Any good sodium-free canned food?

cocobutterfly

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We feed our cat mostly homemade cooked and canned wet food with a little raw and maybe a teaspoon of kibble as a snack. She loves best the plain meat without any sodium or flavoring that's contained in store bought foods. I'm shocked by the sodium content and 'flavors' found in most pre-made food. Even supplements like alnutrin and Ustew have sodium and ''natural flavors' which I only equate to some form of MSG.

My entire family suffers from high blood pressure, so we take sodium content very seriously and live on an extremely low sodium diet. Nature's Variety Instinct seems to have lower sodium and is generally better all around, so we feed her that, but I'd love to learn of other premium canned food brands (non-prescription) and supplements for homemade cooked foods that don't add excess amount of salt and flavors to their food.

Do they exist?!
 
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mrsgreenjeens

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I am unaware of any that are sodium free.  Or even LOW sodium.
 

lisamarie12

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Low sodium moist foods would include a few of Weruva's and Soulistic's (same company) non-fish flavors. Some are even lower than the sodium levels on the Rx diets. See U.S. canned food charts on felinecrf.org for sodium % for various moist foods and / or visit Weruva's site for sodium info.
Cats have to have some sodium in their diet, hence the reason why premixes for homemade cooked and homemade raw include sodium although some companies may use more than necessary, especially in the processed foods.
 
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lisahe

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If you're looking for a no-salt-added supplement, there's a new one: EZcomplete, from Food Fur Life. I've made two kinds of (cooked) food with it so far and our cats love it.
 

LTS3

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Do your cats need a low sodium diet for heatlh reasons? If not, I don't think you need to worry about sodiun content.  A healthy body can filter out excess sodium pretty well..

As LisaMarie12 said, cats do need some sodium in the diet. Just like people, though some people may need a sodium restricted diet per the doctor's advice (or in my case, I need to increase sodium intake). The body can't function on a zero sodium diet. AAFCO sets a minimum sodium requirement of 0.2% on a dry matter basis. Since there's no upper limit, pet food companies may add more sodium. Dry foods in particular tend to be high in sodium. The theory is that adding salt to the dry food will cause a cat to become thirsty and drink more water.

I think seafood tends to have a high sodium content so try to avoid feding that.
 
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cocobutterfly

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Thank you for all the replies as we find them very helpful! @LisaHE  I will definitely look into EZcomplete for our next homemade food batch! Thank you for the recommendation.

I guess I shouldn't have posed the question asking about "sodium-free" but rather food and supplements free of MONO-sodium aka MSG. It's absolutely frightening that food companies have come up with clever names that sound like natural food products that is actually MSG! I do realize that cats and humans needs some sodium, but food companies go overboard because increasing salt (and sugar in the case of human food) increases the flavor that, in turn, increases consumption. 

These artificial flavoring is added to foods to create excitement and addiction. It's cheaper to use these chemical additives than more expensive oils and natural spices for enhancing food flavors. But it cheats by exciting the brain's cells into making you believe the flavor is in the food and not just in your head. So one buys and eats more cheap dead food while getting fatter with less nutrition, to say the least.

You can read more about this:  http://www.naturalnews.com/033560_yeast_extract_MSG.html#ixzz46KLQeHEM

I began feeding mostly homemade food for our cat because most, if not all, commercial foods contain artificial flavors. Nature's Variety seemed to be one of the better/lesser offenders, but when I purchased their frozen raw bites, I was horrified to see that "yeast extract" is one of the top ingredients after meat and organs. "Yeast Extract" and over 100 other creative "natural" sounding names are actually mono-sodium or MSG. 

I know I probably sound like some crazed extremist right now, but I love our cat so much, and I know you all do as well. I just want everyone to be armed with as much information and knowledge as possible. I'm writing a letter to Nature's Variety.
 
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Willowy

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If someone isn't sensitive to natural glutamate, is it really harmful? Things like mushrooms, peas, and walnuts, some cheeses, and, yes, yeast, have high levels of natural glutamates. It can be hard to get cats to eat healthy foods, I don't have a problem with a company using a flavoring to entice them. Rather like putting a pinch of parmesan on homemade food for picky eaters :D.
 
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cocobutterfly

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It's not a naturally occurring yeast. It's synthesized. I don't have any sensitivities to MSG, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, excessive sugar, artificial flavoring, food coloring, preservatives or GMO, but that doesn't mean I want to consume foods that contain them because in the long run, they will be detrimental to my family's and my health.
 
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