Worried about carrageenan or not?

I have a new 4 month old kitten.  One can go crazy researching what to feed him.   I recently lost my 12 yr old cat who I would have had longer if I only had known how important diet was to his health.  For most of his life I feed him grocery bought dry food not thinking how bad it was for him.  I have so many regrets about that.  I miss him very much. 

So now I want to do right by my new baby.

I'm currently feeding him Natures Variety, Tiki Cat, Wellness and Blue Buffalo canned foods.  I also bought one bag of Wellness dry kitten food but once I go thru this bag that will probably be it for dry food.  Its frustrating to do research on cat food because you read so many different opinions.   I thought I was doing well feeding Wellness and Blue Buffalo but then I read that they both contain Carrageenan.  Whether that is a deal breaker to stop feeding them I don't know what do do.

Curious what others are doing

I feed ziwipeak, and I think that are no commercial cat food that is perfect, I had do decide what to do- my cat thrives on zp- so I´ve decided to keep zp, and luckily they have removed the carrageenan! If I felt I had the knowledge and time to feed homemade raw, I probably would. 

But it is a jungle out there, and it so easy to get lost......

I'm so sorry you lost your 12 year old. My boys are both 11 and I wish I knew then what I know now about cat food, so I would've started them on healthier choices from the get-go.
At least your little kitten will benefit from all you've learned. Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about the carrageenan. It's so ubiquitous it makes it difficult to find reasonably priced products without it, and unless your cat has a reaction to it, it's not that bad. Or am I mistaken in that belief?

I agree with you pushylady!

I limit the carrageenan in our cats' diet: their only food with carrageenan is Wellness Core. They split a can of it about once a week. About half their diet is commercial raw (mostly Primal, some Rad Cat and Stella & Chewy's) and there are enough canned foods without carrageenan to give them a good rotation. They get Tiki, Nutro Natural Choice, Hound & Gatos, and Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen. I'm phasing out Nature's Variety Instinct because it's expensive and they don't really like it much.

I, too, learned about cat foods the hard way, through a cat who had IBD and eventually died of what was most likely lymphoma. With our new cats, who are young and healthy but Siamese mixes, who our vet says have a tendency toward digestive problems, I've found it easiest to focus first on finding grain-free, potato-free, low-carb foods, then weed out most everything with the two (additive) ingredients I have the most doubts about: carrageenan and menadione. Fortunately that still leaves plenty of foods and the cats love filling up on raw food, which has turned out to be especially cost-effective because there's almost no waste!

Good luck, Lokhismom, and welcome to The Cat Site!

Thank you everyone for the advice and the welcome.     Right now I'm feeding my little one a combination of Natures Variety, Tiki Cat, Weruva Cats in the Kitchen, Soulistic and Wellness.   Luckily he's not a picky eater so eats them all.  The only one which contains carrageenan is Wellness so I tend to buy that one less.  I wish I could just feed him on Tiki, Weruva and Soulistic but they tend to not fill him up. 

Glad I found this site. I've been spending the last few weeks reading threads and I've learned so much.    I wish I had found it earlier to help my late 12 yr old cat.  I still feel guilty for not knowing how much feeding him dry food was hurting him.  It would have helped if my vet had told me more about his diet but that's another story. 

 They get Tiki, Nutro Natural Choice, Hound & Gatos, and Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen

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I ordered a couple of cans of Hound  & Gatos from Itsapestslife to see how Lokhi likes it.    I wasn't aware Nutro was carrageenan free so will look into that one.  I think my local Petco carries it so that would be terrific if it is.  I wish I could find Hound & Gatos locally.  I checked prices to order cases online and its going to get expensive for me. 

I dont do cat food with grains, carageenan, agar agar or guar gum.  But my cat probably has some IBD.  I feed both cats Nature's Variety rabbit.  It has none of the above and I dont believe the other flavors do either.

Be sure to look at the ingredients on the Nutro Natural Choice because I believe a few of the flavors do have carrageenan, I'm just not remembering which ones....some definitely do NOT though...I know the chunky loaf Turkey doesn't.

Zoocat said:

Be sure to look at the ingredients on the Nutro Natural Choice because I believe a few of the flavors do have carrageenan, I'm just not remembering which ones....some definitely do NOT though...I know the chunky loaf Turkey doesn't.

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Yes, this is correct: some do have it. The ones I consistently feed do not: minced chicken, sliced turkey, chunky chicken. I also occasionally give them duck, which they love, but it has carrageenan.

I would avoid carrageenan at all costs unless you want risk have an IBD kitty when he gets older. There are lots of good commercial cat foods without it.

Some good brands are: Stella &Chewy, Hound & Gatos, Natures Variety Instinct.