Bananas, Kelp, & Alfalfa, oh my!

chasetheblue · Jan 28, 2014

I'm in the process of switching my girls onto wet food and went to get some options today to start trying with them.

So I'm reading the labels on all of the cans, and I pick one up and the third ingredient on the list is... bananas!? Can cats eat bananas? Are they good for them? I gave that food a pass because I couldn't imagine why there would be bananas in cat food.

They also sold kelp and alfalfa in powdered form as nutritional supplements. Thoughts?

I ended up picking up four cans to try out. The first can went over VERY well with Cairo (who was so excited she forgot how to jump up on the dresser? lol. She ran back and forth at the foot of it yelling like crazy and standing on her back legs, but wouldn't jump up. This is their normal feeding spot) and Miami ate a few bites before losing interest. It was a "shredded meat" texture so maybe she'll like one of the other cans better.

lamiatron · Jan 28, 2014

when transitioning kitties into a wet diet, its best to start with a pate style wet food.

i'm not sure what kind of cat food has bananas in it either, and the kelp and alfalfa?? i don't think cats need that AT ALL in their diet. They need protein and moisture. NO grains, and NO veggies/fruits. Stuff like kelp and alfalfa don't have the same effect on kitty as they might on us. They don't need veggies in their diet at all. So if i were you, I'd consider a pate style food, one that is preferably grain free.

Cheap- grain free pates to try out (that my cats like):

Fancy Feast Classic pate

Sheba Pate (my cats fiend for this stuff)

there is also Friskies, the pate style is grain free, but my cats hate this.

Higher end - grain free:

Wellness

Evo

(^^ those are the only ones i've tried, i'm sure there are tons more)

When i was transitioning my cats to wet, i would get them stuff that said "meat shreds, meat bits, grilled, etc" but all my cats seemed to do was link all the gravy off. I had better luck with Pate, and now i give them all types of wet food, as long as its grain free.

i hope others chime in and give you better advise.

laralove · Jan 28, 2014

The non-pate styles tend to have grains. As Lamiatron noted, grain-free is best. When looking for good wet, the first few ingredients should be meat. For me, I think by-products are okay, but not as a first ingredient. More meat than by-products, you know? Cats don't really need fruits and veg, so if you get food with that in it, you want it to be pretty low on the list.

It's good to avoid guar gum and carrageenan, but it's not easy finding foods without at least one of them. It seems almost every brand has something objectionable, which is why some rotate multiple brands so their cats get a little of a few bad ingredients as opposed to a lot of one or two. Before I went raw, I fed Fancy Feast Classics. They're grain-free and the only ingredient I don't like is guar gum.

As for switching the picky, you can try mixing the new in with the old, even if it's wet and dry. Stir 75% old in with 25% new. Gradually, over the course of a few meals, move to 50/50, then 25/75 before going 100% new. That works for some kitties.

chasetheblue · Jan 28, 2014

Yes the other three cans I bought are all grain free, carrageenan free foods. One has guar gum for sure and I can't remember off the top of my head if the other two did. They are pate style too.

This one attracted me because even though there is a little bit of rice in it, there are only five or six ingredients in it at all, the first two being meat and the third being water, so I thought I'd give it a try to see if they would accept it as part of their rotation.

The one we tried today is called schesir and only contains: chicken, beef, water, rice (4%), water, taurine, and vitamins a, d3 and B. I honestly didn't realize it wasn't pate style or u might not have gotten it lol.

The other three cans are:

Hound and gatos
Wild calling
Party animal

All three have guar gum in them but seemed the best otherwise. Avoiding fish and carrageenan left the options limited to begin with!

chasetheblue · Jan 28, 2014

In any case, I don't really need help choosing brands of canned, I was just curious about the kelp, alfalfa, and bananas and if there was any merit to them

lamiatron · Jan 28, 2014

all grains, veggies/fruits are useless to a cats diet. I'm not sure what harm they do other than making a kitty over weight and giving them indigestion or gas, but...they don't help in any way.

chasetheblue · Jan 28, 2014

laralove, thanks for the tips for picky Miami

. If she doesn't like any of the tins, I'll try that. Hoping it was just a texture thing for her.

Willowy · Jan 28, 2014

Do you remember which brand had bananas? That makes me LOL so I'm curious. I've seen kelp, alfalfa, blueberries, etc., but I don't think I've seen bananas yet. . .

chasetheblue · Jan 28, 2014

I don't, I'll look for it again when I go back! My reaction was literally "...***"

the kelp and alfalfa was sold in big tubs of powder to be fed supplementally.

lamiatron · Jan 29, 2014

ChaseTheBLUE said:
I don't, I'll look for it again when I go back! My reaction was literally "...***"

the kelp and alfalfa was sold in big tubs of powder to be fed supplementally.

oh wow! i thought you meant the food you purchased had kelp and alfalfa already in it. lolllll sorry about that. i don't think you would need that stuff for cats, that supplemental thing. most cat foods have the minimum of what kitties require.

Again i just want to reiterate, that what's good/healthy/beneficial for humans, is not the same for cats, dogs or other animals. There are vitamins and supplements for cats that some cats do need to take, for example, lysine (don't know if i spelled that right), for cats who have feline herpes (which would be recommended by a vet if your animal needs it)...and then treats that help with hairball and shedding...and even daily multivitamins in the form of cat treats, but catered for cats.

Since cats get everything they need from their food, if you are interested in supplementing some type of "multivitamin", definitely talk to a vet first to see if you should/would need to do it for your kitties. both my cats are on lysine...Jet has been diagnosed with Feline Herpes, and Charlie, he just likes the treat so i give it to him. The vet said its just immune boosting vitamin so it won't do him any harm lol...and he's a treat HOG

chasetheblue · Jan 29, 2014

Lamiatron said:
oh wow! i thought you meant the food you purchased had kelp and alfalfa already in it. lolllll sorry about that. i don't think you would need that stuff for cats, that supplemental thing. most cat foods have the minimum of what kitties require.

Again i just want to reiterate, that what's good/healthy/beneficial for humans, is not the same for cats, dogs or other animals. There are vitamins and supplements for cats that some cats do need to take, for example, lysine (don't know if i spelled that right), for cats who have feline herpes (which would be recommended by a vet if your animal needs it)...and then treats that help with hairball and shedding...and even daily multivitamins in the form of cat treats, but catered for cats.

Since cats get everything they need from their food, if you are interested in supplementing some type of "multivitamin", definitely talk to a vet first to see if you should/would need to do it for your kitties. both my cats are on lysine...Jet has been diagnosed with Feline Herpes, and Charlie, he just likes the treat so i give it to him. The vet said its just immune boosting vitamin so it won't do him any harm lol...and he's a treat HOG

I know that cats have different needs than humans and other animals

I am not specifically searching for supplements for them, I just came across them in the store and was curious if there was any value to them or if I SHOUlD be feeding them and just didn't know it, since I'd never heard of giving those things to cats before.

Bananas, Kelp, & Alfalfa, oh my!

chasetheblue

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