Is grain free really better?

Zylalove18

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I’m curious about grain free cat food. I’ve never thought about cat food in the past with other cats but my cat Zyla is the first kitty I’ve had since I moved out on my own and her health is important to me. I bought a grain free cat food today and I’m nervous she won’t like it. I feed her a combo of wet and dry. Does anyone feed their cats grain free? Are they a marketing scam or is their truth to how healthy they are?
 

Kieka

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Cats are obligated carnivores, they need a high protein, moderate fat and low carb diet. Grain free food on the surface would appear to fit this need except that in most cases the manufacturer replaces grains with other carbs so there is nearly the same carb content. Making grain free kind of a scam in the sense that it doesn't accomplish what you might think it does. Cats don't need grains so grain free does have the benefit of taking the grains cats don't need out of their diet. Grains can lead to weight retention around the midsection, diabetes and all sorts of health issues. But they also don't needs peas and potatoes that are the common substitute.

IMO, grain free is just a nice indicator to help narrow down your food choice but it isn’t a sign of healthy or best food choices. What we need on cat food is a carb indicator and to look for low carb cat foods. Wet diets, you can pretty much start with grain free and read labels for ones without peas or potatoes. Dry food, in order to be shelf stable it has to have something as a binder which usually ends up being a carb. Tiki Cat, Dr Elseys and Born Again all have low carb dry foods but they end up being fairly pricey. Your cat will eat less of them because they aren't carb heavy but the cost is still higher.

Really, freeze dried raw is the most biologically appropriate commercial option out there. They tend to have minimal fillers and just eat plus vitamins and minerals. But not everyone can afford that so some concessions have to be met. And, of course, your cat has to be willing to eat it. Kibble addicts do exist and some cats are picky about texture. It doesn't matter how biologically appropriate a diet is if you cant afford it or your cat won't eat it.
 
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Zylalove18

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Cats are obligated carnivores, they need a high protein, moderate fat and low carb diet. Grain free food on the surface would appear to fit this need except that in most cases the manufacturer replaces grains with other carbs so there is nearly the same carb content. Making grain free kind of a scam in the sense that it doesn't accomplish what you might think it does. Cats don't need grains so grain free does have the benefit of taking the grains cats don't need out of their diet. Grains can lead to weight retention around the midsection, diabetes and all sorts of health issues. But they also don't needs peas and potatoes that are the common substitute.

IMO, grain free is just a nice indicator to help narrow down your food choice but it isn’t a sign of healthy or best food choices. What we need on cat food is a carb indicator and to look for low carb cat foods. Wet diets, you can pretty much start with grain free and read labels for ones without peas or potatoes. Dry food, in order to be shelf stable it has to have something as a binder which usually ends up being a carb. Tiki Cat, Dr Elseys and Born Again all have low carb dry foods but they end up being fairly pricey. Your cat will eat less of them because they aren't carb heavy but the cost is still higher.

Really, freeze dried raw is the most biologically appropriate commercial option out there. They tend to have minimal fillers and just eat plus vitamins and minerals. But not everyone can afford that so some concessions have to be met. And, of course, your cat has to be willing to eat it. Kibble addicts do exist and some cats are picky about texture. It doesn't matter how biologically appropriate a diet is if you cant afford it or your cat won't eat it.
I tried feeding her a raw diet a month ago, I forget the brand but it was in a pet store in the freezer aisle. It was meat and veggies no other ingredients. She refused to eat it! She’s very picky. You’d think she would love pure meat lol. Thank you for your reply! I’m glad you answered
 
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Zylalove18

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Cats are obligated carnivores, they need a high protein, moderate fat and low carb diet. Grain free food on the surface would appear to fit this need except that in most cases the manufacturer replaces grains with other carbs so there is nearly the same carb content. Making grain free kind of a scam in the sense that it doesn't accomplish what you might think it does. Cats don't need grains so grain free does have the benefit of taking the grains cats don't need out of their diet. Grains can lead to weight retention around the midsection, diabetes and all sorts of health issues. But they also don't needs peas and potatoes that are the common substitute.

IMO, grain free is just a nice indicator to help narrow down your food choice but it isn’t a sign of healthy or best food choices. What we need on cat food is a carb indicator and to look for low carb cat foods. Wet diets, you can pretty much start with grain free and read labels for ones without peas or potatoes. Dry food, in order to be shelf stable it has to have something as a binder which usually ends up being a carb. Tiki Cat, Dr Elseys and Born Again all have low carb dry foods but they end up being fairly pricey. Your cat will eat less of them because they aren't carb heavy but the cost is still higher.

Really, freeze dried raw is the most biologically appropriate commercial option out there. They tend to have minimal fillers and just eat plus vitamins and minerals. But not everyone can afford that so some concessions have to be met. And, of course, your cat has to be willing to eat it. Kibble addicts do exist and some cats are picky about texture. It doesn't matter how biologically appropriate a diet is if you cant afford it or your cat won't eat it.
I also just saw you have a snowshoe kitty too!!
 

Kieka

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Freeze dried raw would be like Stella and Chewys, Freeze-Dried Raw for Cats - Stella & Chewy's Pet Food, which is an add water type of raw. I keep these on hand and crumble it on my guys wet food from time to time. Similar to the frozen raw commercial but shelf stable without as much in added carbs. I personally feed a mix of tiki cat and natures variety dry plus wet food twice a day. But my guys are sensitive to poultry which greatly limits my options. I do a mix of foods to keep my guys from locking onto one flavor or having issues when manufacturers change formulas.
 

LTS3

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Most cats don't see raw meat as food because they've never had it before. They're used to eating dry and canned food. You would need to slowly transition a cat to raw food.

Freeze dried raw is usually more acceptable than frozen raw since it's kind of like dry food when dry and canned food with rehydrated.

Many people feed grain-free since cats have no use for grains in the diet. There's TCS article on grain-free diets:


There has been discussions recently about grain-free diets causing heart issues in dogs. Whether the same is true for cats isn't really known. TCS has some threads on the topic:

 

sidneykitty

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To be honest, I am not sure grain-free is any better. It comes off purely as a marketing scheme to me. Most of the foods (dry at least) that are "grain-free" contain a high amount of potatoes, peas, lentils or sweet potatoes. I think I've also seen chickpeas in one food. Which to me is not any better or worse than a grain.

As far as I am aware, though I am unable to find a source right now, there was only a single study that linked dog heart issues with a grain-free diet and that study was funded by Purina, who happens to make a lot of foods containing grains so its in their best financial interests to find a result that makes grain-free food sound bad. So, I am skeptical of these findings.

I was recently considering trying to find a better dry food for my cat and stumbled on this page: CatfoodDB's Unbiased List Of The Best Dry Cat Foods which has info on protein, carb and fat percentages of the food. To me, it makes more sense to choose a food with higher protein percentage (unless you cat requires a lower protein diet for health reasons) than to just go with a "grain free" one. And, of course, this is only one website using one method so there may be other options/opinions out there.
 

DreamerRose

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I take all of this grain-free stuff with a grain of salt. Some documentary on PBS about cats said that they can tolerate a certain amount of "people" food like potatoes, peas, etc. with no problem. Since cats have been domesticated for thousands of years, their digestive systems have gotten a little longer, and they are able to digest this type of food. Thought this was interesting. Mine have done well on anything I feed them.
 

ElocinSWIP

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If I leave bread out my cats will rip through the plastic and start eating it- they seem to think grains are essential LOL.

I think grain free is mostly just hype. Cats need a primary meat based diet. Potatoes vs rice- I mean, neither is really essential for them.
 
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