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.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.