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Question by Janine: If tomatoes are so bad for cats, then why is Fancy Feast putting them in their cat food?
I went to feed my cat his favorite turkey primavera from Fancy Feast. I know there are veggies in it, but some of them look red. And I know red is tomato, which is bad for kitties. So I read the back of the can, and sure enough, tomatoes were listed.
Last time I checked, feeding dogs and cats tomatoes was a big no no. So, how can a company that manufactures cat food, put such an ingredient in their product?
Any ideas?
Best answer:
Answer by Kitty Love
They add items which are really healthy for the cats which evens them out but the nutrients in tomato’s are very good for the cats.
Add your own answer in the comments!
You say tomato, I say red squishy thing I’m about to throw at your head without even thinking about it goddammit! – by mrdavehill (Dave Hill)
Red!
Image by kmardahl
The greengrocers are always a beautiful sight with all the fruits and vegetables on display. Red is especially attractive on a bright summer day.
More Red Tomato Articles
problem 1. You are feeding your cat fancy feast. Buy a can of tuna, it’s about the same price.
Tomatoes are fine for dogs and cats to eat – but not any of the green parts (leaves, stem, stalk). Our dog gets part of the tomatoes we cut up for salads. Our cats eat them too (tiny bites).
“Green Tomatoes, Green (raw Potatoes)
These foods are members of the Solanaceae family of plants, which includes the Deadly Nightshade, and contain a bitter, poisonous alkaloid called Glycoalkaloid Solanine, which can cause violent lower gastrointestinal symptoms. The leaves and stems are particularly toxic. (Tomatoes in pet foods are RIPE, and should cause no concern because they appear in relatively SMALL AMOUNTS)” *all caps my emphasis*
http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/humanfood.htm
u sould report that to the cat food company
Tomatoes bad 4 cats? hmm.. had cats my whole life and never heard that.
I am not sure why they do it, but they are not the only ones. I suspect they do it either because it’s cheap, or because they think we cat folk are too stupid to understand the difference between omnivores and carnivores, or because they are just plain ignorant and care only for making money, not for the cats
What really bugs me is that the more expensive the food is, the more likely it is to have veggies in it ! It’s just another way to put in cheap carbs, without using grains, which have become a bad word in pet food.
I know Max Cat puts peppers in some of their flavours, and other brands put in other things, like peas, or carrots, potatoes or sweet potatoes,, blueberries, cranberries, even rosemary ! etc.. I can’t imagine many veggies less digestible than peppers and they are in the same family as tomatoes, the Nightshade family of plants, many of which are poisonous, and includes tobacco too. I suspect peppers are no better than tomatoes for cats.
Last time I checked, cats were still obligate carnivores and should not be eating any plants, or any carbs, in their food. I never feed dry – I consider it complete garbage and I avoid foods with veggies in them, because they make one of my cats really sick, but at the moment their fave is Friskies, which has wheat gluten and corn starch in it, along with fake flavours and byproducts. UGH ! I don’t like it but the cats do. I adopted them awhile back and they were used to dry kibble, so Friskies is a big improvement over that, despite it’s shortcomings. And according to Dr. Lisa Pierson, who I think has the best site on the net for cats, any canned food is a better bet than dry, for any cat.
Eventually I hope to teach my girls to eat homemade food, where ‘I’ get to decide what goes into it. There will be no veggies in my food, I can tell you that ! See a great site on feeding cats.. http://www.catinfo.org. best site on the net for info for felines.
The reason even cat food brands directed to health-savvy cat owners put vegetables the food is so they can put them not only on the ingredient list but picture them on the label. Intelligent people know (or should know) full well that cats have no need for vegetables at all. However, we always have in the back of our minds that vegetables are healthful foods. It has been driven into our heads since we were toddlers.
So even if the response is subconscious we associate vegetables with good health. And very wrongly so in the case of cats.
The minuscule amount of tomato that is actually in that food would probably fit on the end of your little finger. So no need to worry.
Manufacturers put veggies in cat food for marketing purposes.
tomatoes are bad only if they are green.