Another Grain-Free Warning

[JamesCalifornia]

~ Certain "boutique" foods can affects cats. The FDA reported five cats died from cardiomyopathy linked to grain-free food.

Pet Food Warning​

 

[MissClouseau]

Yet this still means not much as they STILL,

1) Don't include big brands in their research with their grainy OR grain-free foods and show us a comparison. Purina and Hill's both have grain-free foods too

2) The suspicion isn't the lack of grains but what they replace the grains with... but how? I don't understand what would take so long to prove if there really is a link and they are really looking into it

3) If the problem is more about high protein content because grain-free boutique foods also tend to have less side products, again, HOW? Like Acana foods are mostly animal products in percentage.

Anyway, my Hima's dry food is Acana because that's the only dry food that works for her so far and she can't be on a wet-only diet for now. I am worried but not like the alternatives look better. Not without the study including big brands and an explanation why these foods are named at least.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

This article is mostly about dogs, and dogs are NOT obligate carnivores.. Very little is mentioend about cats with the exception that 5 cats died from DCM. Were those deaths even related to their food? They say yes, but how do they know. I'm sorry, but I'm not buying it for cats. They definitely ARE obligate carnivores, which means protein from meat, not grains.

 

[Jem]

Haven't "they" (I don't know where I saw it) found that it's something about what they replace the grains with (peas, potatoes) that cause improper absorption or something to that effect of taurine? If the cat food is "grain free" meaning protein from animal only it should not be an issue. BUT with the cat food (as with dog), they simply replace the grains with a different plant protein. Grain free is NOT better, what is better is no or very low plant content. Cats may be carnivores but they did consume plants in the from of stomach content from other animals and even by eating grasses and such, so some plant in the foods (IMO) is not the end of the world, I mean, most of us even use pumpkin for digestive issues. I do believe that grain free CAN be dangerous, I think the only reason it does not affect cats quite as much is because they add extra taurine to cat food, but who's to say that some cats aren't more affected by the substitute plant protein than others, causing the cardiomyopathy. My cat grew up on grain free, my FIRST cat to ever eat it....GUESS WHAT! He died from cardiomyopathy! I'm not saying for sure it was the food, but it certainly opened my eyes. My cats no longer eat "grain free" it's a marketing gimmick. They get wet food with no plant content and I am currently looking into which kibble I want to get, they currently eat a prescription food that is supposed to help with their immune system, but their health seems stable now, so I want a better food (not so high in carbs), but I'll be staying clear of "grain free" if it simply replaces the grains with legumes.

 

[IndyJones]

I personally am not going to stop feeding Indy perfomatrin ultra. Vet said she is in great shape and she won't eat anything else. I've had nothing but trouble with big brands myself. Indy was being fed fancy feast and pro plan when I first got her and she was so thin it was like petting a furry skeleton. She didn't like fancy feast or pro plan and just picked at it. It didn't smell great either, a bit like the feed for chickens or livestock. Even the lower tier grain free foods smell more like meat than the Purina ones.

 

[MissClouseau]

Haven't "they" (I don't know where I saw it) found that it's something about what they replace the grains with (peas, potatoes) that cause improper absorption or something to that effect of taurine

I have seen some the USA vets say the number one suspect is indeed what they replace the grains with but not about taurine.

That still leaves so much in the air though including two of their favorite brands Hill’s and Purina also have food with peas and lentils. Probably in higher amount in some as they are listed higher in the ingredients list than my Acana food this investigation includes for example. Yet they aren’t included.

 

[JamesCalifornia]

The suspicion isn't the lack of grains but what they replace the grains with...

~ Yes that is the mystery ...

 

[Kieka]

This summary is the one I've found to be the most concisely stated:

"But unlike cereal grains, peas, lentils and legumes are all high in protein.

This means that grain-free pet foods can skimp on expensive animal proteins and use larger amounts of cheap plant proteins in their place.

And because plant proteins are devoid of taurine, dog foods might be deficient in taurine, just like cat foods were 40 years ago. "

The Truth About Grain-Free Dog Foods And DCM | Dogs Naturally

We have the same issue with peas and potatoes for cats but because their food is supplemented with taurine we aren't seeing the same issues. It doesn't meant grain free is good for cats, but I wouldn't say the label itself is bad. I personally use it to narrow down which foods might fit my requirements. Grain free or limited ingredients labels then look for one without pea or potato. But for cats, they need animal protein and all those foods with "pea protein" or "potato protein" likely don't have enough animal based protein.

 

[jen]

I really feel that when I look for canned cat food, I don't even look for grain free at all because of all the crap they replace the grains with. I use catinfo.org and look for the low carb foods. I could drive myself insane picking apart every little ingredient but bottom line is cats are strict carnivores. They don't need grains and carbs which usually go hand in hand. I stick to the low carb because I KNOW those will be low grain and I leave it at that.

"Grain Free" is a very deceiving and dangerous trend to come along in pet diets.

 

[stephanietx]

This study doesn't mention if any of these animals had existing health circumstances. My now 14 year old herpes cat has been grain free for 12 years with no side effects.

 

[JamesCalifornia]

This study doesn't mention if any of these animals had existing health circumstances. My now 14 year old herpes cat has been grain free for 12 years with no side effects.

~ Yes it appears this is mostly concerning dogs. We are in the learning curve about all these unusual ingredients. Now Friskies has 'Garden Greens' variety wet cat food

 

[MissClouseau]

This summary is the one I've found to be the most concisely stated:

"But unlike cereal grains, peas, lentils and legumes are all high in protein.

This means that grain-free pet foods can skimp on expensive animal proteins and use larger amounts of cheap plant proteins in their place.

I don't know about other brands but Acana and Orijen are on the investigation too, both are from the same Canadian company Champion Foods. Their foods are mostly animal products. Like Acana Wild Prairie for cats is 75% meat https://acana.com/our-foods/cat-foods/regionals-cats/wild-prairie/ . The first non-animal product which is whole green peas come AFTER 49% animal products.

Whereas Hill's d/d prescription food for example starts with Yellow Peas. That's the highest amount thing in the ingredients. Hill's® Prescription Diet® d/d® Feline Venison & Green Pea Formula

This non-prescription wet food has green peas too. Hill's® Science Diet® Sensitive Stomach & Skin Chicken & Vegetable Entrée Cat Food

This is exactly what I mean. If the problem is with peas, lentils, etc as they suspect, then the products--some of which are grainy foods--that aren't included in the investigation have them in significantly higher amounts than these Acana/Orijen foods. If there really is a problem with peas that lead to heart problems, some people might replace their risky grain-free food with even riskier grainy foods then.

 

[Kieka]

The problem is with plant protein replacing animal protein and there being less taurine as a result. It's not peas in and of themselves causing the heart problems. It's the companies relying on peas, and such, to make up the protein so they aren't adding as much meat which reduces the taurine. Cat food gets checked for taurine content and has taurine that exceeds their requirements. So cats aren't impacted in the same way because even with the pea heavy formulas they are getting enough taurine.

There was another review that pointed out brands using some exotic meats have the same problem even without peas. But it is because the meat they use has lower levels of taurine naturally so using that meat lowers taurine intake just because of what it is. Again, the cat foods made with those meats have added taurine so you dont get the impact with cats. And since it seems to be just dogs already inclined to heart problems that would imply the deficiency is minor enough that it's only impacting those already at risk. Basically, dog food will probably get added taurine after this IMO based on preliminary results.

I agree that the non-botique brands and prescription diets should be included but I don't think Acana is that much better. I know they used to do 75% animal product but the ones for sale near me and even following the link you provided are 70% now. Which could logically point to they increased their cheap plant proteins to save money on meat too. With five different pea and lentils on the package it seems a logical conclusion. While they have 35% protein the amount of peas and lentils probably indicates that they are a good portion of the protein... I'd assume that at least 3-5% of the protein content comes from the peas and lentils just as a rough guess. Which makes the usable protein to cats 30-32%, plus the high fat and high carbs.

Yes, it's better then some but it isn't what I would use as a measuring stick of a good dry food. Which isn't to say it's a bad food and its certainly better then a lot out there but 70% animal meat still leaves 30% fillers that cats don't need and could potentially be causing issues. I do understand needing to feed dry and it needing fillers to be shelf stable. I do it myself, but the focus for cat owners here should be on how much animal based usable protein are our furry ones getting. In my opinion of course.

 

[MissClouseau]

I agree that the non-botique brands and prescription diets should be included but I don't think Acana is that much better. I know they used to do 75% animal product but the ones for sale near me and even following the link you provided are 70% now. Which could logically point to they increased their cheap plant proteins to save money on meat too. With five different pea and lentils on the package it seems a logical conclusion. While they have 35% protein the amount of peas and lentils probably indicates that they are a good portion of the protein... I'd assume that at least 3-5% of the protein content comes from the peas and lentils just as a rough guess. Which makes the usable protein to cats 30-32%, plus the high fat and high carbs.

It says 75% meat in the link. It used to be 70% but they changed the formula last year. The Crude Protein went from Min. 35% to 37% in the new formula. While I'm not sure at all, I think peas, lentils, etc are also used as starch in pet food, to hold things together. This is the ingredients list:

Fresh chicken meat (9%), fresh turkey meat (9%), fresh chicken giblets (liver, heart, kidney) (9%), chicken meal (8%), turkey meal (8%), whole herring meal (8%), whole green peas, whole red lentils, whole chickpeas, chicken fat (5%), cage-free eggs (4%), fresh wild-caught walleye (4%), fresh wild-caught trout (4%), fresh turkey giblets (liver, heart, kidney) (4%), whole green lentils, whole pinto beans, whole yellow peas, pollock oil (2%), sun-cured alfalfa, dried chicken cartilage (1%), dried brown kelp, fresh pumpkin, fresh butternut squash, fresh parsnips, fresh green kale, fresh spinach, fresh mustard greens, fresh turnip greens, fresh carrots, fresh Red Delicious apples, fresh Bartlett pears, freeze-dried liver (chicken and turkey) (0.1%), fresh cranberries, fresh blueberries, chicory root, turmeric root, milk thistle, burdock root, lavender, marshmallow root, rosehips, enterococcus faecium.

SUPPLEMENTS: Choline, Zinc Chelate, Copper Chelate.

*Preserved with mixed tocopherols, a tocopherol rich extract of natural origin – Vitamin E and Rosemary Oil.

 

[Kieka]

I think we must be in different markets because I keep getting a screen that says 70%. But the point is there is still a good amount of peas and lentils. Based on placement in the ingredients probably 20-25% peas and lentils which if they are using it for protein measurments means it's making up 5-9% of the protein analysis.

I do understand they are a starch to hold it together. I really do. But it still lowers the usable protein for cats when they load it up with peas and lentils instead of grains. I think with the whole grain free trend the danger to dogs is too little taurine, so not an issue for cat food that is supplemented with taurine. For cats the issue is animal protein content since plant protein isn't a complete protein and not usable for cats.

 

[Azazel]

It's really sad that it's difficult to trust what the FDA does and doesn't report to consumers. There are obviusly ties between the FDA and the pet food industry and they selectively choose to attack certain brands of foods to benefit the companies that have direct links to them. I honestly don't know what to believe when it comes to the FDA and that's truly disapponting. Another reason I make my own food.

 

[kittyluv387]

I'm sorry but this article is just promoting the big brands. There really needs to be more investigation and research. It is just a correlation to be sure. And 5 whole cats? That's laughable. Can't really make any statements with 5 cats. But anyways I don't really pay attention to the grain free label either. I just look at ingredients and reach out to companies and inquire about their carbohydrate level. I have seen some grain free brands with a horribly high amount of carbs (lotus pate anyone??).

Oh another well known brand with a ton of carbs is wellness. Besides their Core line the rest is just very carby. But I don't like their core line because it's extremely gummy. Like jello. Was a turn off.

 

[lisahe]

There really needs to be more investigation and research.

This is the problem: the article is horribly, painfully shoddy and sloppy. It's referencing only limited FDA data, from mid-2019, so there's absolutely nothing new here. Other than the story from the woman whose dog, sadly, died. There's also only one vet source; there's nobody from the FDA. It's a really poor excuse for news and journalism.

I'm not a huge fan of the FDA either and have to say I'm a bit puzzled about how they counted up the brands and numbers of "reports," but if you click through to the FDA's Q&A from last summer, they do clearly mention several important things:

the not so great thing:
-the FDA data came from reports sent to them, the time frame is limited, and they specifically mention certain brands as those being "most frequently" named in reports. If you click through to the spreadsheet, you'll see that some of the dogs and cats were fed multiple brands, making those calculations difficult. (But, as I said, somewhat dubious -- Purina and Hills do, of course, come up on the spreadsheet -- though some of this may be because of inconsistencies in how various individuals, like the woman cited in the article, made their reports, making it difficult to go through the data methodologically and determine what warranted a "report." Again, I'm not saying at all that I think the FDA did a great job totalling the numbers, I'm just pointing out that this is a situation where multiple factors -- like people feeding more than one food and/or some not reporting all foods -- were likely at work.)

two points that seem to get ignored in lots of news stories about these reports (not here, though!):
-the FDA specifically mentions "The common thread appears to be legumes, pulses (seeds of legumes), and/or potatoes as main ingredients in the food." The Atlanta article makes no reference to this key point, which Kieka has already noted above.

-even more to the point, the FDA writes, "We suggest reviewing the ingredient list on your pet’s food to see whether legumes, pulses and/or potatoes are listed as one of the main ingredients." Again, the article totally ignores that.

I don't know... in the end, I see a terrible article from Atlanta and some FDA data handling that really makes me wonder how they're counting... but I also see the FDA making a good start at determining the problem and the Atlanta reporter ignoring that. I wish the reporter had focused on following up on the taurine and vegetable angle. And asking how those report numbers came about. That would have made a good article.

 

[SpecterOhPossum]

Feed a homemade nutritionally adequate diet of just meat and vitamins, and you're set.

 

[Azazel]

Feed a homemade nutritionally adequate diet of just meat and vitamins, and you're set.

Just meat and vitamins wouldn't be complete. You also need organs, bones, or a source of calcium, and essential minerals.