Cat Foods Without Gums, Bha, Carrageenan, Etc

[DrizzleOfSalt]

If you guys know any cat food brands without BHA, gums, carrageenan, harmful vegetables, and harmful fruit. Please list them down below, thanks!

I wanted to try Dr. Elsey's Chicken Formula but I saw it has flaxseed and rosemary extract. Are those two safe?

 

[duckpond]

We are all looking for those foods

I don't feed Dr. Elsey's wet food, because of the agar-agar. But i do like their dry food.

i don't know as flaxseed is actually beneficial to cats, but i don't think its harmful. Rosemary extract is suppose to be safe, a lot of brands use it. Rosemary oil is a different story, and never used with cats.

The only food i can think of that i feed that has none of those ingredients you list is Tiki cat after dark. It does have vitamin K3, which dosen't bother me, but does other people.

I think it is impossible to find a food that has nothing in it that can be questioned. I try to rotate foods that dont have ALL of the things i dont like in them, so that i dont get any one of something i dont like in each meal.

 

[Furballsmom]

I agree with duckpond , it's a very real challenge, and three months from now the 'landscape' of what is considered ok today will have changed due to reformulations of any number of commercial cat foods.
This is why more folks are making the choice of homemade raw. I haven't, even though there are now premade mixes where the only other requirement is to add the meat, and I guess even some of those are filled with 'fillers' to look out for.

 

[DrizzleOfSalt]

We are all looking for those foods

I don't feed Dr. Elsey's wet food, because of the agar-agar. But i do like their dry food.

i don't know as flaxseed is actually beneficial to cats, but i don't think its harmful. Rosemary extract is suppose to be safe, a lot of brands use it. Rosemary oil is a different story, and never used with cats.

The only food i can think of that i feed that has none of those ingredients you list is Tiki cat after dark. It does have vitamin K3, which dosen't bother me, but does other people.

I think it is impossible to find a food that has nothing in it that can be questioned. I try to rotate foods that dont have ALL of the things i dont like in them, so that i dont get any one of something i dont like in each meal.

Okayy
I'll try Dr. Elsey's dry food, since none of the ingredients are bothering me anymore. Hopefully, it goes well!
Thanks for letting me know they're safe.

 

[DrizzleOfSalt]

I agree with duckpond , it's a very real challenge, and three months from now the 'landscape' of what is considered ok today will have changed due to reformulations of any number of commercial cat foods.
This is why more folks are making the choice of homemade raw. I haven't, even though there are now premade mixes where the only other requirement is to add the meat, and I guess even some of those are filled with 'fillers' to look out for.

It's sad how we (cat owners) even HAVE to search/make our own raw food.

 

[LTS3]

There are a few threads on gum-free foods:

Canned food without Carrageenan or Guar Gum?
Grain- & carrageenan-free foods
What are your favorite carrageenan/grain-free wet foods to feed to your cats?

 

[Purrmaid]

If you guys know any cat food brands without BHA, gums, carrageenan, harmful vegetables, and harmful fruit. Please list them down below, thanks!

I wanted to try Dr. Elsey's Chicken Formula but I saw it has flaxseed and rosemary extract. Are those two safe?

I searching also, so far the only one not using any gum’s is New zealand’s FelineNatural very pricey on Amazon. All gum in catfood is bad.

 

[lisahe]

I don't feed Dr. Elsey's wet food, because of the agar-agar. But i do like their dry food.

Yes, exactly the same here! Dr. E's wet food also has green-lipped mussels, which make one of our cats barf. (Agar-agar, on the other hand, makes both of our cats barf.)

 

[daftcat75]

I searching also, so far the only one not using any gum’s is New zealand’s FelineNatural very pricey on Amazon. All gum in catfood is bad. View attachment 418815View attachment 418815

Not all gum in cat food is bad. But there are many gums that are bad enough to get the others thrown under the bus.

carrageenan/agar agar : food scientists will tell you these are different but cats barf and double up in pain with these both just the same. If you’re going to avoid two gums, these are the two to avoid.

xanthan gum: I think this also acts as an emulsifier. It makes smooth foods smooth (mousses, lick sticks, some pates), and for those cats sensitive to it, it also makes their poops smooth and runny. Mousse in, mousse out. Not all cats are sensitive to this one. But you’ll know if yours is. People can be sensitive to xanthan gum too. I always know the next day when I chose the wrong cream cheese or the wrong ice cream.

Those are the three I’m mindful of. The others you may need to conduct your own trials. Aside from carrageenan and agar agar, none of them are truly harmful. But some can be more challenging to individual cats than others. I would say guar gum is probably the least challenging of these. Despite its imposing name, I don’t think twice if this is the gum keeping it together. I don’t have an opinion on locust bean or cassia gums because these almost always appear with one or more other gums making it difficult to impossible to conduct meaningful trials.

Tiki Cat and Rawz (the pates, not the shredded texture) both make gum-free foods. Not all of Tiki Cat’s selections are gum free. But there are many that are. Rawz makes pates that are gum-free using fenugreek seeds as a natural binder.

 

[Timmer]

I have found a food recently called Reveal at Petsmart. The fish in particular are nothing but fish and broth. I think there is a chicken that has nothing but broth and meat but I also looked at one can of some chicken and it did have gum in it.

 

[daftcat75]

I have found a food recently called Reveal at Petsmart. The fish in particular are nothing but fish and broth. I think there is a chicken that has nothing but broth and meat but I also looked at one can of some chicken and it did have gum in it.

You have to be careful with Reveal and Applaws. These meat in broth foods are supplemental or intermittent feeding only. If there isn’t a block of vitamins and minerals in the ingredients or the AAFCO statement of “balanced and complete nutrition” on the label, then these should not make up more than 10% of your cat’s diet. Or they can be used in the short term (no more than a week) to get a sick cat eating again.

 

[ladytimedramon]

Have you checked the Koha LID shredded foods (NOT the pates)?

This is the ingredients on the duck:
Ingredients
Duck Broth, Duck, Pumpkin, Tapioca, Salt, Calcium Sulfate, Xanthan Gum, Choline Chloride, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Vitamin A Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Biotin), Minerals (Zinc Oxide, Reduced Iron, Sodium Selenite, Manganese Sulfate Monohydrate, Copper Glycine Complex, Potassium Iodide), Potassium Chloride, Taurine.

They also have chicken, beef, turkey, and lamb. One of my kitties is currently on the duck.