Which ingredients and/or manufacturers do you try to avoid when selecting a canned cat food?

cheeser

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Sorry for the dumb questions, but I'm still pretty much a novice re: cat nutrition, and some of the info on the interwebs can be confusing for a newbie like me. ;-)

When you select a canned cat food for your cats, are there any ingredients that you try to avoid?

I understand, of course, that what may be a real deal-breaker for one person might not be for another.  But it would be a huge help if I could at least have an idea re: which ingredients could be a potential problem, and why.  So far I've read about carrageenan, pyrophosphates, and menadione -- as well as foods such as onions, garlic, avocados and tomatoes*.  Any others I need to be aware of?

And I'm not quite sure how to put this delicately, but are there any brands that you tend to shy away from for whatever reason?  Yesterday I was reading some articles about a couple of companies in particular (including some of the brands processed at their facilities), and while I'm assuming that some issues have probably been resolved, I'm guessing that some of them haven't.

Thanks much!

Edited because I hadn't had my caffeine fix yet, and accidentally included methionine in that list of ingredients. :-)
 
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di and bob

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I am extremely interested in this too, I hope an expert will answer you. Right now with my elderly cat I watch for a lower protein count to help with his kidneys, and try to avoid any foods with 'MEAL' (like corn meal) as a top ingredient. I also give him kitten chow to increase his weight., and boy do they vary on protein amounts. Good luck!
 

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Hi, awesome that you're taking the time to research and investigate. I have been obsessively reading here and other places too and http://catinfo.org/?link=cannedfoods was SUPER helpful to me!

For me, I tend not to feed much from the grocery store with the exception of Fancy Feast classics which seem to be pretty acceptable but ymmv as many grocery stores carry great brands. Good luck!
 
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cheeser

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I am extremely interested in this too, I hope an expert will answer you. Right now with my elderly cat I watch for a lower protein count to help with his kidneys, and try to avoid any foods with 'MEAL' (like corn meal) as a top ingredient. I also give him kitten chow to increase his weight., and boy do they vary on protein amounts. Good luck!
Sorry to hear about your kitty's health issues.  Hopefully someone will post some info that will be helpful for you both. :)

To be honest, I was amazed at how many cat foods include some kind of meal as one of the first few ingredients, even some of the pricier brands.  I'm starting to really understand why some people are so passionate about making their own food for their cats!
 
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cheeser

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Hi, awesome that you're taking the time to research and investigate. I have been obsessively reading here and other places too and http://catinfo.org/?link=cannedfoods was SUPER helpful to me!

For me, I tend not to feed much from the grocery store with the exception of Fancy Feast classics which seem to be pretty acceptable but ymmv as many grocery stores carry great brands. Good luck!
Isn't that site wonderful?  I've already learned so much...like how much more I need to learn. ;-)

Unfortunately, some of the info on her cat food chart is a tiny bit out of date, as some products have since been discontinued, and new ones made available.  So I'm creating my own humble little spreadsheet for my own reference, and including some other categories to help me sort things out in my warped little noggin.

And I'm starting to feel somewhat better about feeding Fancy Feast to one of my cats for some of his meals.  We gotta eat, too. ;-)
 

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Sorry for the dumb questions, but I'm still pretty much a novice re: cat nutrition, and some of the info on the interwebs can be confusing for a newbie like me. ;-)

When you select a canned cat food for your cats, are there any ingredients that you try to avoid?

I understand, of course, that what may be a real deal-breaker for one person might not be for another.  But it would be a huge help if I could at least have an idea re: which ingredients could be a potential problem, and why.  So far I've read about carrageenan, pyrophosphates, and menadione -- as well as foods such as onions, garlic, avocados and tomatoes*.  Any others I need to be aware of?

And I'm not quite sure how to put this delicately, but are there any brands that you tend to shy away from for whatever reason?  Yesterday I was reading some articles about a couple of companies in particular (including some of the brands processed at their facilities), and while I'm assuming that some issues have probably been resolved, I'm guessing that some of them haven't.
These aren't dumb questions at all, cheeser. It's very hard to sort through cat food information, particularly given the lack of real consensus on what's best to feed healthy cats so they stay healthy. (All the harder to figure out because all cats are different, health-wise and taste-wise!) Our cats are Siamese mixes and our vet says Siamese tend to get more gastric problems... I've settled on a high-protein, low-carb diet of canned and raw foods.

I avoid: carrageenan, menadione, potato (one cat is sensitive to it and it's a carby filler), all grains, and peas and pea derivatives (carby fillers). I've also limited foods with gums, partly by cat demand and partly because of concerns that they're not needed and may not be especially healthy. I don't feed anything with fish as the primary ingredient. I keep dry matter carbs under 10%... except for Weruva and Soulistic pouches of pumpkin chicken, which the cats love. I just drain most of the sauce.

Avoiding all those ingredients and accounting for one cat's pickiness sure narrows the possibilities!
Seriously, though, this diet has worked very well for the cats: there was a fair bit of vomiting when we adopted them at 10 months old in late 2013 and it's pretty much stopped. I'm not sure if it was only the potato but they do have sensitive little guts!

All that said, every cat is different and I think monitoring your cat is the most important thing to do: watch for vomiting, loose stool, weight gain or loss, and the like so you can spot problems early on. And be persistent if your vet waves them off. We learned that the hard way with our previous cat, when there were far fewer resources on the Interwebs to research for suggestions.

Good luck!
 
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cheeser

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Originally Posted by LisaHE  

I avoid: carrageenan, menadione, potato (one cat is sensitive to it and it's a carby filler), all grains, and peas and pea derivatives (carby fillers). I've also limited foods with gums, partly by cat demand and partly because of concerns that they're not needed and may not be especially healthy. I don't feed anything with fish as the primary ingredient. I keep dry matter carbs under 10%... except for Weruva and Soulistic pouches of pumpkin chicken, which the cats love. I just drain most of the sauce.

Avoiding all those ingredients and accounting for one cat's pickiness sure narrows the possibilities!
Cool!  Thanks bunches. 


When I first started my quest for the Holy Grail of canned cat foods for my guys, I just assumed that anything that said grain-free on the label had to be healthier for them  Oops!

The funny thing is that I used to prepare low-carb meals for a family member with health issues, but it never dawned on me that potatoes and other starchy vegetables aren't so good for cats either. ;-)
 

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Anything made by Proctor and Gamble is not food for my cats. Blue Buffalo is too sketchy, same with Taste Of The Wild and Chicken Soup.
 

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Cool!  Thanks bunches. 


When I first started my quest for the Holy Grail of canned cat foods for my guys, I just assumed that anything that said grain-free on the label had to be healthier for them  Oops!

The funny thing is that I used to prepare low-carb meals for a family member with health issues, but it never dawned on me that potatoes and other starchy vegetables aren't so good for cats either. ;-)
You are welcome! Some cats can probably do fine with more carbs but definitely not our two! (Side benefit: the combo of half raw foods and half low-carb canned means the litter box hardly smells at all.)

And I know what you mean about human and feline nutrition... the funny thing is that I stopped buying human foods with carrageenan, too, after learning more about it. It's in a lot of things, like cream and ice cream. Not most gelato, though!


I think our Holy Grail of canned cat food is probably Tiki Cat. Expensive but worth the price to me because our pickier cat loves it: after all, time is money and I don't have to coax her to eat! (Plus it's healthy, with no banned ingredients.)

I'd love to hear what you finally settle on, whether it's Fancy Feast or something else.
 
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cheeser

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Anything made by Proctor and Gamble is not food for my cats. Blue Buffalo is too sketchy, same with Taste Of The Wild and Chicken Soup.
Thanks oodles!

I've been feeding Blue Buffalo to one of my cats for years, and only recently stopped when I started reading some pretty scary articles.

I have to confess, I'm not really sure what Proctor and Gamble makes these days.  I read awhile back that they had sold off some or all of their pet food brands to Mars.  Or are they still making Eukanuba, Iams, and Natura Pet Products, at least for now?

As for Taste of the Wild and Chicken Soup, are those made at a Diamond facility?  Or am I thinking about Evanger's?  Egad.  I think I'm getting dizzy trying to keep up with who's making what!
 
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cheeser

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Originally Posted by LisaHE  

I think our Holy Grail of canned cat food is probably Tiki Cat. Expensive but worth the price to me because our pickier cat loves it: after all, time is money and I don't have to coax her to eat! (Plus it's healthy, with no banned ingredients.)

I'd love to hear what you finally settle on, whether it's Fancy Feast or something else.
I'm planning to try Tiki Cat as soon as I can get to a store that sells it, hopefully next week. :-)

It's been quite an adventure trying to find some foods for Buddy since his sense of smell is pretty much shot from chronic URIs, and for Oscar, my kibble addicted cat who's only starting to understand the concept of canned food.  So a budget friendly option like Fancy Feast is sure coming in handy for some of their meals, since I'm spending a small fortune trying all of these different brands and flavors!  But like you said earlier, avoiding some potential problem ingredients sure narrows the field down a bit. ;-)
 

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Cheeser,

Like LisaHE, among the premium canned foods (premium generally meaning no byproducts, corn, soy, wheat, dyes or artificial flavors), I avoid grains, potatoes, carrageenan and other gums - locust, guar and xanthan. I don't feed any foods with fish at all. I do mostly freeze dried raw with the cats, about 75% of their diet, which is more cost effective than canned. The remaining 25% I use Nature's Variety since it's gum free. 

I'm not thrilled with peas either as they are starchy, however, NV uses whole peas (and few) which are easy to remove from the food, vs other brands that use e.g., pea fiber, pea flour or pea protein and cannot be removed.

Good luck. :)
 
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lisamarie12

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Originally Posted by LisaHE  

... the funny thing is that I stopped buying human foods with carrageenan, too, after learning more about it. It's in a lot of things, like cream and ice cream. Not most gelato, though!
And soy milk too - yikes! Me too, I have stopped eating foods with carrageenan as I was having "funny tummy issues"! Some soy milks don't use carrageenan but Silk does. :(
 

lisahe

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I'm planning to try Tiki Cat as soon as I can get to a store that sells it, hopefully next week. :-)

It's been quite an adventure trying to find some foods for Buddy since his sense of smell is pretty much shot from chronic URIs, and for Oscar, my kibble addicted cat who's only starting to understand the concept of canned food.  So a budget friendly option like Fancy Feast is sure coming in handy for some of their meals, since I'm spending a small fortune trying all of these different brands and flavors!  But like you said earlier, avoiding some potential problem ingredients sure narrows the field down a bit. ;-)
You could do a whole lot worse than Fancy Feast, cheeser! (And you could spend a bundle of money doing a whole lot worse!) I know that sinking feeling of trying lots of brands and flavors: it gets very expensive and very frustrating. I hope Tiki Cat works out for you.
Like LisaHE, among the premium canned foods (premium generally meaning no byproducts, corn, soy, wheat, dyes or artificial flavors), I avoid grains, potatoes, carrageenan and other gums - locust, guar and xanthan. I don't feed any foods with fish at all. I do mostly freeze dried raw with the cats, about 75% of their diet, which is more cost effective than canned. The remaining 25% I use Nature's Variety since it's gum free. 
I also find that freeze-dried raw -- Primal and Stella & Chewy's -- is more cost-effective than canned. The cats seem to eat smaller portions (relatively speaking) and get fuller, plus it's easy to mix up as much or as little as you want in various combinations. And they consistently like it. I also feed a small portion of Rad Cat (chicken or turkey) every day: the turkey is their absolute favorite food. I seem to have a bargain price for it at a local store and would feed more of it but I don't want them to get tired of it!

Also, about carrageenan, LisaMarie12: I wanted to try almond milk but every brand in the store had carrageenan!
 

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Nothing I've looked at recently had menadione I don't think, but that doesn't mean it isn't still out there and I would avoid.  I've been avoiding carrageenan.  Apart from those I'm simply avoiding fish ingredients and stuff with carbs, or at least most.  Annoyingly, my new batch of Tiki Puka Puka has tuna oil!  Where did that come from?  I'm certain it wasn't in there before.....
 

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Thanks LisaHE.

I'm thinking of discontinuing the canned food altogether as the combo of both FD raw and canned doesn't seem to be agreeing with my female cat. The problem though is that they are allergic to chicken (which limits my choices), however, I haven't given raw chicken a fair chance (e.g., maybe it's the denatured proteins from cooked chicken - canned or cooked chicken) that causes the problems. My little guy is still wearing a bib/small cape to protect his neck, when I remove it to wash it, he starts scratching at his neck.

I remember reading somewhere, maybe it was feline-nutrition.org, that feeding both canned and raw, long term, isn't a good idea. Of course to transition a cat to raw, it's fine, but not long term.

But I guess some cats are fine with this, are your kitties ok with the combo?

I really like Rad Cat and Mr. Mikey loves RC but good golly Ms. Molly won't eat any thawed raw, no matter what I top it with. I'm going to keep trying .... My only concern about the commercial raw I feed, other than RC, is the bone content.

Anyway, have a great day and Cheesy - good luck!! (Btw, Eden Soy and West Soy don't use carrageenan and I think they make almond milk. I don't drink AM b/c there is barely any protein, my diet is mostly vegetarian and I try to get protein wherever I can!)
 
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Cheeser,

Like LisaHE, among the premium canned foods (premium generally meaning no byproducts, corn, soy, wheat, dyes or artificial flavors), I avoid grains, potatoes, carrageenan and other gums - locust, guar and xanthan. I don't feed any foods with fish at all. I do mostly freeze dried raw with the cats, about 75% of their diet, which is more cost effective than canned. The remaining 25% I use Nature's Variety since it's gum free. 

I'm not thrilled with peas either as they are starchy, however, NV uses whole peas (and few) which are easy to remove from the food, vs other brands that use e.g., pea fiber, pea flour or pea protein and cannot be removed.

Good luck. :)
Awesome!  Thanks. :D

Wow, I didn't realize there was such a thing as pea flour.  I love this site...and you guys *hugs y'all*
 
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cheeser

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And soy milk too - yikes! Me too, I have stopped eating foods with carrageenan as I was having "funny tummy issues"! Some soy milks don't use carrageenan but Silk does. :(
I'm still trying to get the hang of reading cat food labels, and I guess now I'm going to need to start reading the people food labels more closely. ;-)
 
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cheeser

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I also find that freeze-dried raw -- Primal and Stella & Chewy's -- is more cost-effective than canned. The cats seem to eat smaller portions (relatively speaking) and get fuller, plus it's easy to mix up as much or as little as you want in various combinations. And they consistently like it. I also feed a small portion of Rad Cat (chicken or turkey) every day: the turkey is their absolute favorite food. I seem to have a bargain price for it at a local store and would feed more of it but I don't want them to get tired of it!
I'm still trying to work up the nerve to try something like that.  Bless you and everyone who's that dedicated, and a heck of a lot smarter than me. ;-)

Maybe if I hang out here long enough, some of that smartness will eventually start to rub off on me.
 
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Nothing I've looked at recently had menadione I don't think, but that doesn't mean it isn't still out there and I would avoid.  I've been avoiding carrageenan.  Apart from those I'm simply avoiding fish ingredients and stuff with carbs, or at least most.  Annoyingly, my new batch of Tiki Puka Puka has tuna oil!  Where did that come from?  I'm certain it wasn't in there before.....
O noes!  That was one of the flavors I was going to buy.  And their website lists tuna oil as an ingredient in the Koolina Luau, too. :(

Guess I'll need to make some phone calls and see if I can find someone that sells the Gourmet Carnivore flavors.  So far I haven't had much luck.

Sorry you got such an unpleasant surprise, but I really appreciate you sharing that bit of info.
 
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