Pet food guide

lisamarie12 · Dec 4, 2015

Interesting info from the Cornucopia Institute re: pet food ingredients (linked from TAPF); an overview of the report as well as a buyers guide on which foods contain e.g., rendered ingredients, carrageenan, food dyes, which are certified organic, etc.

Not all foods on the market were included but it's useful resource nonetheless:

http://www.cornucopia.org/2015/11/new-report-exposes-dangerousunhealthy-pet-food/#more-18352

32 page report:

http://www.cornucopia.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/DecodingPetFoodfullreport.pdf

http://www.cornucopia.org/pet-food-guide/

missmimz · Dec 4, 2015

I thought Soulistic didn't contain carrageenan. I don't see it listed on the ingredients.

lokhismom · Dec 5, 2015

missmimz said:
I thought Soulistic didn't contain carrageenan. I don't see it listed on the ingredients.

I think some of their flavors contain carrageenan. It looks like if some of the flavors in a line contain the ingredient its included in the 'yes' column. I notice they have Nutro Natural Choice listed as containing carrageenan but not all of their flavors contain it.

Thanks for the links @LisaMarie12

lisamarie12 · Dec 5, 2015

missmimz said:
I thought Soulistic didn't contain carrageenan. I don't see it listed on the ingredients.

That's interesting - I pulled up Petco's list of Soulistic foods, I'm skimming through it and I don't see carrageenan listed on any of the canned foods. I do remember though, and even now there are other site recommendations for this food, that indicate to look for the Soulistic carrageenan free formulas only which would have been Good Karma and Harvest Sunrise.

It looks like Soulistic removed the carrageenan from all the formulas (?) from the time the pet food guide was written?

lisamarie12 · Dec 5, 2015

Lokhismom said:
I notice they have Nutro Natural Choice listed as containing carrageenan but not all of their flavors contain it.

That's true - like NNC sliced turkey, no carrageenan and I think a couple others chicken based. It does say on the guide to double check with manufacturers as formulas are changing but it looks like they missed this one and just grouped NNC with the other Nutro formulas.

bonepicker · Dec 5, 2015

I think all the foods are slowly dumping carageenan!

lisahe · Dec 5, 2015

bonepicker said:
I think all the foods are slowly dumping carageenan!

I hope so... but I also hope they don't start replacing it with stuff like tapioca, potato starch, and other thickeners that add measurable carbs. (And cause digestive issues for some cats, like ours who can't eat potato. I know those reactions are rare but still, as our vet said, potato doesn't belong in cat food anyway!)

missmimz · Dec 5, 2015

LisaMarie12 said:
That's interesting - I pulled up Petco's list of Soulistic foods, I'm skimming through it and I don't see carrageenan listed on any of the canned foods. I do remember though, and even now there are other site recommendations for this food, that indicate to look for the Soulistic carrageenan free formulas only which would have been Good Karma and Harvest Sunrise.

It looks like Soulistic removed the carrageenan from all the formulas (?) from the time the pet food guide was written?

Ah that's helpful. I only feed GK and HS anyway.

bonepicker · Dec 5, 2015

LisaHE said:
I hope so... but I also hope they don't start replacing it with stuff like tapioca, potato starch, and other thickeners that add measurable carbs. (And cause digestive issues for some cats, like ours who can't eat potato. I know those reactions are rare but still, as our vet said, potato doesn't belong in cat food anyway!)

I have noticed mine prefer old recipes with carageenan in them! Hmmmmm

lisahe · Dec 5, 2015

bonepicker said:
I have noticed mine prefer old recipes with carageenan in them! Hmmmmm

I wonder if those other ingredients -- potato, tapioca, and the like -- affect the flavor more, in a negative way. Or maybe it's that carrageenan affects flavor in a positive way? I found what looks like a student paper on carrageenan (PDF here) that mentions, from the start, that carrageenan's effect on texture enhances flavor.

No matter what, I don't want to feed the stuff other than occasionally -- that every-now-and-then Wellness Core kitten food that they love, love, love -- because our cats have such sensitive little Siamese cat stomachs! I now even avoid groceries for humans that have carrageenan, which isn't always easy when buying ice cream, cream, sour cream, and similar products.

lisamarie12 · Dec 6, 2015

LisaHE said:
I wonder if those other ingredients -- potato, tapioca, and the like -- affect the flavor more, in a negative way. Or maybe it's that carrageenan affects flavor in a positive way? I found what looks like a student paper on carrageenan (PDF here) that mentions, from the start, that carrageenan's effect on texture enhances flavor.

I now even avoid groceries for humans that have carrageenan, which isn't always easy when buying ice cream, cream, sour cream, and similar products.

From what I remember about carrageenan (back in the days when I used to feed the cats canned Ziwi Peak before the carrageenan was removed), is that the pate was more like a loaf. Given that some cats prefer different textures of canned (pate vs shredded, minced, etc.), I would guess that a carrageenan based food might be more appealing to a cat if the food is more cohesive instead of soupier.

I also stopped buying the soy milk I used to drink for several years - Silk, since it contained carrageenan (and the funny tummy issues disappeared).

pushylady · Dec 7, 2015

LisaHE said:
bonepicker said:

I think all the foods are slowly dumping carageenan!

Click to expand...

I hope so... but I also hope they don't start replacing it with stuff like tapioca, potato starch, and other thickeners that add measurable carbs. (And cause digestive issues for some cats, like ours who can't eat potato. I know those reactions are rare but still, as our vet said, potato doesn't belong in cat food anyway!)

lokhismom · Dec 7, 2015

One of my cats favorites is Earthborn chicken. They recently removed carrageenan but unfortunately they replaced it with potatoes. So now they have potatoes as a 3rd ingredient.

I did buy a case from Chewy and I've noticed it is soupier without the carrageenan. It smells the same and apparently taste the same because both of mine scoffed it up as usual.

I now have to decide whether I want to buy it every month. I'm happy they removed carrageenan but I'm not happy with the potatoes.

lisamarie12 · Dec 8, 2015

Lokhismom said:
One of my cats favorites is Earthborn chicken. They recently removed carrageenan but unfortunately they replaced it with potatoes. So now they have potatoes as a 3rd ingredient.

I did buy a case from Chewy and I've noticed it is soupier without the carrageenan. It smells the same and apparently taste the same because both of mine scoffed it up as usual.

I now have to decide whether I want to buy it every month. I'm happy they removed carrageenan but I'm not happy with the potatoes.

I wouldn't be happy with potatoes either. Is there any way you can pick out the potatoes or if it's soupy, drain the liquid? I did that with Lotus Just Juicy which uses potato starch - drained the liquid.

kittyluv387 · Dec 8, 2015

If you guys are concerned about carageenan/potatoes/fillers check out Nutro Natural in chicken and turkey flavors. The other flavors do have carageenan or that menadione vitamin K supplement thing. Also Weruva funk in the trunk. Has just a little bit of tuna but the chicken in it is actual shredded chicken! Oh it is in pumpkin consomme but pumpkin is good for digestive systems anyways.

bonepicker · Dec 9, 2015

Lokhismom said:
One of my cats favorites is Earthborn chicken. They recently removed carrageenan but unfortunately they replaced it with potatoes. So now they have potatoes as a 3rd ingredient. :angry2: I did buy a case from Chewy and I've noticed it is soupier without the carrageenan. It smells the same and apparently taste the same because both of mine scoffed it up as usual.

I now have to decide whether I want to buy it every month. I'm happy they removed carrageenan but I'm not happy with the potatoes.

Yes mine just had Earthborn Chicken Jumble, they love it, when Miss Purdy eats a piece of liver she has that same look when she used to catch chimpmunks! Ha ha [emoji]128062[/emoji][emoji]10084[/emoji]️[emoji]128062[/emoji] It is one of their favorites along with pride rockstar rabbit. I feed both sparingly because they are pricey. They are just as happy with liver and chicken fancy feast, go figure?? They have no problems with potato so far.

Pet food guide

lisamarie12

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missmimz

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lokhismom

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lisamarie12

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lisamarie12

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bonepicker

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lisahe

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missmimz

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bonepicker

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lisahe

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lisamarie12

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pushylady

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lokhismom

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lisamarie12

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kittyluv387

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bonepicker

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