1 cup tuna in oil, dash of parsley, some wheat germ, and corn flake crumbs. I just "eyeball" the amount so the tuna sticks together in small meatballs.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, then at 200 degrees for 5 minutes.
The cat bats around the meatballs awhile before nibbling on it, but does not make a mess.
It's mostly the salt & the mercury in the tuna that's not good for cats... But once in a while as a treat, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt! Just use care & be sure to give you cat LOTS of water afterward & remember a small child shouldn't eat tuna more than once a month & adults shouldn't eat it more than twice a month (& we are MUCH larger than our cats!) because of possible mercury poisoning (according to an article in Reader Digest). In fact, I don't even give my cat "tuna" based cat foods or other seafood-catfoods because of the mercury.
* One thing you can do, is use non-mercury tuna. It's not easy to find! It has to be caught by an independent fisherman with toll-based fishing & not nets. They catch the smaller tuna that has MUCH less mercury than the huge tuna. We buy ours at the Saturday Market we sell at. The taste is totally different (or so I'm told, me being a vegetarian for 30 years). It's caught by the fisherman, then canned right away, then sold by his wife. Maybe you could find some of this. But still, I wouldn't give it to a cat very often! We let our cat lick a few drops of tuna oil (over dry food) on occasion, but only rarely as a very special treat!
I love the idea though! ...I'm wondering if you could use ground Turkey or Chicken as a substitute? Maybe the smell wouldn't be strong enough to attract the cat... Maybe 1/4 Tuna & 3/4 ground Turkey???
Tuna fish, and many other fish species, contain relatively large amounts of unsaturated fats. Although health-minded people eat fish to decrease their consumption of saturated fats, the excessive unsaturated fat in a cat's diet may be harmful.
Tuna and certain other fish possess very little vitamin E. Vitamin E is an important antioxidant. When a cat's diet consists mostly of tuna fish that is not commercially formulated as cat food, the cat becomes deficient in vitamin E. Dietary unsaturated fats from the fish are oxidized by a biochemical called peroxidase into a substance called ceroid. Since the affected cat has low vitamin E levels, this oxidation process is not restrained. Ceroid, an abnormal, pigmented, yellow-brown breakdown product of unsaturated fat oxidation, is formed and deposited in fat cells. The result is yellow fat disease (steatitis).
Ceroid triggers an inflammatory response by the immune system as if it were a foreign invader. The subcutaneous fat of cats affected with yellow fat disease causes pain; these cats become hypersensitive and will resist handling and petting. The muscles of affected cats will atrophy and become weak; these cats do not want to move. As the disease process progresses, the body fat degenerates and is replaced by fibrotic tissue, leaving the skin hard and nodular. Affected cats may also develop fevers unrelated to infection.
Yellow fat disease occurs most commonly in young, overweight male and female cats with inappropriate diets. Treatment includes discontinuing the inappropriate diet and administering therapeutic doses of vitamin E. Corticosteroids may also be prescribed to relieve the inflammatory response.
Even if a tuna-fed cat receives prophylactic or supplemental doses of vitamin E, there are other problems besides steatitis that make feeding tuna unwise. Some believe that tuna contains specific substances (allergens) that stimulate allergic-like disorders in cats. Cats should be fed a balanced, commercially prepared diet to avoid these problems.
This is from an animal clinic website; it might be wise to check with your vet before giving your cat tuna!
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