Agar Agar... So What's The Deal?

[DEB_UNY]

It's sad that so many pet food ingredients are questionable but, it's good to know that more and more of of us recognize a need to question what is in products marketed for consumption to our pets. I can't believe how hard it has become for me to find something to feed my two cats who each have digestive issues with pet foods. Though feeding home cooked is not so convenient, I do it temporarily when looking for something commercially that might work. In doing this I have learned that It is not the meat that caused my cats trouble because all the problems go away when I buy the meat and cook it at home. Currently worn out from searching for that right food option! Looks like a lot of raw has bone that makes me nervous but I think I am going to try it because I can't find any thing out there. We've tried the best in canned. Rawz worked for us for the last several years till now

 

[lisahe]

I posted on this thread years ago before finding that our cats can't eat agar-agar: it makes both of them barf.

DEB_UNY , what happened with Rawz? Do you know why it no longer works for you? As for bone, for our cats, it's fine in small amounts in raw foods but too much can cause constipation. And welcome to The Cat Site!

 

[DEB_UNY]

I posted on this thread years ago before finding that our cats can't eat agar-agar: it makes both of them barf.

DEB_UNY , what happened with Rawz? Do you know why it no longer works for you? As for bone, for our cats, it's fine in small amounts in raw foods but too much can cause constipation. And welcome to The Cat Site!

Thank you. I am not sure why, One cat started to walk away from it when I put it down and my other cat did not want it but because he was Hungary would go back to it and eat it. This cat was doing well for the last couple of years on Rawz. ( I was so happy when we found Rawz) They were also on Applaws dry chicken and did well until recently I discovered Applaws was causing chronic constipation in my cat Bear. I made the mistake of trying probiotics from the vet Fortiflora. It helped bear but My sensitive Ash started itching. We stopped Applaws, stopped the probiotic and tried another kibble-Fussy Cat and my Ash kept getting more itchy, so we tried NV Rabbit LID and then Ash got diahreah and off to the vet for fluids . So I tried to stick to just Rawz and he's still itching/NO Fleas. So we tried just sticking with one flavotr at a time to know avail. I called the company and asked if any ingredients changed and she replied they think cats might be developing an allergy to squash? Anyhow, Ash jus got so miserable itchy inflamed ears with bumbs and his head was frequently hot. This is a cat who normally has a lot of energy an happy now sad and depressed every day sleeping alot. Now I have had them on cooked meat and he has stopped all the itching , has his energy back and playful. I was hoping I wouldn't be on a food search again, We can't buy anything in the big stores already tried those yrs ago. Just found out that Applaws in the uk is on a recall as of June 2021 causing a rare bone disorder in cats.

 

[DEB_UNY]

Thank you. I am not sure why, One cat started to walk away from it when I put it down and my other cat did not want it but because he was Hungary would go back to it and eat it. This cat was doing well for the last couple of years on Rawz. ( I was so happy when we found Rawz) They were also on Applaws dry chicken and did well until recently I discovered Applaws was causing chronic diarrhea in my cat Bear. I made the mistake of trying probiotics from the vet Fortiflora. It helped bear but My sensitive Ash started itching. We stopped Applaws, stopped the probiotic and tried another kibble-Fussy Cat and my Ash kept getting more itchy, so we tried NV Rabbit LID and then Ash got diahreah and off to the vet for fluids . So I tried to stick to just Rawz and he's still itching/NO Fleas. So we tried just sticking with one flavotr at a time to know avail. I called the company and asked if any ingredients changed and she replied they think cats might be developing an allergy to squash? Anyhow, Ash jus got so miserable itchy inflamed ears with bumbs and his head was frequently hot. This is a cat who normally has a lot of energy an happy now sad and depressed every day sleeping alot. Now I have had them on cooked meat and he has stopped all the itching , has his energy back and playful. I was hoping I wouldn't be on a food search again, We can't buy anything in the big stores already tried those yrs ago. Just found out that Applaws in the uk is on a recall as of June 2021 causing a rare bone disorder in cats.

 

[lisahe]

Thank you. I am not sure why, One cat started to walk away from it when I put it down and my other cat did not want it but because he was Hungary would go back to it and eat it. This cat was doing well for the last couple of years on Rawz. ( I was so happy when we found Rawz) They were also on Applaws dry chicken and did well until recently I discovered Applaws was causing chronic constipation in my cat Bear. I made the mistake of trying probiotics from the vet Fortiflora. It helped bear but My sensitive Ash started itching. We stopped Applaws, stopped the probiotic and tried another kibble-Fussy Cat and my Ash kept getting more itchy, so we tried NV Rabbit LID and then Ash got diahreah and off to the vet for fluids . So I tried to stick to just Rawz and he's still itching/NO Fleas. So we tried just sticking with one flavotr at a time to know avail. I called the company and asked if any ingredients changed and she replied they think cats might be developing an allergy to squash? Anyhow, Ash jus got so miserable itchy inflamed ears with bumbs and his head was frequently hot. This is a cat who normally has a lot of energy an happy now sad and depressed every day sleeping alot. Now I have had them on cooked meat and he has stopped all the itching , has his energy back and playful. I was hoping I wouldn't be on a food search again, We can't buy anything in the big stores already tried those yrs ago. Just found out that Applaws in the uk is on a recall as of June 2021 causing a rare bone disorder in cats.

Our cats also got tired of Rawz pates. They've liked occasional shredded chicken but I haven't bought any since the pandemic started.

What meat are you feeding him now, DEB_UNY ? As an example, if it's chicken, maybe the simplest possible chicken food (something like Tiki Cat's shredded chicken or Chewy's house brand shredded chicken) would work for him? Wet foods have fewer ingredients than dry foods (which usually have fillers like grains, potatoes, and other stuff that cats didn't really evolve to eat) so it's easier to track what's causing problems, though Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein chicken really is good, with no fillers. We feed small amounts of it.

Another option might be homemade food. I think the simplest supplement is probably Alnutrin, though you have to add your own liver. They have one with egg shells for calcium instead of bone; that helps prevent constipation. We feed a lot of Alnutrin! It does have egg yolk, which I seem to recall can cause allergies in some cats. But at least the supplement is more simple than most canned foods so if Ash were to have a reaction, you'd know it was most likely from the egg yolk.

Figuring out what's causing a problem can involve a lot of time and frustration, particularly since a lot of it is trial and error. I've used a food and incident diary to figure out what's causing our cats to barf: potato, agar-agar, and green-lipped mussels are on that list. There are other things (carrageenan, all grains, peas, lentils, and other legumes) that I also just won't feed.

Itching allergies like Ash's can be harder, though, particularly since they likely don't happen so quickly, plus they can last longer... one of our cats licked a spot bare and we're not sure if it was stress (this happened very shortly after she caught a mouse and we took it away before she could eat it, which upset her!) or food. Or something else, even a bug bite or pollen. She also sneezed a bit last summer; she's on transdermal antihistamine cream now. She's never had a lot of itching. Her fur was already starting to grow back when we started the antihistamine (it took months to even start growing back) and she's hardly sneezed all year but I'm not sure what will happen when she goes off the medicine. I'm just crossing my fingers that she'll do okay.

I hope you're able to find a good way to feed both Bear and Ash. It can be doubly hard when to do when you have two cats with their own separate limitations, as we do, too.