Carageenan

I have read how carrageenan is potentially bad for cats. It is in so many canned cat foods. Having a lot of cats, I go through a lot of food. I am going to attempt to make homemade food, but I was wondering for backup reference if anyone who knows of grain free, carrageenan free canned that comes in a 13 ounce can? I know Nature's Variety Instinct dog is the same as the cat version. Holistic Select also has large cans. Are there any others? What is your personal opinion on carrageenan, and why?

I feed food with carageenan in it because I cannot afford to feed canned food without it. With 6 kitties and a large colony of outdoor kitties to feed, its just not reasonable.  I do feed food with lower carbs and plenty of meat in it. I do make raw food but several of mine will not eat it. So I always have to have some canned set out. 

I won't touch it, but that's only because Asha has a sensitive tummy - she reacts badly to guar gum, so I avoid carrageenan and all gums just to be on the safe side (diarrhoea isn't fun for her or me :nausea: ). I'm lucky in that it's pretty easy to find carrageenan free foods in the uk, so it's not much of an issue.

nansiludie said:

I feed food with carageenan in it because I cannot afford to feed canned food without it. With 6 kitties and a large colony of outdoor kitties to feed, its just not reasonable.  I do feed food with lower carbs and plenty of meat in it. I do make raw food but several of mine will not eat it. So I always have to have some canned set out. 

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I'm in the same boat as you. I've got some cats that wait until they got their raw, and others who won't eat if I mix to much of it in their canned. I wish there were more large cans that were more cost effective. My cats loved Wellness, but it has carrageen in it. Holistic Select is made by the same parent company. I wish Wellness would take out the carageenen! It's a difficult line between what is good for them, what they'll eat, and what you can afford. I wish more companies realized that there are a lot of us who have large multiple cat households.

Columbine said:

I won't touch it, but that's only because Asha has a sensitive tummy - she reacts badly to guar gum, so I avoid carrageenan and all gums just to be on the safe side (diarrhoea isn't fun for her or me :nausea: ). I'm lucky in that it's pretty easy to find carrageenan free foods in the uk, so it's not much of an issue.

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I'm in the U.S. Can you please tell me some of the brands you use? I'll try to see if I can find any of them here. Thank you.

We don't feed carrageenan, except in very occasional cans of Wellness Core's kitten food, which our now-adult cats love. Nothing else we feed them, raw or canned, has carrageenan. I don't think I know of any that are available in thirteen-ounce cans, though.

FWIW, here are the canned brands we feed: Tiki, Weruva Cats in the Kitchen (lots, if not most of Weruva's foods are carageenan-free, though some of their other lines are pretty expensive), Hound & Gatos, Nutro Natural Choice (some have carageenan, others don't) and Merrick LID. I know there are other brands without carageenan but those are the ones that seem to work for our cats and their sensitive stomachs!

Good luck!

There are threads about carrageenan-free foods: http://www.thecatsite.com/newsearch?search=carrageenan Check those threads for suggestions on brands of food.

I'm pretty certain you won't get the brands I'm listing here, but here goes:

Caregeenan free foods in 13 oz tins

Catz Finefood
Feringa
Animonda Carny
Bozita
Lily's Kitchen

In Europe, Whiskas in Jelly and Felix in Jelly cans are grain free and Caregeenan free too. They're the only ones that I think you'll be able to find.