Wheat by any other name?

cheeser

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If I want to try eliminating wheat from my cat's diet, what exactly am I looking for on the list of ingredients?

Some foods don't seem to be agreeing with my otherwise healthy senior cat's tummy anymore, and I'm trying to figure out which ingredient(s) might be the culprit.  So I thought maybe I could start with wheat products, and then work my way down the list re: some other common food allergens.

ETA:  I've already found lots of wheat gluten, wheat flour, wheat starch, and wheat germ in my spreadsheet.  I was just wondering if there are any wheat products that don't actually include the word 'wheat' in them that I need to be on the lookout for. :-)
 
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fhicat

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You may want to add "grain", "rice" and "corn" to that list. Stuffs like corn gluten, brown rice, etc. You also may want to keep on the lookout for "grain free" -- these will have no wheat or rice in them.

To test for allergies (not easy to do), you also want to consider putting your cat on a limited protein diet. Look for cans with ideally only ONE protein -- don't just rely on the "flavor", read the ingredient list as some "chicken flavor" food has fish, for example. So only turkey, or only chicken, or only beef. Once you find one, feed him ONLY that food for 4-6 weeks.

If you have a regular vet, work with them, they may have ideas for food trials. This was what worked for my cat who can only handle poultry.
 
LTS3

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Columbine said:
In addition to FhiCat's list, look out for 'starch' or 'starches'. If it's unnamed it could be wheat based.
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Tapioca is a common starch used to thicken foods. Gravy based foods need starch of some sort for to thicken the gravy so I would avoid those if possible.

A home cooked or raw diet (not commercial raw) would be the easiest way to do a food trail to see what a cat might be allergic or sensitive to. You have control over what ingredients are used. It might be worth considering if either of these diets would work for your cat.
 
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cheeser

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FhiCat said:
 
You may want to add "grain", "rice" and "corn" to that list. Stuffs like corn gluten, brown rice, etc. You also may want to keep on the lookout for "grain free" -- these will have no wheat or rice in them.

To test for allergies (not easy to do), you also want to consider putting your cat on a limited protein diet. Look for cans with ideally only ONE protein -- don't just rely on the "flavor", read the ingredient list as some "chicken flavor" food has fish, for example. So only turkey, or only chicken, or only beef. Once you find one, feed him ONLY that food for 4-6 weeks.

If you have a regular vet, work with them, they may have ideas for food trials. This was what worked for my cat who can only handle poultry.
Click to expand...
Thanks bunches!  I had rice, corn, soy, potatoes, peas, wheat, and gluten on my list, but had completely forgot about 'grain.' :-)

And I know exactly what you mean about checking the ingredients to make sure you're just getting one kind of protein.  I was in a hurry awhile back during a quick trip to Petsmart, and just grabbed something that didn't have anything fishy in the name.  I was embarrassed to discover later that tuna was listed as one of the ingredients.  Oops!
 
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cheeser

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Columbine said:
In addition to FhiCat's list, look out for 'starch' or 'starches'. If it's unnamed it could be wheat based.
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Ah.  Good thinking!  I'll do a global search for that as well.  Thankee! 
 
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cheeser

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LTS3 said:
 
Tapioca is a common starch used to thicken foods. Gravy based foods need starch of some sort for to thicken the gravy so I would avoid those if possible.

A home cooked or raw diet (not commercial raw) would be the easiest way to do a food trail to see what a cat might be allergic or sensitive to. You have control over what ingredients are used. It might be worth considering if either of these diets would work for your cat.
Click to expand...
Ooh!  Tapioca is another one that completely slipped off my radar screen.  Thanks oodles!

Guess I'm going to have to get over my fear of making my own cat food one of these days.  Maybe there's hope for me yet. ;-)
 
Columbine

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I can understand being wary of making your own raw cat food (so much more to go wrong re contamination etc), but I really wouldn't be scared of making your own cooked diet - and it would give you absolute control over your cat's diet - invaluable if there are allergies/intolerances.
 
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cheeser

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Columbine said:
I can understand being wary of making your own raw cat food (so much more to go wrong re contamination etc), but I really wouldn't be scared of making your own cooked diet - and it would give you absolute control over your cat's diet - invaluable if there are allergies/intolerances.
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Thanks!  That makes me feel a little better. :-)

It just seems that here lately, so many of my good intentions keep going awry.  So I've been afraid to try preparing my own cat food, out of fear that I won't do something right, and will accidentally wind up doing more harm than good.  But maybe I could start by cooking something simple for their evening snack, and see how that goes for now. ;-)
 
Columbine

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Good idea :) Just remember to find a balanced recipe if homemade becomes a significant part of the diet (ie more than 10% on a regular basis). I'm sure people in the raw and homemade forum can help you there.

Come to think of it, I think there may be a cooked as well as a raw recipe on http://www.catinfo.org. Definitely worth a look.

Good luck with it :)
 
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cheeser

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Columbine said:
Good idea
Just remember to find a balanced recipe if homemade becomes a significant part of the diet (ie more than 10% on a regular basis). I'm sure people in the raw and homemade forum can help you there.
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Will do. :-)
 
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