diff --git a/src/uu/cat/src/cat.rs b/src/uu/cat/src/cat.rs
index f9916ef40..89d1ec59a 100644
--- a/src/uu/cat/src/cat.rs
+++ b/src/uu/cat/src/cat.rs
@@ -479,10 +479,12 @@ fn get_input_type(path: &OsString) -> CatResult<InputType> {
 fn write_fast<R: FdReadable>(handle: &mut InputHandle<R>) -> CatResult<()> {
     let stdout = io::stdout();
     #[cfg(any(target_os = "linux", target_os = "android"))]
+    let mut stdout = stdout;
+    #[cfg(any(target_os = "linux", target_os = "android"))]
     {
         // If we're on Linux or Android, try to use the splice() system call
         // for faster writing. If it works, we're done.
-        if !splice::write_fast_using_splice(handle, &stdout)? {
+        if !splice::write_fast_using_splice(handle, &mut stdout)? {
             return Ok(());
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/uu/cat/src/splice.rs b/src/uu/cat/src/splice.rs
index 37df79b95..f9082ff26 100644
--- a/src/uu/cat/src/splice.rs
+++ b/src/uu/cat/src/splice.rs
@@ -4,13 +4,11 @@
 // file that was distributed with this source code.
 use super::{CatResult, FdReadable, InputHandle};
 
-use rustix::io::{read, write};
+use std::io::{Read, Write};
 use std::os::{fd::AsFd, unix::io::AsRawFd};
 
 use uucore::pipes::{MAX_ROOTLESS_PIPE_SIZE, might_fuse, pipe, splice, splice_exact};
 
-const BUF_SIZE: usize = 1024 * 16;
-
 /// This function is called from `write_fast()` on Linux and Android. The
 /// function `splice()` is used to move data between two file descriptors
 /// without copying between kernel and user spaces. This results in a large
@@ -19,14 +17,14 @@ const BUF_SIZE: usize = 1024 * 16;
 /// The `bool` in the result value indicates if we need to fall back to normal
 /// copying or not. False means we don't have to.
 #[inline]
-pub(super) fn write_fast_using_splice<R: FdReadable, S: AsRawFd + AsFd>(
+pub(super) fn write_fast_using_splice<R: FdReadable, S: AsRawFd + AsFd + Write>(
     handle: &InputHandle<R>,
-    write_fd: &S,
+    write_fd: &mut S,
 ) -> CatResult<bool> {
     if splice(&handle.reader, &write_fd, MAX_ROOTLESS_PIPE_SIZE).is_ok() {
         // fcntl improves throughput
         // todo: avoid fcntl overhead for small input, but don't fcntl inside of the loop
-        let _ = rustix::pipe::fcntl_setpipe_size(write_fd, MAX_ROOTLESS_PIPE_SIZE);
+        let _ = rustix::pipe::fcntl_setpipe_size(&mut *write_fd, MAX_ROOTLESS_PIPE_SIZE);
         loop {
             match splice(&handle.reader, &write_fd, MAX_ROOTLESS_PIPE_SIZE) {
                 Ok(1..) => {}
@@ -46,7 +44,9 @@ pub(super) fn write_fast_using_splice<R: FdReadable, S: AsRawFd + AsFd>(
                         // we can recover by copying the data that we have from the
                         // intermediate pipe to stdout using normal read/write. Then
                         // we tell the caller to fall back.
-                        copy_exact(&pipe_rd, write_fd, n)?;
+                        let mut drain = Vec::with_capacity(n); // bounded by pipe size
+                        pipe_rd.take(n as u64).read_to_end(&mut drain)?;
+                        write_fd.write_all(&drain)?;
                         return Ok(true);
                     }
                 }
@@ -57,24 +57,3 @@ pub(super) fn write_fast_using_splice<R: FdReadable, S: AsRawFd + AsFd>(
         Ok(true)
     }
 }
-
-/// Move exactly `num_bytes` bytes from `read_fd` to `write_fd`.
-///
-/// Panics if not enough bytes can be read.
-fn copy_exact(read_fd: &impl AsFd, write_fd: &impl AsFd, num_bytes: usize) -> std::io::Result<()> {
-    let mut left = num_bytes;
-    let mut buf = [0; BUF_SIZE];
-    while left > 0 {
-        let n = read(read_fd, &mut buf)?;
-        assert_ne!(n, 0, "unexpected end of pipe");
-        let mut written = 0;
-        while written < n {
-            match write(write_fd, &buf[written..n])? {
-                0 => unreachable!("fd should be writable"),
-                w => written += w,
-            }
-        }
-        left -= n;
-    }
-    Ok(())
-}