... more than once a week. Once a month is safer. Fish contains mercury. Large fish like tuna typically contain more mercury per weight measure than small fish. It is possible to give your cat mercury poisoning by feeding too much tuna or other fish.

MowMow mentioned albacore tuna. I'm not sure where I read it (though I'm sure it could be looked up easily enough with a Google search), but albacore tuna contains substantially higher mercury levels than chunk light tuna. After I read that statistic, I stopped buying albacore tuna.

Laurie


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## sweetcuddles (Jun 30, 2013)

Kinda off topic but tuna is an antiinflammatory food (all kinds of tuna). I have to look up whether fish, all fish, contains mercury.

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## sweetcuddles (Jun 30, 2013)

I just checked and tuna is mid range level for mercury. Canned light tuna is low in mercury. foodcooking.about.com

I believe that is the URL of the website that I checked for tuna and other seafood.

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## Wannabe Catlady (Aug 6, 2012)

Kind of on topic? Lol, not sure. But tuna is being extremely overfished, and the methods of fishing are very detrimental to other sea life like turtles and sharks. For sustainable fish, look for 'troll' or 'pole' caught on the labels. If its not specified, it's 'line caught' which is not good. 

This website has a great guide to sustainable sea food!

http://mobile.seafoodwatch.org/sfwmobile/


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

Mercury in tuna: Consumer Reports
Mercury in canned tuna: white versus light and t... [Environ Res. 2004] - PubMed - NCBI
Mercury Levels in Commercial Fish and Shellfish (1990-2010)


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## snowy (Aug 23, 2012)

Wow! a 3oz canned once a week is still not safe? will read up those links. I haven't seen a real tuna fish before, not sure if they have scales. What I was told since young and taught to understand was, those non-scaly fish are generally higher in mercury, (_pregnant women and young children is only allowed a certain gm per week_) like mackerel, sword-fish and a couple others I don't remember.


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## cinderflower (Apr 22, 2012)

as far as the original question, soulistic is weruva's other label specifically for petco. i guess the one above that is BFF but it has kind of a weird aspic or something and my cats didn't love it so i don't buy it any more.

weruva uses a lot of smaller fish like skipjack and bonito, barramundi, trevally, Mack & Jack is mackerel and skipjack, shirasu is in the Asian Fusion flavor and tilapia & skipjack is the Mideast Feast.

any ocean fish you eat is going to have mercury in it, you just want the lowest on the food chain you can get and ones that have shorter lifespans. mercury poisoning is common in cultures that eat a lot of fish. gastric cancer is more prevalent in eastern asia and it is also one with the highest fatalities, behind lung cancer (in the states i think lung, breast and another one are higher). so essentially, even though fish is recommended as healthier, it is as far as heart disease goes but it causes other diseases, so it isn't really healthy to eat a lot for cats* or* people. as far as non-scaled fish, they probably do have more mercury and other contaminants because they're bottom feeders. so are crabs and lobsters. some varieties of tuna can weigh up to 400 lbs. so you're talking quite a bit of mercury, some are high and others are medium. and yes, they have scales.

i don't eat any fish so it all stinks to me, but if you are so inclined to eat some of it, i doubt if it would hurt you. considering they use the smaller fish, it might even be better for you as far as mercury. it will just need salt. LOL. and seriously, if i ate meat, i would eat some tiki cat. well, not the sardine one but the chicken and salmon one and the plain chicken.


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

NebraskaCat said:


> My friend gave me a can of 'tuna for cats' from Trader Joes. I don't know the brand. The girls looked at me like I'd just #2'd in their dishes.


roflmao!!! Too funny NC! My cats like Trader Joes brand of cat food but the smell is horrendous so I pass. I do love their Birds Nest appetizers and wine though!

After reading all the responses, maybe I should just give up my tuna casserole (sigh) and find something new for Lacey (heavy sigh).


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## lovetimesfour (Dec 1, 2010)

When I read the title of your thread, the thought that popped into my mind was NO tuna,, thinking you were going to be asking if it was okay to give your cats human tuna. 

Tuna is very bad for cats. I wouldn't recommend feeding it at all. Aside from the heavy metals danger, there is the high mineral levels, high in iodine and the risk of thiamine deficiency, tuna depletes thiamine (B 1). Oh, and it is addictive.

I don't recommend feeding any fish at all to cats, but especially not tuna.


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## cat face (Apr 4, 2013)

heads up, dodge the invite to Marcia's if she's having her (not so) World Famous Tuna Casserole!! LOL!!


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## cinderflower (Apr 22, 2012)

LOL. someone else was talking about the merrick's pot pie dog food--I bought the cat food once and I swear if you heated it up and added some seasoning, your husband wouldn't know it wasn't human food (unless he checks out cans in your pantry). 

I wouldn't recommend doing that unless you're itching for a big fight though.  (or unless you planned on never telling him or anyone else that you did it). I really have the urge to serve it to someone but everyone knows I don't eat meat so they'd be immediately suspicious. unless I want to take a sample tray out to the sidewalk--there are plenty of hungry runaway teens on the mall. LOL (i'm sorry, I just don't consider it homeless if you're 16, your parents live in Littleton and they said you can't smoke weed in the basement anymore so you left in a huff to play your drums downtown on the sidewalk and beg for spare change. every time I see one I think, "GO HOME!! You *really* need a shower!"


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

cat face said:


> heads up, dodge the invite to Marcia's if she's having her (not so) World Famous Tuna Casserole!! LOL!!


Cat face, it is ONLY not-so-world famous because I ONLY serve it to family who give me a collective groan when it's served. I love it and since they don't cook they are at the mercy of the chef. Don't worry, should you happen to stop by for dinner I will not be putting the cat food in it!!


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## cat face (Apr 4, 2013)

LOL!! I hear ya.. I've heard that kind of groan over most meals but in particular over meatloaf!! I try! <scuffs shoe>


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## lovetimesfour (Dec 1, 2010)

cat face said:


> heads up, dodge the invite to Marcia's if she's having her (not so) World Famous Tuna Casserole!! LOL!!


Hilarious! Thanks for the chuckle


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