"Organic" Guar Gum

I've been feeding NVI limited ingredient turkey for lack of a better alternative. As I'm sure most of you have done, I have read the ingredients for every canned cat food that I could find. With the exception of foods like Almo Nature, that aren't complete sources of nutrition, I have yet ot find one brand that doesn't have at least one objectionable ingredient. I don't like foods that contain "natural flavors" either. Knowing what I do about food production, that's a euphemism for mystery ingredient. I've seen things that qualify as "natural flavors" that I wouldn't want to ingest.

I saw Party Animal organic canned food. It actually contains "organic" guar gum. Does that make it any better?

Not in my mind, but then again, I don't really have a problem with "regular" guar gum, because, as you said, unless you make your own, which I've also done, there is going to be something objectionable in pretty  much everything.   And, darn it, when I made them homemade food, they didn't like it

wannahelp said:

 
I saw Party Animal organic canned food. It actually contains "organic" guar gum. Does that make it any better?

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Well, beans are beans whether they're organic or not.  Guar gum, a thickener, is extracted and processed from guar beans. The digestive system of a cat isn't really meant to handle beans - in some cats guar gum can cause digestive upset, e.g., loose stools, diarrhea, gas, etc.

Dr Lisa Pierson, DVM, who makes her own food (semi raw and no veggies), indicates that she will use a small amount of guar gum when any of her cats are constipated, hence suggesting a laxative effect.

So I guess the issue really is if your cats can or cannot handle any foods with guar gum. You could research guar gum in cat foods and see if there is any evidence suggesting long term health consequences.

I have an IBD cat, she can't eat any food with guar gum, no matter how low carb and meat based the food is, she gets very loose stools. Generally guar gum is a no-no for IBD cats.

Party Animal looks pretty carby, based on the ingredients, especially the canned foods including bananas - yikes, that's a high glycemic index food, what were they thinking?!

If you're interested in an organic formula and don't mind the guar gum, Natural Planet Organics canned food recently removed the carrageenan from their chicken formula (the new batches having been produced end of January this year) which is mostly meat based, low carb. You can contact them to inquire re: the carrageenan removal.