Poisonous plants/ingredients in cat food

kittylover77

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sharky

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the second one is definatly comprhensive... the first one I agree with yet Typically most of those a vet would tell you are okay
 
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kittylover77

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I was under impression that vets are not very good with nutrition and such.

So I guess its OK to buy foods with those ingredients? Or should they be avoided?
 

sharky

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i avoid them... but my vet who has a Master s in animal nutrition said some of them like alfalfa are a per animal thing...
 

strange_wings

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It doesn't say which type of yucca. Yucca schidigera or mojave yucca, is used in herbal medications, the flowers and fruit can be eaten, and the seeds can be used to make a flour. Yucca schidigera extract is used in many animal feeds to reduce gases produced, mostly in live stock and chickens.
It's added to pet food to reduce gas and feces odor. Not that I think it works, by the way.


There's also many different kinds of yeast. If it's being used as a nutritional supplement it's deactivated yeast, which has a lot of protein and vitamins. This is not the same as active yeast which neither you or your cat should be munching on.

There's probably more detailed information on it's use concerning livestock feed. A google search of whatever ingredient you're curious about by it's common name with "feed" added to the search or by it's scientific name should give decent search results.

It's probably several pages back by now but there was a thread I looked up a bunch of different extracts in a dry food trying to figure out what the long names where.

Most were bacteria extracts used in aiding digestion.
 

kittymonsters

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Thanks for asking this question. I have been finding the same thing and wondering.

Yucca bothered me because I know it can have harmful effects in some horses and people. I don't like adding it for "odor reduction" when I can't find any research that shows it is actually safe for cats. I mean, cat poop stinks....well all poop stinks for that matter, why add something if the research has not been done to make sure it is absolutely safe for ALL cats.

Sadly even though garlic can cause hemolytic anemia in horses (same as in Cats) it is still sold and widely touted as a "holistic fly replelant" for them. It worries me.

Cats are so sensitive, I would really love to see the research that has been done to determine the safety of certain spices and herbs that are added to their diets. Were the safety studies done on other species?

Going to have to do more research. I never though I would be so thankful that I had to take so much Chemistry to get a Biology degree.
 
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kittylover77

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*nods*
So much conflicting information. Thank you for clarifying yucca uses, I had no idea.
I think I am going to avoid all these *iffy* ingredients, and hope that in the future some more research will be put into cat foods.
 
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