My cat is picky and had issues with vomiting until I switched to wellness core and merrick pate. These are what she likes and does not throw up. How bad is carageen compared to all the stuff in cheaper foods?
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My cats food choices have carageen!
- Thread starter bonepicker
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There has been a debate as to whether carrageenan causes inflammation in the gut. It is considered a "natural" ingredient but there is still some evidence it isn't good for animals or people.
You may have to keep trying to find other foods your cat likes that don't have carrageenan in them.
You may have to keep trying to find other foods your cat likes that don't have carrageenan in them.
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- #3
I see that nutro natural choice does not have it is that comparable grade food to wellness and merrick? It never used to be but has it changed (Cannot give grain)
If you want an all-meat canned food, maybe you should try Thrive Complete.
It's a 100% meat complete cat food (and not complementary as many others).
As far as I know it's quite a niche, in Finland at least. Only one pet store near me carries their brand, but my cats absolutely love it and they lick their bowls clean.
No grain, no vegetables, no additives, no carrageenan.. in short: no crap. It even says so on their cans. "0% nonsense."
It's a UK brand, but their site says it is available in U.S. at least, not sure about your specific area, but I'm sure you could find out. Also available via Amazon, apparently.
It's expensive, but worth it.
[Edit] Although maybe I'm not the right person to give you advice, since I have experience with only two brands (next to raw feeding); Thrive and Canagan.
It's a 100% meat complete cat food (and not complementary as many others).
As far as I know it's quite a niche, in Finland at least. Only one pet store near me carries their brand, but my cats absolutely love it and they lick their bowls clean.
No grain, no vegetables, no additives, no carrageenan.. in short: no crap. It even says so on their cans. "0% nonsense."
It's a UK brand, but their site says it is available in U.S. at least, not sure about your specific area, but I'm sure you could find out. Also available via Amazon, apparently.
It's expensive, but worth it.
[Edit] Although maybe I'm not the right person to give you advice, since I have experience with only two brands (next to raw feeding); Thrive and Canagan.
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IMO Nutro Natural Choice is much better than it used to be, and is better than Wellness and Merrick because it has no grains, vegetables, fruit or carrageenan. I recently started feeding it to my Charlie and I'm very happy. It is one of the few wet foods he does not throw up.
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- #6
I will pick up a few cans to see if her highness likes it
But on their website I can see that Nutro Natural Choice has BOTH carrageenan and guar gum as ingredients. And what on earth are "natural flavors?" Why are they added? Doesn't chicken or salmon have a "natural flavor?" Those undefined ingredients always seem icky to me.
I guess some of their flavors do have carrageenan. I've looked at several and none of them have it.
I don't like the vagueness of "natural flavors" either, but you have to pick your battles. Whatever the "natural flavor" is, at least it doesn't seem to make my cat sick (so far).
I also feed Weruva, even though I don't like the starches and xanthan gum they use. It is still one of the best foods on the market, with very few objectionable ingredients.
There is no perfect food, we just have to find what works best for our cats.
ETA: I had never heard of Thrive Complete, but it sounds great, just the kind of thing I've been looking for. I found it on Amazon and Ebay - very expensive, but that appears to be the only way to get it here in the US.
I don't like the vagueness of "natural flavors" either, but you have to pick your battles. Whatever the "natural flavor" is, at least it doesn't seem to make my cat sick (so far).
I also feed Weruva, even though I don't like the starches and xanthan gum they use. It is still one of the best foods on the market, with very few objectionable ingredients.
There is no perfect food, we just have to find what works best for our cats.
ETA: I had never heard of Thrive Complete, but it sounds great, just the kind of thing I've been looking for. I found it on Amazon and Ebay - very expensive, but that appears to be the only way to get it here in the US.
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Oh, I am not saying the food is bad, per se, just trying to point out that you need to read every can seperately, not only because the ingredients differ, but also because petfood companies can just change their ingredients without notifying anyone. Good petfood doesn't necessarily stay good.
But like I said, Thrive will always be my first pick of wet food, because it has nothing added. The only vegetable-ish thing they add (to some varieties) is sunflower oil (omega 6). As far as I know that is not a harmful ingredient, unless it's in high doses. In either case, my cats have no trouble with it.
Honestly though, I still check the cans everytime I buy them to make sure nothing has changed.
The ingredients of the Thrive look almost identical to Tiki Cat/Gourmet Carnivore http://www.petropics.com/PukaPuka.htm
Ah yes, I actually looked into Tiki Cat. One of the few I was really interested in, but they don't have it at my pet store.
But you are right, it's almost identical! It's really good food, my cats do great on it and they love it so much, they come running and meowing when they even hear me open the door of the cabinets.
I think I did read somewhere that it's available in the U.S.. Let me check that and get back to you. I have also seen it on eBay and Amazon, but you are right, extremely expensive. On eBay they charge almost 2 pounds per can. Ridiculous. That's over twice as much as they charge at our pet shop. You'd have to buy in bulk to even make it worth the shipping costs..
I'll try to find out. But in the meantime, like Krysta said, it's pretty much similar to Tiki Cat. No vegetables, no grains, no additives, 100% meat. Maybe Tiki Cat is available in your region without having to overpay on eBay/Amazon?
Edit: Yeah, you are right. Apparently it IS available in the U.S. and what they meant by that was Amazon. Or through the Thrive website, you can actually order there as well, they ship internationally to the EU, the US and even Asia. It would be cheaper than eBay/Amazon (£0.98 instead of £1.99) but I cannot find anything about the shipping costs as they calculate that depending on the size of your order. I think Tiki Cat would be better for you as it's available in the US.
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Fed this to my cat for the first time today and he gobbled it down. Will definitely add it to his rotation. Happy that I found another that is carregeenan free.
Does it come in big cans?
The Nutro Natural Choice only comes in 3 oz cans
Our cats like Tiki, too. They also eat Nutro Natural Choice every night: I rotate between three (minced chicken, sliced turkey, chunky chicken) that don't have carrageenan though occasionally give them the duck soft loaf, which they love. Nutro seems to be their favorite canned food and I feed it at night because it's caloric and they always eat it, meaning nobody gets woken up!
Oddly, when a Nutro rep was at a local pet food store this summer, I mentioned carrageenan and he had no idea what I was talking about.
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My girl only eats pate, will not eat chunks & shreds. Does nutro natural choice have that?Our cats like Tiki, too. They also eat Nutro Natural Choice every night: I rotate between three (minced chicken, sliced turkey, chunky chicken) that don't have carrageenan though occasionally give them the duck soft loaf, which they love. Nutro seems to be their favorite canned food and I feed it at night because it's caloric and they always eat it, meaning nobody gets woken up!
Yes, they do. They have the soft loaf and the chunky loaf. Both are pates. The chunky loaf has small bits in it. I got a great deal on NNC from Wag.com. They had a code for it -NUTROCANS that took 25% off and another code 10FOOD I think that took $10 off $30 + for new customers so I got it for .79 a can. I got 2 cases and a case of Natural Balance pouches that also came out to .79 each with the 10FOOD code. I also got free shipping since it was over $30.00. 48 cans and 24 pouches shipped was $56.88. The girls love the minced and sliced varieties and I use that as a topper for foods that they don't like on their own like the NIV pates. They also absolutely love the Pride by Instinct flavors, especially the rabbit, chicken, duck and lamb. I stay away from the seafood varieties except on occasion
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