Cranberry as an ingredient in cat food

I finally had a chance to make it to the pet store tonight. I would have liked to have had more time to prepare for the trip, but it didn't work out that way and I had to go by memory as far as which ingredients to avoid, which brands to look for, etc. All things I read on the forums here. I picked up some Wellness Grain Free wet food - it was one of the only brands I could for sure recognize that I had read about on the forums. I also got the Wellness Grain Free dry food for my kitties. I assumed the expensive brands were at least "supposed" to be healthier, so I started checking the labels. I saw a lot of peas and carrots and sweet potatoes - stuff I've learned that cats can't digest, so I passed over those ones. But something else I noticed was a lot of cranberries, and even blueberries in certain brands. I know cranberries are good for human urinary tract health, but the cranberries in the cat food weren't even in the varieties that were specially marked as urinary health blends. Is that what it's for? Or is it just another filler like peas and carrots? I just didn't remember seeing cranberry mentioned on the forums here, either as good or bad.

As far as the wellness goes - I didn't read the label close enough (was a little rushed) - and forgot that it's pate and my kitties don't like pate. Either way, Miles thought the venison smelled yummy (I must admit, it does smell just like real deer meat), and he ate a small amount of it. River only at one bite before she moved on, but she kept coming back to sniff at it like it smelled good to her. Mike, our recently adopted feral/stray, is the resident garbage disposal and quickly ate it all up. Another side note that just popped into my head - feral cats don't eat deer, so is deer meat cat food even a good idea, nutritionally? I suppose they also don't eat beef in nature, so maybe that was a silly question lol

RIccaDawn said:

But something else I noticed was a lot of cranberries, and even blueberries in certain brands. I know cranberries are good for human urinary tract health, but the cranberries in the cat food weren't even in the varieties that were specially marked as urinary health blends. Is that what it's for? Or is it just another filler like peas and carrots? I just didn't remember seeing cranberry mentioned on the forums here, either as good or bad.

. Another side note that just popped into my head - feral cats don't eat deer, so is deer meat cat food even a good idea, nutritionally? I suppose they also don't eat beef in nature, so maybe that was a silly question lol

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Actually, after I had to have surgery last year to shatter an 11mm kidney stone that lodged half-way down I was given a list of things to not eat or drink and cranberry juice was on there.  As were orange juice, dark green vegatables and carbonated drinks.

Feral cats might eat deer if they found a dead one.

Feral cats would eat just about any kind of meat if they came across a dead "it." :lol3: Feral cats eat small rodents and birds, but they don't make "mouse" or "vole" food for cats. :lol3: They do just fine with the proteins people eat. :nod:

The cranberry IS in there to help lower urine pH. :nod: A number of people use it as a supplement to help prevent crystals in their kitties. I don't know if it WORKS. I've never used it or researched it.

The brands I fed my cats before I started making my own (raw) food were:

EVO 95%
Nature's Variety (has peas and carrots, but they're easy to pick out)
Some Weruva (they have a lot of fishy stuff, and I liked to limit that. They also have some with lots of veggies. I got the one with only chicken)
Before Grain
Ziwipeak
and the Wellness Grain free stuff.

That's what I had in the wet food rotation. :nod: It's actually best not to feed them kibble, unless it's a really small portion of their total daily food intake.

...the other mostly meat foods are:

Earthborn Holistic
Avoderm

And though these are "fishy" foods, they're good once a week or so:

Some of the Tiki Cat and some of the Best Friends Feline.

LDG said:

The brands I fed my cats before I started making my own (raw) food were:
EVO 95%
Nature's Variety (has peas and carrots, but they're easy to pick out)
Some Weruva (they have a lot of fishy stuff, and I liked to limit that. They also have some with lots of veggies. I got the one with only chicken)
Before Grain
Ziwipeak
and the Wellness Grain free stuff.
 

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Yeah that's the list I needed to make before I visited the pet store tonight! I did remember Evo, but I didn't actually see any at the store. And Nature's Variety I thought I remember until I got to the store and realized that half the brands have "nature" in their name. I remember seeing Nature's Choice or something similar and then I got confused and couldn't remember if that's what I was looking for or not. Wellness was the only one I saw that I actually *for sure* remembered as being a good one from the site here. And my cats don't eat much dry food, but they do eat a little, so I figured I might as well have a decent brand to feed them.

LDG said:

The cranberry IS in there to help lower urine pH.

A number of people use it as a supplement to help prevent crystals in their kitties. I don't know if it WORKS. I've never used it or researched it.

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I've researched it, Laurie, back a few years ago when my boy, Abby, suffered a major bout with FLUTD/IC.

Cranberry is not processed by kitties, as it contains benzoic acid, which cats lack the pathways to metabolize. Benzoic acid has been shown to cause health issues and even death in kitties. Cranberries also contain Salicylic acid--that is similar to aspirin--another negative. As an alternative: The active ingredient in cranberries is D-Mannose, a simple sugar, so you could consider giving D-Mannose to a kitty who is prone to urinary tract infections (UTIs), and FLUTD, IC, etc. It works by attracting the E. coli bacteria to bind with itself rather than with the bladder wall; the bacteria can then be passed with urination. E. coli is the most common bacteria causing UTIs in kitties, so D-Mannose can be quite beneficial. Klebsiella is another bacteria D-Mannose is effective at fighting. Cranberries, not so much--it is just another cat food ingredient that causes more problems for kitties in the long (or short!) run. Including cranberries in cat food conjures up thoughts of how helpful they may be for humans, so a kitty's human then extrapolates this to cranberries being helpful for kitties--which is just not true because kitties can not process cranberry. Just another marketing ploy by pet food companies in my book.

Interesting info here about cranberries (just scroll down on the page): http://petfoodpitfalls.blogspot.com/2007/02/vegetables-and-fruits.html. Also check out this [CRF/CKD] site for info on cranberries and D-Mannose: http://www.felinecrf.org/holistic_treatments.htm#dmannose. Helen has compiled some great info.

I would not feed a food that contained cranberries at all, let alone in a food that is a main staple of their diet. JMO.

If a kitty has urinary problems (which is part of the confounding "why" for cranberries) a good start is to feed a canned or raw food diet that contains real meat, which is naturally acidifying.

D-Mannose, for medicinal purposes, can be added to food (or given separately) for kitties that suffer from urinary problems. D-M, in combination with other supplements and a diet change, the addition of breast meat, as it naturally contains more methionine [a natural acidifier], in our raw food. Previously I was feeding ground chicken thighs/bones/organs (was a quite popular raw diet back then) now it is the whole chicken, etc. This modification to a more "whole prey" raw diet also helped my sweet red-headed boy.

Just sayin', in a somewhat digressive fashion, that there is no need for cranberries in cat food and should be avoided if possible because it can cause more problems than it is worth.

Wow, that is scary.  My doctor said that cranberries are too acidic for me to drink juice, but I never thought why they were too acidic.

catspaw66 said:

Wow, that is scary.  My doctor said that cranberries are too acidic for me to drink juice, but I never thought why they were too acidic.

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Apples are like that to me. If I drink apple juice every day, I will have multiple cankersores by the end of the week.

The list of foods to NOT look for is growing in my mind than catnip in the ground.

WhollyCat said:

I've researched it, Laurie, back a few years ago when my boy, Abby, suffered a major bout with FLUTD/IC.

Cranberry is not processed by kitties, as it contains benzoic acid, which cats lack the pathways to metabolize. Benzoic acid has been shown to cause health issues and even death in kitties. Cranberries also contain Salicylic acid--that is similar to aspirin--another negative. As an alternative: The active ingredient in cranberries is D-Mannose, a simple sugar, so you could consider giving D-Mannose to a kitty who is prone to urinary tract infections (UTIs), and FLUTD, IC, etc. It works by attracting the E. coli bacteria to bind with itself rather than with the bladder wall; the bacteria can then be passed with urination. E. coli is the most common bacteria causing UTIs in kitties, so D-Mannose can be quite beneficial. Klebsiella is another bacteria D-Mannose is effective at fighting. Cranberries, not so much--it is just another cat food ingredient that causes more problems for kitties in the long (or short!) run. Including cranberries in cat food conjures up thoughts of how helpful they may be for humans, so a kitty's human then extrapolates this to cranberries being helpful for kitties--which is just not true because kitties can not process cranberry. Just another marketing ploy by pet food companies in my book.

Interesting info here about cranberries (just scroll down on the page): http://petfoodpitfalls.blogspot.com/2007/02/vegetables-and-fruits.html. Also check out this [CRF/CKD] site for info on cranberries and D-Mannose: http://www.felinecrf.org/holistic_treatments.htm#dmannose. Helen has compiled some great info.

I would not feed a food that contained cranberries at all, let alone in a food that is a main staple of their diet. JMO. :rub:

If a kitty has urinary problems (which is part of the confounding "why" for cranberries) a good start is to feed a canned or raw food diet that contains real meat, which is naturally acidifying.

D-Mannose, for medicinal purposes, can be added to food (or given separately) for kitties that suffer from urinary problems. D-M, in combination with other supplements and a diet change, the addition of breast meat, as it naturally contains more methionine [a natural acidifier], in our raw food. Previously I was feeding ground chicken thighs/bones/organs (was a quite popular raw diet back then) now it is the whole chicken, etc. This modification to a more "whole prey" raw diet also helped my sweet red-headed boy.

Just sayin', in a somewhat digressive fashion, that there is no need for cranberries in cat food and should be avoided if possible because it can cause more problems than it is worth.

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THANK YOU JULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Really, thank you for sharing!!!!

LDG said:

THANK YOU JULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Really, thank you for sharing!!!!

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Aw...you are most welcome, Laurie. Big ole right back at ya!

Good to know! I thought cranberries lowered urine PH? But anywho, vegetables and fruits really don't have a place in pet food.

Wow .... Both the canned and commercial raw I've been feeding contain cranberries, been feeding my two cats these foods for over a year now. Thanks for the info.

LisaMarie12 said:

Wow .... Both the canned and commercial raw I've been feeding contain cranberries, been feeding my two cats these foods for over a year now. Thanks for the info.

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Ugh.  Thanks for bumping this.  I always figured the veg in the Primal was useless but mostly harmless.  This doesn't sound like quite the case here.

2bcat said:

 
Ugh.  Thanks for bumping this.  I always figured the veg in the Primal was useless but mostly harmless.  This doesn't sound like quite the case here.

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Yeah, I know re: Primal, I'm really frustrated about this (saw a comment about cranberries from another TCS member on another thread). I thought the same -- cats don't need those veggies / fruits but that the company utilized them instead of synthetic vitamins and minerals. I didn't see that much more stool waste with those vegs/fruits.

Now I see that cranberries is on the second line of their ingredient list. NV's canned food (except the LID canned) uses cranberries but they are near the bottom of the list. Still - it all makes me wonder and I don't feel comfortable with it.  I'm also now not entirely sure about the bone content in Primal - we've got to take our Molly for a vet visit b/c she has lost weight on Primal, maybe too much and I'm wondering now if it's calcium related - too much calcium.

They've not been thrilled with Stella & Chewy's but if I "doctor it up" with FD treats like Pure Bites or Bravo, they'll eat it.  Going to continue with U-Stew to replace their canned, what a very tangled web this food industry weaves ....