Wet Food Without Carrageenan Or Guar Gum

Hollis'sMom

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So I am learning that these two ingredients are popular thickening additives in a lot of wet foods and they are not great options. Do you guys make sure what you feed your cat doesn't have these? I'll admit, my new addition thinks Meow Mix Simple Servings wet food is pretty fantastic, but I know that is not a good option when compared to many other choices. We have tried more expensive brands, but in beef and she projectile vomited the beef up both times. Apparently it produced cancerous tumors in mice :bawling: It is also in lots of human foods too. :sigh:
 

KarenKat

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Personally I don’t feed carrageenan, and if I can avoid gums then I will.

The brands I can think of immediately with no gums:
Caru
Feline Natural
First Mate / Kasiks
Rawz
Tiki Cat after Dark
Ziwipeak
 

daftcat75

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I'm less concerned with guar gum than I am with carageenan or agar agar which seems to be related to carageenan. I think. In any case, agar-agar causes my Krista to crouch in pain afterwards so that's a no-go. Xanthan gum is one that runs through my Krista like a river so we avoid that one too.

Krista has IBD. I feed her Rawz now which uses zero gums or thickeners. Unless you count fenugreek seeds. They use fenugreek seeds as a natural gum alternative. Krista loves Rawz and positively thrives on it.
 

daftcat75

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Most of the Tiki Cat fish flavors don't use gums either. I don't know about their chicken flavors because chicken is a no-go protein for Krista. I really wish they would produce a single protein food in turkey or duck because the fish flavors were invaluable in keeping her eating through her pancreatitis when she didn't feel much like eating.
 

bitkit

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I think petco just changed their recipe for their WholeHearted line, no gums or carrageenan. The tops of the label are white.

Ingredients
Turkey Broth, Turkey, Chicken, Dried Egg Product, Pea Protein, Tapioca Starch, Sunflower Oil, Tricalcium Phosphate, Fish Oil, Salt, Natural Flavor, Potassium Chloride, Taurine, Magnesium Sulfate, Dried Celery, Zinc Oxide, Reduced Iron, Vitamin E Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Niacin Supplement, Manganese Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source Of Vitamin K Activity).
 

lisahe

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I definitely skip the carrageenan but, like daftcat75, I'm okay with guar gum, which even Dr. Pierson seems to think is okay. I'd rather not feed agar-agar ingredients but have recently been feeding a couple cans of food with agar-agar ingredients a week. I don't I'll keep doing that, though, for various reasons.

Unfortunately, some of the foods mentioned here that don't have carrageenan or guar gum -- the Weruva slide 'n' serve and the Wholehearted -- may have other objectionable ingredients. The Weruva has potato (which adds carbs and makes some cats vomit) as well as two other kinds of gums. And the Wholehearted has pea protein and tapioca starch: I'm very much against the use of vegetables to raise protein levels in cat foods and tapioca is a pretty starchy thickener that can add substantial carby calories. (Many of Weruva's and Soulistic's foods have relatively high carbs due to tapioca.)

It really bothers me that thickeners like these, which aren't optimal ingredients for cats to eat, are even added to foods. It forces us to chose the ingredients we're willing to put up with, either regularly or in limited quantities, and those we simply refuse to feed. In our case, I'll feed limited gums (the cats only get one canned meal a day) but only feed very occasional treat meals with something starchy, usually a Soulistic or Weruva food with a tapioca gravy that I drain off.

I know not everybody is this strict with ingredients. But after our previous cat had IBD and I learned about optimal diets for carnivorous cats, we adopted two cats with some digestive quirks. They do best on a very meaty, low-carb diet that eliminates or limits potentially inflammatory ingredients. The thickeners in canned foods (whether they're gums, potato, tapioca, or legumes) are one of the big reasons we feed the cats mostly commercial raw and cooked homemade food, plus just one canned meal a day.
 

bitkit

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I think petco just changed their recipe for their WholeHearted line, no gums or carrageenan. The tops of the label are white.
I tried two versions and my cats who aren't picky eaters aren't fans. I'm going to return these.
 

Sallysoo

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The popular Ciao treats contains carrageenan. I was concern initially but after knowing many cat owners give this treat as cats love them, I do buy them and give once a while. Do any of you give Ciao treats?
 

Melania Maria

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Hello,
What do think of Tapioca starch? I am trying to avoid that in the wet food for my cat? Any more sudgestions on cat food without gums or Tapioca?
All the best
 

lisahe

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Tapioca's carby so I try not to feed too much of it, though there are a few foods with it that our cats really like so I feed them occasionally.
 
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