what's worse: guar / carrageenan or fish?

for the past month (she just turned 1) I have been feeding my cat First Mate canned food. It doesn't have any nasty ingredients (besides potato but that's another story) so I feel pretty good giving it to her. The only problem is it comes in 4 flavors (chicken, turkey, salmon & tuna) and she only likes the fish ones.. but she'll eat the others if they're mixed with one of the fish flavors.

I have read recently that it's not safe to feed them fish more than once a week. My question is should I find another food that isn't fish that she'll eat that possibly has either guar gum or carrageenan in it? Or would it be better for her to have a guar/carrageenan free food that is fish?

This seemed to be the only food I could find without these ingredients that's available to me (I live on Vancouver island, Canada) any suggestions would be appreciated!

A lot of canned food companies are mixing fish, especially tuna, into their foods because it is addictive for cats and cheap. I have fed First Mate, despite the fact it has potato, to my kitties for the past 2 years. I feed them Chicken. To entice them to eat it, I add a bit of Almo chicken drumsticks or even ground up dried chicken bites on top. 

Beyond First Mate, which has potato, if you want to stay away from thickeners like guar/carrageenan/carbs/sunflower oil, the only option would be Tikicat which makes flavors such a Chicken in Consome with zero fish, thickeners and carbs. I have been searching for the past few months to find this flavor, but ridiculously, it is not carried in Canada.......only the fish flavors. 

daniellenicole said:

My question is should I find another food that isn't fish that she'll eat that possibly has either guar gum or carrageenan in it? Or would it be better for her to have a guar/carrageenan free food that is fish?
 

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That really depends on your personal preference and how comfortable you are with those ingredients (and of course, if your budget allows for it). Personally, I have no problem feeding my cat guar gum or carrageenan. I'm not convinced any of those directly cause significant health problems. I also try not to have too much fish, so if I were asked that question, I would buy food that isn't fish, and that my cat would eat, and guar gum/carageenan would not factor into my decision.

Just keep in mind that anything your cat will eat is miles better than what she would not (or cannot) eat.

FWIW, I avoid carrageenan and fish for now and don't care about guar gum, at least not yet.  It does eliminate a number of choices but I've still found foods this way.  If I had to restrict guar gum as well I might be a little more limited, although at the moment they aren't eating much that has guar in it.  I was feeding a fair amount of Cats in the Kitchen cans which I believe has guar but not carrageenan.  They haven't eaten much of that recently though.  

I am not 100% certain that carrageenan is a big source of problems, but for the moment avoiding it is not limiting me enough to change my habits.  It helps that they're eating a lot of freeze dried food which doesn't need any of that.

Thanks for all the input. I have found natures variety instinct from a board on here.. It's a bit more expensive than first mate but I think I'll give it a try.