Ingredients

In my quest for healthy wet food I keep coming across herbs and berries added to food. Would cats in the wild nibble blueberries or blackberrys? Is there a medical reason these type of ingredients are added or is it to make the humans think, oh yummy and healthy?

I try to look for poultry or rabbit as the main meat vs beef. Yesterday I saw reindeer meat as the main protein.

I think fruits and stuff like that are just a marketing thing. Blue buffalo is big on them and they usually come after the salt divider meaning they make up such an insignificant part of the food they’re worthless especially after the extreme heat kibble is cooked in. And I like to mix my cats proteins up. I don’t feed fish. But wow reindeer that’s a new one.

Yes, I never saw reindeer before, it was a Boritza (sp?) brand. I did not get the reindeer but if I do I will let you know if he eats it
The British brand, Dukes Farm I have tried here a few times, it has visible chunks of blueberries or blackberrys in two seperate pates we tried. He did gobble up the duck and blueberry one. They also have one with cranberry. I have seen cranberry in cat treats in the US. I suppose it is for urinary health but that may be a gimmick.

I've seen different perspectives on the fruits/veggies. Some people say they are pointless and cats don't need them but I've also read that many companies add them for the vitamins that cats DO need. It's a more natural way of getting certain vitamins into the food without supplements. Menadione (synthetic Vitamin K) is controversial in pet foods. Blueberries and blackberries both contain Vitamin K so that may be that company's way of getting Vitamin K in their food without using the synthetic form.

Since there is no perfect wet food these ingredients are the least of my worries. I’d rather have a food with no gums/carrageenan/peas and potatoes than a food with no blueberries.

Interesting thing about cranberries though... I’ve heard that the foods that load up on cranberries are the ones that consumers actually complain about giving their cats UTIs.

I know that Bozita reindeer food. My girl's not keen (though she likes all the other flavours in the range, especially the beef and rabbit ones), but the boys like it. I honestly wouldn't worry too much about which types of meat you're feeding, unless your cat is sensitive to them. Novel proteins can be great, actually. My girl adores kangaroo!

I don't worry about little bits of fruit/herbs/non starchy veggies, so long as the other ingredients are good and my cats like them. I'm far more conscious of grain/starch content and 'mystery' ingredients (e.g. 'derivatives of vegetable origin'). At the end of the day, if it's healthy, the cats like it, and it fits my budget, it's fine by me

I’ve read studies that show in order for humans to actually prevent uti’s with cranberries they’d have to drink a half gallon of concentrated cranberry juice a day to actually get any benefits from it. I’m sure it’s similar with cats. They’d probably have to drink like a cup a day to see any benefits from it which is crazy. Same goes with actually eating them. I believe it was a pound a day that humans needed to eat for there to be a difference in whether or not there was a decrease in the people that had repeated Uti’s before they started that regime. I personally believe cranberries are kinda gimmicky in the uti department for any animal or human. But as far as having other uses like vitamins and whatnot I’m sure they do add benefits. But I seriously question if any of that matters after the cooking canned and kibble foods go through. And if they can get the vitamin from a natural source why do they still include vitamin packs at the end of all foods. The only food I’ve ever found with no added vitamins is natures logic. And when I asked them how they went about making sure nothing was cooked out of their foods they responded to me and told me they spray their foods with a mix of dehydrated fruits and veggies to add vitamins in a natural way after the kibble is cooked. Which is nice but idk I still have my doubts about that even. I think unaltered proteins and fruits and veggies will forever be the best way to feed any living thing. I’m so tired of processed foods and the arm and a leg they charge for raw foods. Wish it was easier to feed dogs and cats their appropriate diet.

Unlike dogs, cats are not opportunistic carnivores, dogs will occasionally eat seasonal vegetation/fruits as a so called snack. Especially if it’s sweet however cats do not possess the ability to taste sweet things.

Also Cats have a strictly carnivores digestive track unlike dogs who are able to somewhat digest vegetation. Cats are incapable of digesting vegetation therefore do not get any benefits from fruits or vegetables this is why cat food tends to be more expensive than dog food, because they have to put more meat products in it. A dog can live on a completely vegan/vegetarian diet although not recommended. A cat cannot and even though there are foods marketed as vegan and vegetarian for Cats they have been known to cause long-term health issues.

So no cats or felines in general are not capable of digesting cellulose and other forms of plant matter therefore I’m going to have to disagree that there any benefits of feeding cats fruits and vegetables as a regular staple of their diet.

I do on the other hand believe that there are certain herbs/medicinal plants that can provide benefits to Cats because in most cases cats do not have to be able to digest the plant matter in order to obtain the benefits from it.

I was also reading about cats with kidney issues that the presence of the berries probably indicate an overly acidic canned food to aid in more urination, which of course, is not something a cat with kidney issues needs.

Thanks for all the food for thought! It has been a long time since a bag of purina and a can of friskies was seen as good