is it okay for a cat to eat expired fish..?

[Upirium]

My cat is under the house and I'm having a hell of a time trying to get her out.
I opened up a can of tuna but it expired last year... It still smells like tuna and looks like tuna but it says it's expired.
So is it okay for her to eat it?  

[Avaline love]

hmm im not sure, i think it depends on how long was the expiration?
but i wouldn't just to be safe >.<  

[Upirium]

Ayame rosefox

hmm im not sure, i think it depends on how long was the expiration?
but i wouldn't just to be safe >.<

Nov 2010. But it's the only thing I have and my mom is too much of a lazy cheap a** to go get anything.  

[Ailinea]

I don't pay too much attention to the expiration date on canned goods unless the contents smell like they're bad. If it smells OK, it's probably OK. Just my opinion though.  

[Vanilla eXee]

Taste it first. It's probably good because they pump that stuff full of preservatives, but there's always the chance that it's off.  

[Truxcin]

i wouldnt,just to be safe, its really up to you, but how i do things(my opions) is if something is even 1 day past the date markd on it, i wont even touch it,let alone let my darling kitty have some,but its up to you,and who knows it may be totally fine.  

[Miles To Go]

Lure the cat out with it, but don't let her actually eat it? I can lure my cats just by cupping my hand, kekeke. The smell alone should help pull her out. P:  

[kage no neko]

If it's canned... and it smells fine and not EXTRA fishy at all, I'd go for it.


So.. who else clicked on this thinking that it was about feeding dead pet fish to the cat.... and pleasantly surprised that it isn't about that!  

[~ Aki - Fairy ~]

By law, most canned/packaged food has to have a "best before" date, or at least a 'date code' on it. Even juice crystals (like kool-aid) have best before dates. In all actuality, packaged foods are so full of preservatives and sealed so tightly that they're likely to be fine for years and years (unless the seal/package/can is damaged)
Most of the time, it's just to cover their asses incase something does happen. BB dates are simply approximations to say "we'll guarantee the quality of this product for this long"; there's no way to know for sure how long something will last because it depends on how it's kept (we've had bread last a couple months past the date without going moldy, and it probably would have lasted longer but it got thrown out).

As long as it looks, smells and tastes okay, it'll be fine, especially if you're just using a small bit as a reward for coming out of hiding.

Now if it was fresh fish past the date, I'd be a little leary and would cook it before considering it safe for anyone's consumption.  

[Shanna66]

kage no neko

If it's canned... and it smells fine and not EXTRA fishy at all, I'd go for it.


So.. who else clicked on this thinking that it was about feeding dead pet fish to the cat.... and pleasantly surprised that it isn't about that!

*raises hand*
if its smells bad or makes you worry enough where you wouldnt eat it then i wouldnt feed it to your cat. im a stickler for expiration dates though. i wont even drink milk if it gets close to its death date  

[Kipluck]

I think canned stuff is often good longer than it says. But I am really nervous about what my pets eat, especially my gliders. They have smaller bodies, more sensitive systems, etc. So if I wouldn't eat it I sure would not eat feed it to them (with the exception of things like, well, roaches. hee hee)

So if you taste the tuna and feel okay (I don't like tuna. I woundn't know whether it was good or bad tuna, it would ALL taste bad to me), then it is probably fine for kitty. IMHO.