Many of the high quality canned foods I am looking at these days have some type of potato in them. Last I heard, potatoes weren't good for cats, and I can't find much online, strangely. Can anyone speak to this? Thanks!
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So, potatoes?
- Thread starter rooneyandmuldoo
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Potatoes like peas are an unnecessary starchy vegetable filler that some companies use so that they can claim the food is "grain free." Potatoes simply replace those grains and keep the carb percentage too high for our obligate carnivores. 
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- #3
Thank you for the response. And so quick! So you are saying that potatoes are not toxic, just unnecessary? I am looking at Merrick, and was disconcerted to find that different types of meat had different types of potatoes in them. I have three cats, and not much money :-( . My 16-year-old Maine Coon was just diagnosed with kidney disease. I can't believe the vet wants me to feed him dry Science Diet K/D. Time for a new vet. Anyway, so much for the "kitty crack" in the morning. Has to be all canned, no fish. But potatoes? Thanks for the info!
With a kidney cat, you want to look for low phosphorous, quality protein foods. There is a comparison chart on www.catinfo.org that helps you evaluate foods.
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- #5
Thank you! I'll check it out.
One of our cats seems to be sensitive to potato -- it seems to make her vomit early in the morning -- and I agree: potato is getting tough to avoid! The list on Catinfo.org is great because it includes protein, carbs, and phosphorous.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Peas are also one that gets used a lot for cheap filler that isn't a grain. From what I have seen a number of cats are sensitive to peas so now I guess the companies are using potatoes. Surprisingly Natures Variety Instinct which is one of if not the most expensive canned foods puts peas in their food.
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- #8
I've noticed that about Nature's Variety Instinct. Wish I had the funds to not have to worry about cost. But I did try Nature's Variety Instinct on them and they don't really seem to like it much (thank goodness!). Also have tried Merrick, which they liked okay, and which I may be buying some more of, Tiki, Weruva, Blue Buffalo Wilderness and a few others I can't remember. They wouldn't hardly eat the Blue Buffalo. I used to feed them Soulistics, for quite a while. But most of their flavors are fish. Shame, cause that is really high quality food, in my opinion. I am going to start Wellness in the big cans, many because of lower cost. They aren't real crazy about it, but they will eat it, for the most part. I'm actually thinking about buying beef and chicken gravy to mix in, because I suspect they would like it a lot more that way. Thanks to you and LisaHE for the information. This is so confusing!
Good cat foods aren't cheap! Our moderately picky cats eat some of the foods you list: Tiki chicken (the one with egg, too, but that has higher phosphorous), Weruva (only Cats in the Kitchen poultry because most of the regular Weruva has potato), plus occasionally Soulistic chicken in pumpkin, in the pouch. The only Nature's Variety Instinct I've tried on them that they've liked have been turkey and duck. They hated Blue Buffalo Wilderness! And they've liked some Wilderness Core but I'm cutting back on that because of carrageenan. (Some of those are also very fairly high-carb.) I feed them Hound & Gatos lamb, too, plus some Nutro Natural Choice.
I feed them quite a bit (about 1/3 to 1/2 their diet) of raw food, mostly Primal (frozen and freeze-dried) but some Rad Cat, Nature's Variety, and Stella & Chewy's, too. Some of those are low-phosphorous. The cats are young (about a year and three months) and healthy but they're Siamese mixes with tender stomachs that don't like much carbohydrate so I'm pretty careful about what I feed them. Our vet is also big on never feeding cats too much phosphorous (or fish other than salmon) so I watch all that, too. With the help of the charts on Catinfo.org. One other thing: don't be shy when you go to pet food stores! I've gotten a tremendous amount of great advice about diet and foods from very informed cat valets, including a vet tech who works at a Petco.
Sorry if that's TMI!
Are you talking about regular gravy for humans? If so, I would be VERY cautious about doing this because they will be too high in sodium plus may contain onion and garlic powder.
Also, gravies are commonly made with flour and/or corn starch for thickening.Are you talking about regular gravy for humans? If so, I would be VERY cautious about doing this because they will be too high in sodium plus may contain onion and garlic powder.
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- #12
I am amazed at how many kind, helpful people there are replying to my question(s). Thanks to all of you. I am so glad you warned me about using human gravy on my cats' food. I have to admit that I didn't even think about the fact that it might have onions and/or garlic, not to mention the sodium. Thank you for helping me avoid a major blunder.
I gave them some more of the regular Wellness food, beef and chicken. They seemed to like it better this time. They seem to like beef cat food more than chicken (and they hate turkey). Perhaps because they haven't had much beef in the past. I don't know... Anyway, thank you one and all. I appreciate your time and concern.
Susan (Jinx, Boris and Eddie)
I gave them some more of the regular Wellness food, beef and chicken. They seemed to like it better this time. They seem to like beef cat food more than chicken (and they hate turkey). Perhaps because they haven't had much beef in the past. I don't know... Anyway, thank you one and all. I appreciate your time and concern.
Susan (Jinx, Boris and Eddie)
