Cat Food Without Peas, Pea Fiber, And Pototoes?

[woofadu]

My opinion? The reason for all the peas and potatoes is because of the whole "grain free" movement. Yeah it's all fine and dandy that there are less or no grains in cat food but they simply replace it with other plant based protein, not animal protein. So you think your doing good for your cat but really, it's just marketing.
It has been shown that dogs get Cardiomyopathy due to eating a "grain free diet" that contains peas, potatoes or other legumes, in place of wheat and corn, but so far there have been no studies to show if cats suffer the same (that I know of).
I've had MANY cats whom all lived past the ages of 16 with one who even lived till he was 20. BUT when we adopted one of our cats, he was put on a grain free diet (because that was the "best") starting at a young age, and low and behold, he developed Cardiomyopathy leading to CHF and passed at the age of 10. Is there a connection? IDK. But I no longer focus on "grain free" foods, I try to find "low carb" foods. My current cats don't have any issues consuming grains, so I just try to make sure that whatever grains are in there, are lower on the ingredient list. All of my cats did very well consuming grains so I see no point in messing with a good thing. As I said though, I DO try to find foods with more animal protein, and less carbs, but I much prefer that the carbs come from wheat rather than potatoes or peas, but that is simply based on my personal experience and that I will never again believe the new "trends" in pet foods.
Currently my cats free feed on a vet prescribed dry pet food, due to it's "calm" formula, and it has helped with what I was using it for. I may change it eventually but for now they are ding well on it. Yes it has grains, but for now, the grains are the lesser of two evils with what we were dealing with concerning the other issues. And this foods helps.
As for wet foods, they get a serving of wet food twice a day, and I'm currently feeding Fancy Feast pates, and Whiskas pates. I used to get the expensive wet foods but I was getting really tired of finding that they had either legumes or veggies and other stuff. The ones I feed don't contain any legumes or veggies and they also don't have grains.
They do have "meat", and/or "poultry" by-products, but that is another thing I have come to realize is not the where my focus should be on (IMO). I would not get a food that the first ingredient is an unspecified meat by-product, but if it's further down the list with the first three coming from a named animal, I'm good with that. Also, by-products in general are not bad, they are the skin, bones and so on from animals, which is not a bad thing. By-products are not JUST feet, beaks and feathers as some would have you believe. And as someone else mentioned to me before, IF the "meat" or "poultry" is anything other than the usual (chicken, turkey, beef, pork...) they HAVE to specify the meat used, so your not feeding your cat, dog or horse meat.

If you want to try and find foods that don't have legumes or potatoes, steer clear of "grain free" and focus on finding LOW CARB, to limit their wheat and corn intake. Also, wet foods do tend to have lower and possibly NO grains and legumes.

Can you help guide me to some of these low-carb, grain foods? I am struggling very hard to find anything without peas, lentils, potatoes, gums, and flaxseed in it.

 

[Jem]

Can you help guide me to some of these low-carb, grain foods? I am struggling very hard to find anything without peas, lentils, potatoes, gums, and flaxseed in it.

It's getting harder and harder to find...I don't even know where to begin at this point as I'm currently trying to find a new food for my kitty and so many have started putting legumes/peas/potatoes that never used to so I don't think I'd be much help right now. Unfortunately I'm not feeding a "low carb" grain food ATM as one of my cats is having digestive issues. I've recently switched to the Hills Perfect Digestion formula and it certainly is not low carb...but if it helps with her poop...it is what it is.

I was feeding Origen for a while which is a food that is at minimum 85% from animal protein. They all loved the food. It did have veggies in it but because it was 85% animal protein I figured the veggie content wouldn't cause too much issues.

If I happen to find any as I continue to search for myself...I'll let you know.

 

[Alldara]

My opinion? The reason for all the peas and potatoes is because of the whole "grain free" movement. Yeah it's all fine and dandy that there are less or no grains in cat food but they simply replace it with other plant based protein, not animal protein. So you think your doing good for your cat but really, it's just marketing.
It has been shown that dogs get Cardiomyopathy due to eating a "grain free diet" that contains peas, potatoes or other legumes, in place of wheat and corn, but so far there have been no studies to show if cats suffer the same (that I know of).
I've had MANY cats whom all lived past the ages of 16 with one who even lived till he was 20. BUT when we adopted one of our cats, he was put on a grain free diet (because that was the "best") starting at a young age, and low and behold, he developed Cardiomyopathy leading to CHF and passed at the age of 10. Is there a connection? IDK. But I no longer focus on "grain free" foods, I try to find "low carb" foods. My current cats don't have any issues consuming grains, so I just try to make sure that whatever grains are in there, are lower on the ingredient list. All of my cats did very well consuming grains so I see no point in messing with a good thing. As I said though, I DO try to find foods with more animal protein, and less carbs, but I much prefer that the carbs come from wheat rather than potatoes or peas, but that is simply based on my personal experience and that I will never again believe the new "trends" in pet foods.
Currently my cats free feed on a vet prescribed dry pet food, due to it's "calm" formula, and it has helped with what I was using it for. I may change it eventually but for now they are ding well on it. Yes it has grains, but for now, the grains are the lesser of two evils with what we were dealing with concerning the other issues. And this foods helps.
As for wet foods, they get a serving of wet food twice a day, and I'm currently feeding Fancy Feast pates, and Whiskas pates. I used to get the expensive wet foods but I was getting really tired of finding that they had either legumes or veggies and other stuff. The ones I feed don't contain any legumes or veggies and they also don't have grains.
They do have "meat", and/or "poultry" by-products, but that is another thing I have come to realize is not the where my focus should be on (IMO). I would not get a food that the first ingredient is an unspecified meat by-product, but if it's further down the list with the first three coming from a named animal, I'm good with that. Also, by-products in general are not bad, they are the skin, bones and so on from animals, which is not a bad thing. By-products are not JUST feet, beaks and feathers as some would have you believe. And as someone else mentioned to me before, IF the "meat" or "poultry" is anything other than the usual (chicken, turkey, beef, pork...) they HAVE to specify the meat used, so your not feeding your cat, dog or horse meat.

If you want to try and find foods that don't have legumes or potatoes, steer clear of "grain free" and focus on finding LOW CARB, to limit their wheat and corn intake. Also, wet foods do tend to have lower and possibly NO grains and legumes.

Study's show that dogs on the "grain free" diets are developing heart disease. Studies on cats are ongoing but it is suspected that it is the same. For this reason I also steer clear of legume/peas rather than grains.

It has been shown that rice inhibits taurine absorption, but commercial foods add extra amounts to make up for that.

 

[woofadu]

I started another thread here since I didn't know if this one would get any additional responses: Struggling to find kitten food

The two I could find that aren't Young Again, Epigen90, and Dr. Eisley's (I've read bad things recently about all of them) are:

FIRSTMATE GRAIN-FREE LIMITED INGREDIENT FELINE DIET DRY CAT FOOD - CHICKEN WITH BLUEBERRIES: FirstMate Grain-Free Limited Ingredient Feline Diet Dry Cat Food

and Dr. Tim's Chase: https://www.chewy.com/dr-tims-chase...t=Dr. Tim's&utm_campaign=12762206765&utm_term

I don't like the potatoes in the first one and it's higher carbs (I think around 26%) but I like the limited ingredients and high animal protein. I know potatoes aren't ideal, but are there any studies that compare them to legumes and rice? I'm hoping they are at least the better choice.

I don't like the rice, the flaxseed, and all the fish in the Dr. Tim's but it has even lower carbs at around 22%.

 

[woofadu]

Study's show that dogs on the "grain free" diets are developing heart disease. Studies on cats are ongoing but it is suspected that it is the same. For this reason I also steer clear of legume/peas rather than grains.

It has been shown that rice inhibits taurine absorption, but commercial foods add extra amounts to make up for that.

Do you have any food recommendations that are pea/legume free?

 

[Alldara]

Do you have any food recommendations that are pea/legume free?

Most of the main brands are pea/potatoes/legume free. Purina, Iams, Royal Canin, Science Diet.... those have either rice or wheat instead.

Personally, I really recommend the Purina Pro Plan Prime Plus 7+ senior formula in wet and dry. My cats are still on that wet food, and the Purina Urinary as well as Iams Perfect Portions.

They would still be eating that as dry food, but we discovered Magnus has a beef allergy and there is beef fat in all Purina dry food formulas (unless a new formula has come out in the last 6 months).

They eat Royal Canin prescription dental dry food and Royal Canin Mother and Babycat (mostly Magnus as he needs to gain weight). Calcifer and Ghost are crunchers of dry food, so we've seen good benefits from the dental. If your cats are not crunchers, there is no benefit to dry food, aside from the cost savings.

Our cats eat an 80-90% wet diet. I also add extra water to their meals.

 

[Alldara]

FYI - if you decide to go with something like Origen or Arcana, the odd cat (it is rare) will have MAJOR issues with the high protein content. My friend's cat was hospitalized when they moved from 60% protein to 70% protein in the formula.

His kidneys could not handle the high protein dry food.

So just keep an eye on your cat if you change foods.

 

[maggie101]

Do you have any food recommendations that are pea/legume free?

My cat peaches is 7 pds,now 6. She threw up all the expensive foods that had so much meat, arcana,orijen,dr elseys,hound&gatos,etc
What she can keep down is fancy feast classics turkey or beef and nulo freestyle minced turkey and duck. I have no doubt she will gain some weight. Excellent blood work. Nulo has ground peas but she is able to eat it without throwing up. That is more important to me than peas, ff has by products which a cat eats and that does not make her sick

 

[ladytimedramon]

We had to do an allergy trial on one of my kitties. The only food I found free of just about everything, in the protein she could eat, was Stella and Chewy's frozen raw and freeze dried raw.