Veggies In Cat Food

Rini

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Okay, so I know cats are obligate carnivores, please don't behead me. But it seems like there are veggies in many cat foods, high end, low end, and all in between.

I currently feed a Wellness pate that contains carrots and cranberries. I don't love those ingredients, but it is mostly meat and no grains. Peas seem to be an oddly common ingredient too.

My question is, do any vegetables provide nutritional value? Or at least are some less bad than others?

Spinach, carrots, peas, cranberries, potato...yeesh. I read that it adds fiber and sweetness but I'm skeptical.
 

Kieka

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Veggies and fruits probably do add some vitamin and nutrition to cat food. However, the problem is the quantities that commercial food includes is well past any actual benefit to cats. Most commercial foods, IMO, include them to appeal to the human sensibility that a balanced meal includes fruits and vegetables.

Peas in particular are added because they act as a cheap binder to replace grains in grain free foods. They have the added benefit of increasing the protein content to make the food look better. However, it's a plant based protein and cats can't use plant based protein. So it is again something to increase the human appeal of the food by raising the nutrition technically but not in a useable manner. Cranberries are one I try to avoid because it breaks down to a chemical similar to asprin and asprin is bad for cats.

All that said, last night my little girl stole an asparagus spear off my dinner plate and growled at me when I tried to take it back. She has also stolen an entire ear of corn (which she has little legs so that was a funny sight) and broccoli in the past. Just because cats don't need it, doesn't mean they won't eat it.
 

FeebysOwner

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Pretty much saying the same thing as Kieka Kieka - As far as I know, vegetables in cat foods are there because they are a cheap filler. While a bit of vegetables can provide fiber, and possibly some nutrients, they can also be used sparingly to help an overweight cat feel fuller on less calories. So, I think a little bit of vegies is not, in general, harmful.
 

kittyluv387

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It adds some but I think some companies use them as filler. That's why instead of going by "grain free" you really should be trying to feed "low carb." You can find out by emailing companies or by calculating the estimation on a dry matter basis. You can assume whatever is not protein or fat is carb. I will say most of the Wellness canned brands are high in carb.
 

LTS3

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One meal that contains some veggies isn't going to cause any harm. Some high end brand have no veggies and fillers but they are pricey, such as Rawz.
 
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Rini

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One meal that contains some veggies isn't going to cause any harm. Some high end brand have no veggies and fillers but they are pricey, such as Rawz.
The other textures of food seem less prone to having veggies in them, I mostly see it in pate--I do feed pate for breakfast because it seems to fill him up, since it's all food and no gravy/sauce/broth what have you.
 

backyardzoo

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I've even seen some commercial raw diets with veggies and fruits in them. The raw food place I bought some rabbit off of has a mix that is 60% ground with bone/10% organs and 30% veggies/fruits(carrots, apple, lettuce, squash, and banana). That is more for dogs though.
 

lisahe

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https://www.chewy.com/wellness-complete-health-adult-beef/dp/34439

I feed this one and it seemed okay to me? He also gets a lot of Weruva, which is lower in carbs, so maybe it's ok for one meal a day?
If you check the chart on Catinfo.org (here) you'll find a carb content of 4% in terms of calorie distribution. That's pretty respectable so I wouldn't worry about it too much if it's not bothering your cat.

As kittyluv387 kittyluv387 says, though, many of Wellness's other foods are higher in carbs... just scroll down the chart and you'll see it! Weruva's further down but the charts on their site are more up-to-date (with the new foods) and list the data several ways, making it easy to compare with other information sources.
 

Erin80

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I gave up on the grain free cat foods because they had all just replaced the grain with peas, or some other kinds of vegetable. I agree that it's totally for the human. We now do a combination of raw food and cheap canned (Authority and friskies). Kaia was having horrible diarrhea with all the high end grain free foods we tried.....literally for months. Since switching to the raw and cheap canned that contain grains (mainly rice), she has not had one episode of diarrhea at all and is no longer bloated. We stick to just the turkey and giblets pate flavour of Friskies, and they also get the Authority flaked either chicken or turkey. They get turkey for raw food, though Binx has decided he does not like raw anymore.........Kaia absolutely loves it.
 

lisahe

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I gave up on the grain free cat foods because they had all just replaced the grain with peas, or some other kinds of vegetable. I agree that it's totally for the human. We now do a combination of raw food and cheap canned (Authority and friskies). Kaia was having horrible diarrhea with all the high end grain free foods we tried.....literally for months. Since switching to the raw and cheap canned that contain grains (mainly rice), she has not had one episode of diarrhea at all and is no longer bloated. We stick to just the turkey and giblets pate flavour of Friskies, and they also get the Authority flaked either chicken or turkey. They get turkey for raw food, though Binx has decided he does not like raw anymore.........Kaia absolutely loves it.
I'm just curious: did most of the grain-free foods that caused problems contain peas and/or potatoes? It seems like a fair number of cats have difficulty with those particular ingredients.

I see "grain-free" as just a starting point, after that I check for peas, potatoes, chickpeas, lentils, and on and on. You're so right about the "replaced" aspect of things!

The important thing is that you were able to figure out what to feed Kaia, I'm glad that got worked out!
 

Kflowers

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Kieka Kieka , I didn't realize that about the cranberries. I just knew the expensive treats with cranberries were smacked under the sofa and ignored.
 

Erin80

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I'm just curious: did most of the grain-free foods that caused problems contain peas and/or potatoes? It seems like a fair number of cats have difficulty with those particular ingredients.

I see "grain-free" as just a starting point, after that I check for peas, potatoes, chickpeas, lentils, and on and on. You're so right about the "replaced" aspect of things!

The important thing is that you were able to figure out what to feed Kaia, I'm glad that got worked out!

Yes! It was peas, potato, chickpeas, etc. Then there’s carrots, blueberries, cranberries, etc etc.
 

Erin80

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How much does Authority cost per can? Is it a big can?
Here in Canada, it’s $1.49 for a 5.5 oz can. Friskies is like 60 cents a can, haha....we do both. I dislike feeding Friskies but it honestly seems to be working so well for them.
 
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