Carrageenan In 2019?

Richard2121

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Okay so I have done extensive research and seen all the negative information surrounding carrageenan and to avoid it at all costs. So I fell into one of my signature research voids today and I have yet to escape feeling better about anything. Yes, I see that we as cat owners should try to avoid carrageenan and other gums due to various health concerns. I don't see a lot of concrete evidence one way or the other but there is enough research to raise concern. But here's the problem, I am in no position to transition my 4 kitties to any sort of homemade diet or raw food right now. I cannot afford to feed them Weruva, Tiki Cat, Instinct, or any other fancy high end wet food. Finding a wet food that A.) my cats like B.) is healthy for them C.) does not contain fish D.) does not contain carrageenan, and D.) is within my budget, does not seem to be possible. So it seems to me that I have to go outside of these rules a bit. I have to compromise on some aspect in order to make sure that they like it. My cats don't care if I like the food. So I have been feeding them Fancy Feast Classic Pates but I wanted to transition them because 3 of the 4 seem to be less enthusiastic about FF lately. I have been giving them some freeze-dried raw (they aren't huge fans yet), and I have been having success with Blue Wilderness Turkey & Chicken Flaked along with Blue Freedom Indoor Chicken Pate and Flaked variety. The carb content is low enough where I am happy. The protein content is at a good level. It's wet food. AND the babies all like it to the point where I actually have to cut them off or they will eat until they vomit. BUT of course it contains Carrageenan. I feel cursed because every food I find for them is either outside my budget or they don't like it. When I do find a food they like, its either unhealthy or contains some controversial ingredient. I work 40 hours a week and go to school part-time while also raising 4 kitties with my girlfriend. I am not overwhelmed most of the time but I need a break from this whole food game for awhile. When I am financially able to afford the ultra-premium cat foods, I will absolutely spoil my babies. I would say right now and for the next 2 years while I finish school and build my career, I want to feed them something within my budget. I am already stretching my money to make sure they eat an all wet food diet. I even splurged for them and got them water fountains. I care deeply about their health. I need someone to hopefully reassure me that I am not giving all my kitties cancer by feeding this food. :(
 

Gizmobius

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I follow quite a few of the same guidelines. I avoid carrageenan (but not all gums), I avoid fish, vitamin K, and potatoes and peas. I shoot for low carb too and try to keep a relatively low-mid range budget. You may have tried some of the following foods but I want to suggest them to you anyway just in case because I, personally, think they're very good foods and aren't too crazy expensive!

Against the Grain makes a chicken and pumpkin, chicken and turnip, and chicken and cheese. All are low carb despite the veggie additions. Merrick Perfect Bistro Rabbit is the only Merrick food without carrageenan, I believe, and that's why I use it since it's one of the most affordable rabbit pates. Usually rabbit is really pricy. Tiny Tiger turkey is very affordable ($13 for 24 cans, if I recall correctly) and I think they may have removed the added fish from their chicken version too but I'm not sure! Whole Earth Farms duck, beef, and beef and turkey flavor are all in my rotation. American Journey in both chicken and turkey are another option.

All in all, we do the best we can within our means for our kitties and if you can't avoid carrageenan, so be it. You're doing what you can to ensure they get the best and I think that's all that matters!
 

She's a witch

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Richard2121, to make you feel better, it seems to me that even the most expensive food is not free from questionable ingredients.
 

Sammiches

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If you're on a tight budget, try the Sheba Perfect Portion Variety 24 Twin Packs(48 total 1.325 oz servings). It's Chicken, Turkey, and Beef. There's double the chicken compared to the other two.

As of right now, it's around $15 with subscribe and save from amazon or chewy wherever you decide to buy it. It goes on sale from time to time, the last one I picked up was a little over $10. I think the quality is a bit better than Fancy Feast at roughly the same cost.

Alternatively if your cat likes cut style meat, they do have a variety version for around $10~11 based on your subscription. I do like to add that there is a lot of gravy in this version and less meat compared to the pate style.

Then there is Nutro Perfect Portions. This one is an oddball because it's of higher quality but the price is usually $30+ but for some reason it randomly drops to $14.99 for 24x2 for a total of 48 1.325 ounce servings containers. Every now and then when I see the price randomly changes to that for about a day or two, I stock pile up on it. It's back to $30+ right now though unfortunately but you can keep an eye out for those on Amazon. The ones that drops to $14.99 are usually just the Turkey only or the Turkey+Chicken variety pack. Strangely the Chicken only one never dropped when I was monitoring it.

A tip if your budget can afford it - I warm my cat's food to a warm temperature, you know the temperature you like to eat food in. Not too hot or cold, not room temperature either. You know, the warm food you're used to eating. I put the can in my oven for 225 degrees f for 5 minutes then turn it off and leave it in there for another 5. By the time you take it out it should be slightly hot to touch but the food inside should be warm. I've done this to food that my cat doesn't usually eat now she licks her plate clean.
 
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10009891

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Not sure why all supermarket foods have to be so bad for cats. And vets push for kibble brands like IAMS, Purina, Meow Mix, Temptations, 9 Lives, Friskies, Science Diet, and Blue Buffalo.
 

daftcat75

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It's too bad they are souring on Fancy Feast Classic Pates as those are probably your best budget option. Don't even give the "meat by-products" a second thought. Those are far preferable to the gums, starches, and other no-go ingredients. To a cat who consumes his prey whole, there are no "by-products."

I think the vitamin K risk is misunderstood and overstated. If synthetic K is the only thing keeping you from buying that food, I would encourage you to buy that food. I don't want to have this argument right now but I firmly believe that the vitamin K warnings border on pseudo-science. Like Food Babe science. Omg! It's synthetic. It has a toxicity if inhaled. Yeah, so does water!

The risk factor of carageenan may in fact be legitmate. Other gums are a personal preference and your cat's tolerance. If your cat doesn't have an issue with xanthum gum, locust bean gum, or guar gum, there is nothing inherently wrong with these. But for those cats who do have sensitive stomach/bowels, these are non-essential ingredients that can be avoided if there is a suspected issue with them.

Lastly, there's no reason why they have to be fed a single food. If you find multiple foods they are okay with, rotate them. That way if there is a questionable ingredient, you can reduce their exposure to it. If they still eat FF, keep it in rotation but add something else to the rotation to keep their interest high. Maybe you could pick up a bag of freeze-dried raw and feed them one rehydrated raw meal a day or a few a week depending on what you can afford and their tolerance for it. Some cats get all bunged up with raw because of the bone content. This where it's helpful to start it as a guest star meal until you know how your cats will react to it.
 

Sammiches

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Not sure why all supermarket foods have to be so bad for cats. And vets push for kibble brands like IAMS, Purina, Meow Mix, Temptations, 9 Lives, Friskies, Science Diet, and Blue Buffalo.
My vet told me this... Any pet food that you can find at a Walmart or Target are not high quality pet food. You'll have to order them online or at least find them in a place specialized in animals.

Though Sheba is found at a Walmart, it's the only one I would consider out of the bunch. Still, it's not the highest of quality, it's just higher than the rest based on what I'm seeing in the ingredients compared to the list you have above(BB excluded because it's not sold in either stores).

daftcat75 daftcat75
I think the problem with by-products is that... Some parts could be good for your cat and others might just be something your cat shouldn't have too much of. The problem is that we don't know what's in it so it could be a good thing or possibly a bad, I try to avoid that gamble if I could. I agree though, it's probably not worse than Carrageenan and other questionable ingredients.

But hey, we humans eat Foie Gras and we are still living lol. Just don't eat too much of that though, everything in moderation.
 
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mizzely

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We have to work within our means. We can always want better but you are not being a bad owner by knowing your limitations. I went through something similar and racked up a few hundred in credit card debt trying to get my cats onto "the best" foods. And it did not do them or me any favors.

The best food is one your cat likes, that they do well on, and you can afford. Like you said, there isn't a truly perfect food.

I don't know what your budget is, but here are some that are cheaper that seem to fit your criteria of no fish and no carageenan.

These are all on Chewy

I and love and you whasically rabbit
Sheba pates
Tiny Tiger Turkey Pate
American Journey Pates (come in 12 oz cans too)
Holistic Select Pate 12 oz cans
Miko (not pate)
 

Willowy

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Only degraded carageenan is dangerous, and they aren't allowed to use it in food products.

There's no part of an animal that's bad for cats, so I don't have a problem with by-products either.
 

lokhismom

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A few reasonably price foods without carrageenan

Whole Earth Farms
American Journey
Tiny Tiger (Only the turky pate is fish free)
Nutro Natural Choice (only some of their flavors are carrageenan free and and they seem to run sales often at Petco, Petsmart)
 

daftcat75

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I think the problem with by-products is that... Some parts could be good for your cat and others might just be something your cat shouldn't have too much of. The problem is that we don't know what's in it so it could be a good thing or possibly a bad, I try to avoid that gamble if I could
The ingredient list for any of the classic flavors is essentially:

Meat, meat broth, liver, meat by-products

If we assume they know the right amount of meat to liver to include, then the by-products falls into the remaining “organs” budget. Sure I would prefer to have the by-products named like heart, kidney, etc. But even skin and connective tissue has something good to offer a cat. Part of the reason why cat food is supplemented, why even homemade is supplemented, is because we are pickier about which by-products to include in their diet than they are.

I’d rather see meat by-products on the label than cranberries, blueberries, peas, and other species-inappropriate fruit and vegetable ingredients. At least I know the by-products are providing nutrients in a form cats can readily digest and assimilate. Whereas any food that lists cranberries in their ingredients, I regard that “food” as merely Krista pre-vomit. Vomit in a can. Just add to cat and watch it fly.

The exception I would have to by-products is if they are listed before the meat and liver. If by-products is first or second ingredient than you should just put that back without a second thought to anything else on the label.
 
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Sammiches

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The ingredient list for any of the classic flavors is essentially:

Meat, meat broth, liver, meat by-products

If we assume they know the right amount of meat to liver to include, then the by-products falls into the remaining “organs” budget. Sure I would prefer to have the by-products named like heart, kidney, etc. But even skin and connective tissue has something good to offer a cat. Part of the reason why cat food is supplemented, why even homemade is supplemented, is because we are pickier about which by-products to include in their diet than they are.

I’d rather see meat by-products on the label than cranberries, blueberries, peas, and other species-inappropriate fruit and vegetable ingredients. At least I know the by-products are providing nutrients in a form cats can readily digest and assimilate. Whereas any food that lists cranberries in their ingredients, I regard that “food” as merely Krista pre-vomit. Vomit in a can. Just add to cat and watch it fly.

The exception I would have to by-products is if they are listed before the meat and liver. If by-products is first or second ingredient than you should just put that back without a second thought to anything else on the label.
Honestly I wouldn't even worry all that much about cranberries, blueberries, or peas. It's the potatoes and corn that's that we should look out for. Well, in my opinion that's the case anyways.
 

LadyLondonderry

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Honestly I wouldn't even worry all that much about cranberries, blueberries, or peas. It's the potatoes and corn that's that we should look out for. Well, in my opinion that's the case anyways.
I agree that potatoes and corn are no-gos, but for some cats, including mine, peas and especially pea protein are indigestible and cause vomiting and diarrhea. By the same token, Sylvie has no trouble with small amounts of berries in her food, but I know that other cats do.
 
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